ANOTHER ONE! David (@DeepDiveGolf) continued his remarkable track record as his headline selection Hideki Matsuyama won at HUGE odds.
Join Spence (@TeeOffSports), Joel (@draftmastersflex), and David (@deepdivegolf) as they deep-dive into their preview of the BMW Championship!
The FedEx Cup playoffs are here! The PGA Tour heads to Memphis, Tennessee for the FedEx Cup St Jude Championship and the team are back to draft PGA DFS line-ups against YOU the audience.
When Lydia Ko began her Olympics week at Le Golf National on the outskirts of Paris, she knew something many had speculated but not confirmed. This would be Lydia Ko’s last Olympics. Long having hinted that she wishes to retire by the age of 30 to pursue other interests outside of golf, she stood on the first tee knowing this would likely be her last chance to complete an historic medal slam. Leading into the event, Ko would state: ”If I win gold at this Paris Olympics, someone should get me a glass slipper because I’m a Cinderella story.“
She would end the week with a Gold medal around her neck, having also rightfully earned her place in the LPGA Hall of Fame, and completing a full set of medals across three Olympic Games. She has taken her legacy from one of legend to immortality. The fairytale is complete.
Lydia Ko had long been heralded as a golfing prodigy. In January 2012 Ko became the youngest golfer, man or woman, ever to win a professional golf tour event when taking out the Women’s NSW Open.
In August later that year, she became the youngest winner on the LPGA tour as an amateur, aged just 15 years old and 4 months. It would surpass the record set by Lexi Thompson at 16 years and seven months in September 2011 by more than a year. Furthermore, it was the first win on the LPGA tour by an amateur in over 43 years.
She was the top-ranked female amateur golfer in the world for 130 weeks before turning professional in October 2013. By February 2015, she would be the number one ranked female golfer.
Winning the Evian Championship in September would be the first of her two major wins, the second coming 6 months later in early 2016. She became the youngest double major winner in the history of the game since Young Tom Morris at the 1869 Open Championship.
The youngest woman to win on the LPGA, the youngest World Number 1, the youngest to win a major, the youngest to win 10 events on a major golfing tour, and this week in the Paris Olympics 2024 Lydia Ko became the youngest golfer to be inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Golf made its first appearances at The Olympics in 1900 and 1904, played exclusively by men. Plans for a 1908 tournament never solidified. A dispute about the format saw all British golfers withdraw their entries. This left 1904 Gold medalist Canadian George Lyon as the sole entrant. He was within his rights to claim the Gold medal. He humbly declined.
It would be a long period in The Olympics wilderness. When it eventually returned at the 2016 Rio Olympics, it was hardly a smooth return. The tournament was overshadowed by the threat of the Zika virus, which remained an unknown for many athletes.
The strength of competitors in the Men’s Olympics Golf events suffered. Many cited the Zika virus as their reason for withdrawing. However, it is fair to also surmise many questioned what meaning an Olympic medal would have when compared to major championships. 6 of the top 10 men did not compete. That included all of the top 4. Jason Day (1st), Dustin Johnson (2nd), Jordan Spieth (3rd), and Rory McIlroy (4th) were absent.
The COVID-19 pandemic hindered Tokyo 2020. Again, this was more true for the men’s events. 3 of the top 10 men chose not to seek qualification. Further, an additional two in the top 10 would not compete. World Number 1 Jon Rahm and Number 6 Bryson DeChambeau both tested positive prior to competition beginning.
However, the women’s events have always been strongly represented. Just one in the Top 100 ranked female golfers who qualified for Rio 2016 that did not compete. At Tokyo 2020, there were just two who qualified from the Top 100 not present. It makes Lydia Ko’s achievements all the more impressive.
It was at the inaugural appearance of women golfers at the 2016 Games in Rio that Lydia Ko would begin her run of Olympics’ success. Entering the final round, she was in 2nd place just two strokes off the lead. It would be a position she held, as Inbee Park ran away from the field to win by a margin of 5 strokes.
In between, Lydia Ko’s game suffered as she struggled to reach the lofty standards she set in the early parts of her career. She would win just one tournament between 2016 and 2021, even thinking about putting away the clubs at times.
But Lydia Ko would head to Tokyo 2020 in the hunt for another Olympics medal. She had won her first LPGA tournament earlier that year in April, and displayed some signs of a resurgence.
Entering the final round, she was in 3rd position tied with 3 other golfers. It would take her best to secure a medal. Lydia Ko shot the 2nd best round on Olympics Sunday, with her 65 sending her to a playoff for the Silver and Bronze medal with Japan’s Mone Inami. She would come up just short, adding a Bronze medal to the Silver she had won in Rio.
It was an excellent 2022 season. She won three times and regained the World Number 1 spot for the first time since 2017. 2023 would prove tougher. She won no LPGA tour events and finished in the Top 10 just twice all year.
However, by December, she won the Grant Thornton Invitational alongside Australia’s Jason Day. In January 2024, she would return to the LPGA winners circle. Taking out the the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Hawaii saw her just one point short of entering the LPGA Hall of Fame.
That set the scene for what we witnessed this week from Lydia Ko at the Women’s Olympics Golf in Paris 2024. After holding a 5 stroke lead at one point of the final round, she found herself defending just a solitary stroke lead down the closing stretch.
She held her nerve to secure that Gold medal she so desired. It completed an historic feat winning a medal of every colour across three consecutive Olympics.
It earned her entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame. With her Olympics Gold medal earning the final point required, Lydia Ko became the 35th and youngest to add her name to the greatest names of golf.
Make no bones about it: Lydia Ko’s achievements in the Olympics represent one of the greatest feats in all of golf.
The female fields in each of the Olympics golf events have featured the best golfers in the women’s game. To win a medal at the first three Olympics, across a time-span of 12 years, on three different golf courses, and against the strongest of opposition is an accomplishment we will likely never see repeated. It took enormous amounts of consistency, tenacity, and perseverance.
We saw when men’s World Number 1 Scottie Scheffler stood on the podium the emotion that came with the enormity of his achievements. History will be kind to winners of Olympics medals.
As her nation’s flag was raised God Defend New Zealand was played, and a Gold medal finally hung safely around her neck. She shed a tear rolling down her cheek. And there was not a dry eye at Le Golf National, nor from those watching in the early hours over in New Zealand.
Stand tall, Lydia. You are truly a golfing immortal, and one whose legacy will only grow with time.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics Women’s Golf, we unfortunately left Lydia Ko out as the last golfer off from our 4 selections entering the week. However, Rose Zhang in 8th and Miyu Yamashita in 4th would be our best results. Yamashita shared the lead at one point during the final round, until fading over the final 9 holes.
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Special live stream this evening as David (@DeepDiveGolf) to give a weather update on Hurricane Debby and what impact this will have on the Wyndham Championship.
The Wyndham Championship is the last chance saloon for many golfers to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs! Who will make the cut? But, more importantly, who will win the Wyndham Championship PGA Draftcast this week?
Our selections have been on absolute FIRE lately. Resident golf analyst and man from the future, David Bieleski (@deepdivegolf), and @DraftMasterFlex both gave out Hideki Matsuyama as FRL 35/1 last week! David had 3/6 selections finish in the top 10, including Matsuyama in Bronze at 35/1.
It only comes along once every 4 years, so of course we are back to cover the 2024 Olympics Men’s Golf with our LIVE PGA Draft Cast!
We hit 80/1 winner Johnny Vegas last week at the 3M Open!
Our resident golf analyst and man from the future, David Bieleski (@deepdivegolf), is on a HUGE hot streak.
With the Olympics Golf played at Le Golf National, David’s expertise from the DP World Tour will prove extremely valuable this week.
In the last 5 weeks alone, his picks have returned an ROI of +117%.
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.
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%!
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.
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.
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.
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