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The best golfers from around the world, and in the PGA, are playing for Gold this week in Japan at the Olympics. That does not mean you should see any surprises when it comes to who’s topping this week’s favorites list.
That honor goes to Collin Morikawa of Team USA who is coming fresh off of his win at the Open Championship at Royal St. George’s Golf Course as well as the 2020 PGA Championship. In only his third season on Tour, the LA native, and UC Berkly alumn, have already won five times on the PGA Tour with two Majors and three times on the European Tour.
That is if you take out the players that have had to withdraw due to COVID-19 testing. That includes Bryson Dechambeau and Jon Rahm who were two of the favorites only a few days ago.
Morikawa may not be in the field but Dustin Johnson and several other big names are and they are riding the top of the favorites list to win the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota. Johnson comes in as the lone favorite at +700 with Louis Oosthuizen and Tony Finau both at +1400.
The same could be said for Johnson. Even though he was not a contender to win at The Open he did manage a top-ten finish (T8) and went seven under. Here are the favorites through +1800 to win the 2021 3M Open outright according to Intertops.
Collin Morikawa +700
Xander Schauffele +850
Justin Thomas +1000
Rory McIlroy +1000
Hideki Matsuyama +1200
Viktor Hovland +1200
Team USA Members: Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Reed.
Individual Men’s Olympic Golf Preview
Where: Kawagoe, Saitama, Japan
Course: East Course; Kasumigaseki Country Club
Format: Stroke Play
Par: 71
Length: 7,466
When: July 28-29, 2021
Purse: NA – Olympic Medals
TV Coverage: NBC/NBCSports/Peacock
The East Course at Kasumigaseki Country Club is a gorgeous set of links by all standards. The course dates back to 1929 with a short pause for WWII and temporary use by the US Air Force. Now, the historic venue has been completely updated for modern PGA level play by Tom Fazio and his son Logan.
The course featured two greens for each hole – one with summer grass and one with winter grass. Team Fazio made it a single green course and tweaked some of the bunkers and water features.
“We kept the holes in the same location, just tweaked them and adjusted the fairway bunkers for today’s distances,” Fazio said in an interview with PGATOUR.COM. “We shaped the greens for modern standards. We kept the feel of the old course. We contoured the entire course from tee to green to give it a distinctive look and add a degree of framing and definition while keeping the holes in the same corridors.”
Long drivers will have plenty of space if they hit it in the right area. If not, expect a bunch of balls being played out of well-placed bunkers!
The best quote about the course probably comes from PGA TOUR agronomist Dennis Ingram who stated that the East Course was a “big, mainly wide open, in your face course of 7,600 yards with big, deep bunkers.”
Summer Olympics Individual Men’s Golf Predictions
Hideki Matsuyama +1200 (Japan)
Hideki Matsuyama pulled down an amazing win at the Masters this spring which instantly turned him into a legend of golf in his home country of Japan. Plus, he is one of the few golfers in the field who has not only played at the venue but who has also won there… twice! He won the 2009 Japan Junior and 2010 Asia-Pacific Amateur (West Course).
Viktor Hovland +1200 (Norway)
Viktor Hovland turned pro in 2019 and has won twice on the PGA Tour and has an additional Internation win. He’s jumped to the 11th spot in the Official World Golf Ranking and is sitting 9th in FedEx points. He finished T12 at the Open Championship.
Patrick Reed +1800 (USA)
Patrick Reed is now in the Olympics after Bryson DeChambeau withdrew due to COVID-19. Reed seems to love international play and has earned the nickname of Captain America over the years. He’s the 2019 Masters Champ and is fresh off a T34 at the 3M Open. He won the Farmers earlier this spring.
Others: I’m a big fan of Collin Morikawa (+700) but am leaning towards better value down the odds list. I will watch him for any prop bets during the event. I’m doing the same thing with Justin Thomas at +1000.
Men’s Olympic Golf Odds
Collin Morikawa +700
Xander Schauffele +850
Justin Thomas +1000
Rory McIlroy +1000
Hideki Matsuyama +1200
Viktor Hovland +1200
Paul Casey +1600
Patrick Reed +1800
Cameron Smith +2000
Shane Lowry +2000
Joaquin Niemann +2200
Abraham Ancer +2200
Corey Conners +2500
Tommy Fleetwood +2800
Sungjae Im +2800
Marc Leishman +3300
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +3300
Alex Noren +5000
Garrick Higgo +5000
Si-Woo Kim +5000
Guido Migliozzi +5000
Thomas Detry +6000
Carlos Ortiz +6000
Mackenzie Hughes +6000
Thomas Pieters +6600
Jhonattan Vegas +6600
Sebastian Munoz +8000
Ryan Fox +10000
Matthias Schwab +10000
Antoine Rozner +10000
Rikuya Hoshino +10000
Guillermo Pereira +10000
Adri Arnaus +12500
Rasmus Hojgaard +12500
Henrik Norlander +12500
Anirban Lahiri +15000
Sepp Straka +15000
C T Pan +15000
Jazz Janewattananond +15000
Sami Valimaki +20000
Maximilian Kieffer +20000
Kalle Samooja +20000
Adrian Meronk +20000
Rory Sabbatini +20000
Yuan Yechun +20000
Romain Langasque +20000
Hurly Long +25000
Joachim-B Hansen +25000
Ashun Wu +25000
Scott Vincent +25000
Renato Paratore +25000
Fabrizio Zanotti +25000
Kristian Krogh Johannessen +30000
Rafael Campos +40000
Gunn Charoenkul +40000
Juvic Pagunsan +50000
Gavin Green +50000
Ondrej Lieser +50000
Udayan Mane +100000
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