Collin Morikawa will be looking to become the first American to claim Olympic gold in golf in over a century when tees off in first-round action this week as a solid +700 favourite on the 2020 Olympic golf odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Morikawa travels to Japan after making history with his recent victory at the Open Championship. With that win earlier this month the 24-year-old became the first golfer to ever claim multiple victories while making a major tournament debut. Morikawa’s impressive Open Championship performance also solidified his position at No. 3 in the World Gold Rankings going into the opening round of Olympic men’s golf at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
Morikawa’s position atop the odds this week at online betting sites has been boosted by some notable absences at this year’s Olympic games. Second-ranked Dustin Johnson bowed out of the tournament earlier this year, while top-ranked Jon Rahm was recently forced to withdraw from the event following yet another positive COVID-19 test. Rahm is joined by Bryson DeChambeau, who will also miss the Olympics due to a positive COVID-19 test.
Despite those absences, Morikawa can expect to face no shortage of challenges from familiar rivals. Fellow Americans Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas closely follow Morikawa on the Olympic golf odds at +900 and +1000, respectively. Ireland’s Rory McIlroy follows at +1100, just ahead of Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who joins reigning Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama of Japan at +1200.
Schauffele remains set at No. 5 in the world rankings despite turning in mixed results this season. The 27-year-old has yet to earn a win on the PGA Tour, and is coming off a distant 26th-place finish at the Open Championship. McIlroy has also struggled, particularly on the big stage. The former No. 1 finished seventh at the U.S. Open, but outside of the Top 40 in this year’s other three major tournaments.
Conversely, Canada’s two entries in this year’s Olympic men’s golf tournament offer intriguing betting value. Listowel, Ontario’s Corey Conners looks to the tournament as a +2500 wager, while Hamilton’s Mackenzie Hughes sports lucrative +6600 odds for the event.
Currently listed at No. 35 in the World Golf Rankings, Conners rebounded from a shaky performance at the U.S. Open with a 15th-place finish at the Open Championship, and has recorded seven finishes among Top Ten so far this season.
Hughes, meanwhile, has overcome a dismal stretch earlier this spring, when he missed the cut in five straight outings, to emerge as a threat to win every week. The 30-year-old shot four sub-70 rounds at the Open Championship to claim a share of sixth place, and has now finished among the top 15 in three of his past four outings.
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