The SB Nation Golf team has submitted their picks for who they believe will stand on the podium on Sunday.
The Men’s Golf Competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics has arrived.
Eight of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) will tee it up at Le Golf National, the 2018 Ryder Cup site roughly 17 miles southwest of downtown Paris. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will represent Team USA. So, too, will Xander Schauffele, the former San Diego State Aztec who won the PGA Championship and The Open Championship this year. Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark are the other two Americans vying for a medal this week in France.
Sixty players will tee it up, making this event slightly smaller than what many golf fans have grown accustomed to at PGA Tour Signature Events—a series of eight tournaments that features 70-player fields and larger purses. But medals, not money, are on the line this week at Le Golf National.
So, who will take home the bronze, silver, and gold? Our SB Nation Golf team, Playing Through, has submitted their predictions:
Fresh off his first career LIV Golf victory, Jon Rahm arrives in Paris with much more to prove. Since joining the Saudi-backed circuit, he has had an added chip on his shoulder. He has seen his game turn for the better in recent weeks, and now he will receive a medal that includes a chip of the Eiffel Tower within.
No player in the world has had a better three-month stretch than Xander Schauffele, who won a pair of majors in historic fashion. His final round 65s at both Valhalla and Royal Troon will live on forever as Schauffele will continue his impressive stretch by medaling once again at the Olympics. This time, he takes home the silver in a closely contested final round.
Since a strong showing at Augusta National, Collin Morikawa has done everything but win. The two-time major winner has played admirably, posting 11 straight top-25 finishes, five of which were top-5s. But the California kid breaks through this week, notching one of the biggest wins of his career by taking home a gold medal.
I’ve been such a believer in Tommy Fleetwood this year, so much so that here at Playing Through, I picked him to win The Open. I’m going to ride this out and believe that Tommy walks away from the 2024 season with some sort of hardware and takes home a medal for Great Britain.
Another player I’ve knighted this year is Ireland’s Rory McIlroy. We have seen so many close calls for Rory in the past, but 2024 really felt like a breakpoint in a bad way, with the final moments of the U.S. Open casting serious doubt as to whether or not this will truly happen again. Sports are often about poetry, and it would be poetic if, in this regard, Rory won silver. It is decided.
Ultimately, I think this is a battle for Golfer Of The Year between Scottie Scheffler and (seriously, I can’t believe I am about to say it) Xander Schauffele. Assuming this is the case, give me Scheffler. I have never picked him here at Playing Through and cannot let the year finish without doing so at least once, especially on behalf of our country.
He played this course well in 2018 at the Ryder Cup, and I’m going with my gut here.
This course fits Straka’s style of play nicely. He’s been flushing it lately, and he is due.
Gold: Shane Lowry (Ireland)
He’s playing so good right now. He’s so patriotic and wants this bad for his country!
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
