Olympic Golf Odds: Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia Among Favorites In Rio
Sweden’s Henrik Stenson will look to add an Olympic gold medal to his résumé when he tees off in Rio de Janeiro this week as a +500 favorite on the men’s Olympic golf odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Stenson’s win at the Open Championship marked his first career victory in a golf major and his third top-three finish on the PGA Tour this season heading into the Olympics.
The win at Royal Troon also ended a three-year winless drought on the PGA Tour for Stenson, who turned 40 earlier this year and faced questions as to whether he could capture a major championship.
Currently pegged at No. 5 in the world, Stenson followed up with a strong performance at the PGA Championship, where he remained in contention for three rounds before settling for a share of seventh place.
Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy elected to pass on participating in Rio. However, the event will not be short on star participants, including Great Britain’s Danny Willett, who trails on the Rio Olympic odds at +2200.
Willett claimed his first career green jacket with a victory at this year’s Masters, but has stumbled since capturing the spotlight, with his 37th-place finish at the U.S. Open marking his best performance.
Two other Europeans closely trail Stenson on the Olympic golf odds, with Spain’s Sergio Garcia sporting +700 odds, and Great Britain’s Justin Rose at +1000, while Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson and Patrick Reed are the top Americans, deadlocked at +1400.
Garcia has enjoyed a strong campaign this year, including a victory at the AT&T Byron Nelson followed by a pair of fifth-place finishes at the U.S. Open and Open Championship, but he missed the cut in his last outing at the PGA Championship.
Rose’s best performance this year was a third-place finish at the Wells Fargo Championship but the 2013 U.S. Open champion tallied five top-five finishes in 2015, including a second-place finish at the Masters.
It has been a disappointing season for Fowler, who missed the cut in three of his last seven tournaments and has just one top-three finish to his credit, while Watson, a two-time Masters champion, has struggled since his only win of the year at the Northern Trust Open.
Further down the odds, American Matt Kuchar joins Germany’s Martin Kaymer at +1600, while Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo rounds out the front of the pack at +2500 on the betting lines.
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Thumbnail photo via Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports Images
