Golf best bets: 3 top props for the Paris Olympics

It's almost time for Olympic golf! The men's golf competition in Paris gets underway on Thursday morning from Le Golf National, and we're eyeing up three props for the unique tournament. Let's cash some tickets in Paris, shall we?

Collin Morikawa top-5 finish (+185 FanDuel )

It's hard to describe how well Morikawa has been playing this season. Although he doesn't have a win in 2024, the American has finished T16 or better in 10 straight stroke-play starts. He has five top-five finishes in that span, too. A majority of those starts came in full-field events, whereas the Olympic golf competition features only 60 players and more than a dozen write-offs.

You couldn't design a better course for Morikawa's game. Le Golf National features thin fairways and water hazards on more than half the holes. You need to be deadly accurate off the tee and precise with your irons to score well here, and those are Morikawa's greatest strengths. He should contend for the gold medal this week, but we don't trust him to win at short odds.

Hideki Matsuyama top-10 finish (+230 FD )

Matsuyama is such a boom-or-bust player, especially over the last few months. The Japanese star finished T66 at the Open Championship and missed the cut at the Genesis Scottish Open in his last two starts, but he finished T23, solo sixth and T8 in his three starts before heading to Scotland. We're banking on a boom week in Paris.

Le Golf National is similar to TPC Sawgrass as a water-heavy ball-striking test, which is great news for Matsuyama. The 32-year-old has four top-10 finishes at the Players Championship, and he was leading the tournament after Round 1 in 2020 before it was canceled due to COVID. If that course comp turns out to be accurate, Matsuyama should be in store for a great week.

Sepp Straka > Wyndham Clark (-130 DraftKings )

We're placing an emphasis on accuracy off the tee this week due to the setup at Le Golf National. If that's the case, this is the perfect matchup to target.

Clark ranks 162nd on the PGA Tour this season in driving accuracy, and his last four starts have been his worst four weeks of the season in terms of accuracy. He's trending in the wrong direction right now, and this golf course doesn't fit his game at the moment.

Straka, on the other hand, should be an ideal fit for Le Golf National. The Austrian is the most accurate off-the-tee player on the PGA Tour this year, and his irons have been on fire since the Masters in April. Hitting fairways and greens is going to be the name of the game this week, and Straka is doing that much more efficiently than Clark right now.