Swimming medals are still coming fast and furious, but men's golf will steal some of the spotlight in the coming days at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Golf was reintroduced at the Summer Games in Rio in 2016, making it part of the Olympics program for the first time since 1904. England's Justin Rose won the gold medal in the Olympic golf men's event in Rio, but Team USA is stacked for Tokyo 2020, with three of the top five players in the world.
Those three players are the favorites in men's 2020 Olympics golf, with William Hill Sportsbook listing recent British Open champion Collin Morikawa as the 7-1 favorite in its latest 2020 Tokyo Olympics golf odds. Team USA's Xander Schauffele (9-1) and Justin Thomas (11-1) aren't far behind.
But there's still plenty of action in the pool, with Team USA's Caeleb Dressel the +110 favorite to win gold Wednesday in the men's 100-meter freestyle final (10:37 p.m. ET). Semifinals also will run Wednesday night in the men's 200 backstroke (10:04 p.m. ET), where U.S. swimmer Ryan Murphy is the +350 second favorite, and the men's 200 individual medley (11:08 p.m. ET), with American Michael Andrew the -137 top choice at William Hill. Before you lock in your 2020 Tokyo Olympics picks or make any Tokyo 2020 predictions, you need to see what SportsLine Olympics expert Mike Tierney is saying.
A national sportswriter whose work appears in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, Tierney has covered nine Olympic Games in person. In the past two Olympic Games, his advice helped those who followed him cash in big, and he already has nailed a winner at Tokyo 2020.
Before Sunday's men's triathlon, Tierney tabbed Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt as his choice to win gold, and that bet paid off big at +600. The Olympics expert saw good value in the Norwegian, who had won twice this year and was the 2019 Grand Final champion.
"When an event is as wide open as the guys' three-in-one sport, look for a price and go with the hot hand." Tierney told SportsLine.
The 27-year-old Blummenfelt was in disbelief as he pulled away from the younger runners in the final stages to win by 11 seconds over Britain's Alex Yee. It is his nation's first medal in the sport, but picking a winner was nothing new for Tierney.
At the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018, he nailed Suzanne Schulting (+2500) of the Netherlands and Norway's Havard Lorentzen (+800) to triumph in speed skating and the USA's Mikaela Shiffrin (+185) to win the giant slalom. Tierney also took the Under (10.5) on the Americans' gold-medal count, and that also cashed as the USA came in with nine.
And at the Rio 2016 Summer Games, Tierney told readers to bet over on Team USA's gold medal count (41.5) and over on Team USA's overall medal count (102.5). The result? 46 golds, 121 medals and two easy cashes. Anyone who followed Tierney's advice cashed in huge.
Now, Tierney has been studying the 2020 Tokyo Olympics event schedule and digging down into the individual sports. He has released two confident Olympic best bets for Wednesday with plus-money payouts. He's sharing those 2020 Olympics picks only at SportsLine.
Top 2020 Tokyo Olympics predictions
Shockingly, Tierney is fading Morikawa in the men's golf event, even though he comes off winning a major championship and is the favorite at William Hill. The two-time major champion has finished in the top-five in his past three events and is considered the best ball-striker on the PGA Tour. But after his first major victory at last year's PGA Championship, Morikawa missed the cut in the following event. He also went 9-over through his first two rounds the week after that before rebounding to shoot a pair of 68's.
Morikawa certainly wants to win Olympic gold, and he is surely capable, but the grind of the past few weeks could drag him down. At just 24-years-old, the California native is likely to have more opportunities at the Summer Games, and his game is not without flaws. He ranks second this season in greens in regulation at 72 percent and hits the fairway just over 69 percent of the time (13th), but he is 166th in strokes gained putting. That could be a problem on what are expected to be fast greens with a lot of undulations.
How to make 2020 Tokyo Olympics picks
Tierney expects an upset in the Olympics 2020 men's golf tournament, and he is picking a double-digit long shot who has a lot of incentive to win. This golfer has the tee-to-green game to succeed at Kasumigaseki, and if he gets rolling with the putter, he could pull off an epic victory to earn gold. Tierney also has found great value in a swimming event that could bring a nice payday. Before you make any 2020 Olympics golf picks or Tokyo 2020 swimming predictions of your own, head to SportsLine and check out what Tierney has to say.
Who will win the 2020 Tokyo Olympics men's golf tournament? And which long shot is a must-back at Tokyo 2020? Visit SportsLine now to get Mike Tierney's best bets for the Tokyo Summer Olympics, all from the renowned sportswriter who's covered nine Olympics in person and cashed big in both 2016 and '18, and find out.
