The East Course at the Kasumigaseki Country Club plays host to the mens Olympic Golf event and we take a look at the field and pick 4 players to take on the bookies.
A quality field will take to the first tee despite the withdrawal of favourite, Jon Rahm and Bryson Dechambeau who, unfortunately, both picked up COVID. Rahm has now had to withdraw from a second high profile tournament in the last few weeks.
Open Champion, Collin Morikawa is the market leader at 15/2 with the ever consistent Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas both at 10/1. You can get 12/1 and better the balance.
The East Course plays to a par 71 and is described as tree lined with generous fairways. The rough is reportedly quite challenging so the big hitters won’t just be able to spray it all over the place. Players will have to handle hot and humid conditions with rain also a possibility at some point. I expect this week that while distance will be important accurate iron play could be the key to victory.
BETTING – Click here to bet
Collin Morikawa 15/2
Xander Schauffele 10/1
Justin Thomas 10/1
Viktor Hovland 12/1
Hideki Matsuyama 12/1
Rory Mcilroy 14/1
Paul Casey 18/1
Patrick Reed 20/1
22/1 and better the balance, prices correct at the time of posting but are subject to change
SUGGESTED BETS:
Collin Morikawa each way at 15/2
Morikawa was superb in seeing off Jordan Spieth and Louis Oosthuizen in the Open Championship and the now multiple Major winner will be looking to capitalise on his good form with an Olympic Gold Medal.
His approach shots are superb and given the generous fairways he will more than likely be playing off the short stuff more often than not.
Sung-jae Im each way at 28/1
The South Korean golfer has been in reasonable form of late with a Top 10 finish two starts back. He shouldn’t have a problem with the humidity and in an event where I think others will struggle with the conditions over the 4 days he looks a big runner.
Mackenzie Hughes each way at 66/1
Hughes has been showing up on leader boards for a while now, but it was at the Open Championship where he really impressed with a 6th place finish, his 3rd Top 15 in his last 4 starts so given his form his current price looks generous.
Garrick Higgo each way at 50/1
The South African burst on to the scene a few months back winning on both the European and PGA Tours, but since his PGA Tour victory he has missed 4 cuts and hasn’t featured towards the top of the leader boards. I think he is an amazing talent though and along with Christiaan Bezuidenhout, South Africa must have a fair chance of a medal and I am backing Higgo to come back to form in this big event.
