2021 Olympics golf odds: Collin Morikawa new betting favorite for gold medal after withdrawals of Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau (COVID)

The Olympic men's golf tournament from the Tokyo Olympics begins Wednesday evening at 6:30 Eastern time but it has lost a little more star power with both world No. 1 Jon Rahm of Spain and American Bryson DeChambeau (No. 6) having to withdraw over the weekend after testing positive for COVID. Rahm had been the betting favorite at William Hill Sportsbook to win gold but that is now American and reigning British Open champion Collin Morikawa at +700.

There is no PGA Tour event this week because of the Games, but the European Tour does have an event. You may remember that Rahm also tested positive in June at the Memorial Tournament. He was leading by six strokes after three rounds when he was forced to withdraw because of the positive test. Since then, he won the U.S. Open and finished third at the British Open.

With all the testing protocols, etc., there apparently will not be enough time to replace Rahm on Team Spain, leaving Adri Arnaus as the lone member and knocking the field down from 60 to 59. It's a typical 72-hole stroke-play event held at Kasumigaseki Country Club's East Course (about an hour from downtown Tokyo), a par 71 at 7,447 yards.

The Americans have the most players in the field with four and Patrick Reed (+1800 to win) has replaced DeChambeau – assuming Reed clears testing protocols. DeChambeau wouldn't have qualified for the Games if world No. 2 Dustin Johnson hadn't chosen not to play. Reed played at the Rio Games in 2016 – golf's return to the Olympics for the first time since 1904 – and finished T11. England's Justin Rose won gold then but didn't qualify this year. Neither did silver medalist Henrik Stenson of Sweden or bronze medalist Matt Kuchar of the USA.

Morikawa is certainly among the favorites to win PGA Tour Player of the Year and a gold medal could all but lock that up for him. He also won a WGC event back in February. Morikawa capture the British Open in his first time playing in that event and also the 2020 PGA Championship in his first time playing in that. Yep, it's his first time in the Olympics.

Americans Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas are +900 second-favorites. Four of Thomas' 14 career PGA Tour wins have come in Asia: The 2016 and 2017 CIMB Classic in Malaysia, and the 2018 and 2020 CJ Cup at Nine Bridges in South Korea. Schauffele's mother was raised in Japan and he has traveled there numerous times. The USA is the only country with four players. No other countries have more than two.

Hideki Matsuyama became an even bigger superstar in his native Japan by winning this year's Masters and is +1200 to add Olympic gold.

Hard not to root for South Korea's Sungjae Im (+2800) and Si Woo Kim (+5000). Both skipped the British Open to prepare for this event because any South Korean athletes who win an Olympic medal are allowed to forgo a two-year military stint, which is mandatory for males between ages 18-28.

So who wins this week's big golf tournament? And which long shots will stun the golfing world? Join SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard, all from the model that's nailed seven golf majors and is up over $10,000 since the restart.