For one of the most popular sports in the world, golf spent a long time in the wilderness before returning to the Olympics in 2016. First competed in 1900 and 1904, Olympics Golf attempted another preview in 1908. After a dispute about format, all British golfers withdrew from the event and only one golfer remained in the field. Canadian George Lyon was entitled to claim the gold medal, but honourably declined.
Over 100 years later, it was hardly a smooth return. The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio were overshadowed by the Zika virus and a number of headline golfers seemingly indifferent about competing for a Gold medal. Then, of course, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed with COVID. Eventually, they were played with minimal crowds and no fans.
That narrative does seem to be changing. The vast majority of the world’s best golfers will compete this week. Notably, it is another opportunity to unite the world’s various golf tours in pursuit of national pride rather than money. Many golfers made it a specific goal in 2024 to qualify for the Olympics and represent their country. There are even murmurs of 2028 also seeing the introduction of a Mixed Team event, which would be revolutionary and continue to support the pursuit of parity for the women’s game.
And that is great to see. In a world where professional sports, especially golf, presently often dominated by how much the players are earning it is a breath of fresh air to focus in and remember what they are playing for.
3M Open Recap
Before we delve into our Olympics Golf preview for the men’s competition, we have to recap the 3M Open. Because, once again… WHAT A WEEK!
We had Jhonattan Vegas in our golf betting tips, who duly won at a massive 80/1.
Every week, we give out our DeepDiveGolf Bookie Beater on SENZ Radio every Wednesday 10am NZT/Tuesday 6pm ET. It cashed once again to go 4/5, with Kurt Kitayama finishing Top 20 and a full place at +1000 wrapping up the week in 6th.
That continues a rather extraordinary run of five events. At the Rocket Mortgage Classic, we completed a famous quinella with Cam Davis winning at 70/1 and Min Woo Lee in 2nd both within our tips. Quietly, we also hit Bhatia 45/1 as FRL.
We then backed up with a week where we nearly had the winner on 3 different tours. Sergio Garcia won LIV Andalucia at 15/1 to cap that week. Ludvig Aberg lead through 3 rounds for us at the Scottish Open, before a poor final round saw him finish 4th.
In the same week, at the ISCO Championship Piereceson Coody looked to go wire-to-wire at 75/1. Rico Hoey also held the 54 hole lead at 50/1, and probably should have won the tournament in regulation time. Instead, those two players entered a 5 golfer playoff and ended up cashing full place payouts.
Then The Open Championship was our most profitable week of the season thus far. Four of our players finished in the top 10, including 125/1 Russell Henley and 350/1 Matthew Jordan. We went 4/5 on match-ups on the Saturday, before a clean sweep 5/5 in the final round including a 21/1 parlay.
Over the last 5 weeks, our selections have returned an ROI of a massive +117%!
Olympics Golf Preview: Le Golf National Course Analysis
The Albatros Course at Le Golf National makes for a fitting host for an event of such prestige. And, make no bones about it, this is a major championship style test of golf.
Thankfully, aiding our preview of the Olympics Golf venue is that this course is a regular feature on the DP World Tour. Le Golf National has held the Open de France since 1991, only held elsewhere on two occasions with two tournaments cancelled due to COVID. The course is listed as a 7,174 yard par 71 for this event. Typically, the course plays closer to 7,250 yards on the DP World Tour.
The stadium style course also played host to the 2018 Ryder Cup. Following Team USA going 3-1 in the first session, they were then trounced by the Europeans 17 1/2 to 10 1/2. Much was made how the course favoured the Europeans. It was a tough setup, with very thick rough, but also copious amounts of water in play. That was frustrating for the Americans, whose typical strength of longer driving distance was mitigated by the elements they faced.
Conversely, it leads to a heavy emphasis on driving accuracy here. With a multitude of water hazards and unique mounds narrowing the fairways, you’ll see players reaching for a lofted wood or iron off the tee here more often. On many holes, the additional advantage gained from being further down the fairway is simply not worth the risk.
Finally, elite approach play is rewarded here. It is hard to deny Migliozzi, Rasmus Hojgaard, Colsaerts, and Hisatsune can absolutely flush their irons on their day. Especially when compared to their DP World Tour counterparts. The 18th hole is spectacular but tough, which should provide an enticing finish.
Olympics Golf Preview: Le Golf National Course Comps
Firstly, course history here has been sticky on the DP World Tour. You can take some confidence that prior performances can provide a decent indication of future outputs for your golfers.
Immediately, many familiar with PGA Tour courses will see images of the golf course and think of TPC Sawgrass. With the copious amount of water and the wooden bulkheads, even with an island green on the 15th. Given the record of Sawgrass, where driving accuracy and iron player are identified, it should provide a decent formguide.
Similarly, PGA National can be considered. The course features an abundance of water, but also rewards strong drivers of the golf ball who can keep the ball in the fairway. It has often been a good guide for the majors, especially The Open. Those who regularly follow these articles will recall the strong links found with Royal Troon. That helped us identify Russell Henley at huge odds on his way to 5th. Le Golf National can be considered somewhat links-adjacent, in that is exposed and features long tussocky grass on mounds narrowing the fairways.
Valderrama also provides some reasonable guidance. The added benefit is, as well as being a former regular on the DP World Tour, it has since been taken over by the LIV Tour. It recently hosted LIV Andalucia there two weeks ago, when Sergio Garcia won for us at 15/1.
It asks similar questions in a slightly different way to Le Golf National. Featured are narrow tree lined fairways and that quirky test holds similarities as do their leaderboards. Additionally, Valderrama tests the nerve of a golfer with bogeys inevitable and similar winning scores. Your ability to maintain composure can be as important as scoring here.
Celtic Manor: Your Sneaky Good Form Guide
However, for those who have spent any time over on the DP World Tour, Celtic Manor could be the course comp to end all course comps.
Celtic Manor provides extremely strong form lines and it is easy to see why. It is another Ryder Cup stadium style course. The host in 2010, the course features numerous water hazards and narrowing fairways. And, although Celtic Manor admittedly plays longer, that recipe is what our Open de France picks will face this week. Even visually the courses look very similar. But, it is the leaderboard similarity which is most eye-catching.
Graeme McDowall, Alex Noren, and Thongchai Jaidee have all won at both golf courses. Tommy Fleetwood had a 2nd at Celtic Manor before his Open de France win. Thomas Pieters holds a 3rd at both venues.
And, then you get into perhaps lesser renowned names on tour. Peter Uihlein and Richard Sterne both hold a runner-up finish on each. Nicolas Colsaerts had a 4th and 12th at his only two Celtic Manor starts prior to winning at Le Golf National in 2019. Joost Luiten won at Celtic Manor, and holds a 9th and 11th at Le Golf National.
On Luiten, he actually qualified for the Olympics. Before he could even preview the course and make his second Olympics Golf appearance, the Dutch Golf Federation changed their criteria to compete midway through the process. He took them to court, won, and was allowed to compete. Unfortunately, his spot had already been given to another golfer and the IOC did not permit the field to expand beyond 60 men. You can read his latest statement here about the extraordinary, and disappointing, reasons he isn’t playing this week.
Olympics Golf Preview Golf Betting Tips
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