We see major championships four times a year and we see the Ryder cup every other year, but there is one prestigious tournament that takes place just once every four years.
That tournament has more on the line than a large prize pool or another trophy to sit on a shelf. That tournament is the Olympic Games.
This will be just the third Olympic Games since 1904 that golf has been played.
This year’s Olympics take place in Paris, France and the golf will take place at The Albatross Course at Le Golf National.
This is a familiar course for those who follow the sport as it is the home of the Open de France of the DP World Tour each season since 1991 (outside of 1999 and 2001) and was the 2018 host of the Ryder Cup.
The men will take to the course beginning Thursday (Aug. 1) and the women will have their turn beginning next week.
The Field
This week’s field consists of 60-golfers as 32 different countries will be represented.
The top 15 of the International Golf Federation (IGF) points list is the first qualification for qualifying for this event.
From there, the remaining spots to fill the 60 man field are based on the IGF list with no more than two players coming from one nation.
The IGF also guarantees that at least one golfer from the host nation and each geographical region (Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania) make the field.
The United States is the only country who features more than two golfers teeing it up this week as the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa each cracked the top 15 of the IGF.
This week’s field will be headlined by World No. 1 Scheffler who looks to add a gold medal to his storied season.
Schauffele took down both the PGA Championship and The Open Championship already this season and comes in as the defending champion, winning Gold in 2021 in Tokyo.
Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Aberg and Wyndham Clark round out of the top five of the OWGR and will be teeing it up this week.
Matthieu Pavon and Victor Perez will represent the host country, France, in this week’s field.
Justin Rose won the first golf gold medal back in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro since golf returned to the Olympics for the first time since 1904.
The field of course features the world’s best but with the cap of golfers per country, many won’t be in attendance. The likes of Patrick Cantlay, Bryson DeChambeau, Sahith Theegala, Russell Henley, Brian Harman, Max Homa, Tony Finau, Keegan Bradley and Cameron Young are all within the top 25 of the OWGR but won’t be in attendance.
Being the Olympics, I feel the need to list every golfer in this field, so here we go. The number next to their name indicates their Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) placement.
USA
Scottie Scheffler – No. 1
Xander Schauffele – No. 3
Wyndham Clark – No. 5
Collin Morikawa – No. 7
Ireland
Rory McIlroy – No. 2
Shane Lowry – No. 33
Sweden
Ludvig Åberg – No. 4
Alex Noren – No. 55
Norway
Viktor Hovland – No. 6
Kristoffer Ventura – No. 281
Spain
Jon Rahm – No. 9
David Puig – No. 113
Japan
Hideki Matsuyama – No. 12
Keita Nakajima – No. 83
Great Britain
Tommy Fleetwood – No. 13
Matt Fitzpatrick – No. 18
France
Matthieu Pavon – No. 20
Victor Perez – No. 78
Austria
Sepp Straka – No. 21
Australia
Jason Day – No. 24
Min Woo Lee – No. 36
South Korea
Tom Kim – No. 26
Byeong Hun An – No. 27
Canada
Nick Taylor – Canada – No. 35
Corey Conners – Canada – No. 37
South Africa
Christiaan Bezuidenhout – No. 40
Erik van Rooyen – No. 67
Germany
Stephan Jaeger – No. 42
Matti Schmid – No. 134
Denmark
Nicolai Højgaard – No. 44
Thorbjørn Olesen – No. 85
Belgium
Thomas Detry – No. 48
Adrien Dumont de Chassart – No. 187
Argentina
Emiliano Grillo – No. 52
Alejandro Tosti – No. 98
New Zealand
Ryan Fox – No. 59
Daniel Hillier – No. 190
Poland
Adrian Meronk – No. 73
Chile
Joaquin Niemann – No. 99
Mito Pereira – No. 272
Finland
Sami Välimäki – No. 100
Tapio Pulkkanen – No. 378
Chinese Taipei
Kevin Yu – No. 108
C.T. Pan – No. 140
China
Carl Yuan – No. 155
Marty Dou – No. 338
Colombia
Camilo Villegas – No. 177
Nico Echavarria – No. 269
Italy
Matteo Manassero – No. 180
Guido Migliozzi – No. 198
India
Shubhankar Sharma – No. 219
Gaganjeet Bhullar – No. 261
Puerto Rico
Rafael Campos – No. 221
Mexico
Carlos Ortiz – No. 240
Abraham Ancer – No. 312
Thailand
Kiradech Aphibarnrat – No. 242
Phachara Kwongwatmai – No. 287
Malaysia
Gavin Green – No. 257
Paraguay
Fabrizio Zanotti – No. 343
Switzerland
Joel Girrbach – No. 366
The Course
The Le Golf National in Guyancourt, France has been the host of the Cazoo Open De France since 1991, outside of 1999 and 2001. It also played host to the 2018 Ryder Cup.
It plays as a Par 71 at 7,247 yards.
Le Golf National was opened in 1990 and quickly established itself as one of the greatest venues in the world of golf. The track is known for providing an extremely demanding test.
It was originally designed by Hubert Chesneau and Robert Van Hagge. The course underwent some significant changes prior to the 2016 edition of the Cazoo Open de France in preparation for the hosting of the 2018 Ryder Cup.
The Le Golf National is a fairly exposed course that has a links-style feel to it.
The fairways are average in width and feature undulations.
The greens are bentgrass and are average in size as well. These bentgrass greens run at around 12 on the Stimpmeter.
Water is in play on holes one, two, 13, 15, 16 and 18 as well.
Finding the fairways here at Le Golf National is more important than bombing the ball off the tee. The rough featured this week is slightly penal as well.
Off-the-tee metrics aren’t the most important here, as it is what golfers do after their tee shots that will make-or-break it at this venue.
Finding these average-sized greens in regulation is the key to victory at Le Golf National. If greens are to be missed, golfers who are above-average in scrambling will see a leg up.
In all, the course demands patience.
The Weather
As of the time of writing this, Thursday calls for the highest percent chance of precipitation at 60-percent. The rest of the week calls for at most, a 20-percent chance of precipitation. Temperatures will begin at 83-degrees on Thursday before slowly falling to 79-degrees come Sunday. Winds will also range from eight-to-nine miles-per-hour across all four days. In all, it appears that the weather may be on our side this week!
Key Stats
Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)
Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)
Scrambling
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (SG: OTT)
Driving Accuracy
Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)
Par Four Average Scoring
Bogey Avoidance
Strokes Gained: Around the Green (SG: ATG)
Betting Card
Jon Rahm (+1100)
My favorite this week to claim the gold medal is Rahm. He recently had a strong showing at The Open Championship where he finished T7th. He’s also fresh off a victory last week at the LIV Golf United Kingdom. Prior to that he placed tenth in Andalucia and third in Nashville. Rahm is also first on LIV in GIR%, eighth in scrambling, ninth in SG: PUTT and 14th in driving accuracy. Rahm has been forgotten among the world’s best since his move to LIV. Let’s not forget that less than a year ago, he along with Scheffler and McIlroy were the PGA Tour’s three-headed-monster. Rahm has everything in his bag to win this event and is in the best form he’s been in in some time.
Tom Kim (+2500)
Kim made a surprise visit here last year at the Cazoo Open de France on the DP World Tour where he finished T6th. His surprise playing in the Open de France a season ago may point toward him preparing for this year’s Olympic Games. There is more on the line for someone like Kim than the others within this field. A victory this week would exempt Kim from a mandatory 18-month military service in South Korea before he turns 35. Now, Kim has a lot of time between now and then, but what better way for the 22-year-old to find exemption than by winning his country a gold medal. Kim is also 26th on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy, 58th in SG: OTT, 63rd in SG: APP, 64th in par four average scoring, 72nd in SG: ATG, 86th in GIR%, 98th in SG: PUTT, 115th in scrambling and 132nd in bogey avoidance.
Hideki Matsuyama (+4000)
Matsuyama hasn’t been in the best of form as of late, placing T66th at The Open Championship and missing the cut at the Genesis Scottish Open but prior to that he placed sixth at the U.S. Open and T8th at the Memorial Tournament. Matsuyama is one of those golfers who when you think is out of form, pops off for a victory. On top of that, he offers great value at 40/1 in a 60-golfer field. Matsuyama is currently first on Tour in SG: ATG, fifth in scrambling, 23rd in both par four average scoring and bogey avoidance, 33rd in SG: APP, 40th in SG: OTT, 93rd in GIR%, 100th in driving accuracy and 133rd in SG: PUTT.
Sepp Straka (+5500)
Again, Straka isn’t in the best form coming into this week as he placed T22nd at The Open Championship and missed the cut at the Genesis Scottish Open. However, it hasn’t been that long since he had a run of nine events where he placed 16th or better in seven of them and top five in three of them. He placed T5th at the Memorial Tournament, T5th at the Charles Schwab Challenge, T8th at the Wells Fargo Championship, T5th at the RBC Heritage, T16th at the Masters and T16th at THE PLAYERS Championship. Straka is currently first on Tour in driving accuracy, 34th in both SG: APP and GIR%, 39th in SG: OTT, 64th in par four average scoring, 66th in bogey avoidance, 84th in scrambling, 112th in SG: PUTT and 143rd in SG: ATG.
Guido Migliozzi (+10000)
Migliozzi won the Open de France at this exact golf course in 2022. On the DP World Tour, Migliozzi is currently 18th in par four average scoring, 21st in bogey avoidance, 22nd in SG: APP, 40th in GIR%, 51st in scrambling, 60th in SG: PUTT, 75th in SG: ATG, 79th in SG: OTT and 81st in driving accuracy. He also won recently on the DP World Tour at the KLM Open back in June. Outside of that he placed T31st at The Open Championship, T8th at the European Open and second at the Volvo China Open.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+10000)
There isn’t much there in terms of form for Bezuidenhout as he missed the cut at The Open Championship and withdrew from the Genesis Scottish Open. However, he lines up well statistically for this week. He’s currently third on Tour in par four average scoring, tenth in scrambling, 11th in SG: PUTT, 28th in bogey avoidance, 46th in SG: APP, 47th in SG: ATG, 87th in driving accuracy, 120th in SG: OTT and 164th in GIR%.
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