Fact or Fiction: Scottie Scheffler Will Breeze to a Gold Medal in Paris

The bookmakers are all over Scheffler this week at the Olympics. Is this his gold medal to lose? The SI Golf crew weighs in.

Welcome back to SI Golf’s Fact or Fiction, where we’ve watched about 13 hours of Olympic rugby coverage and still can’t figure out the sport.

Once again, we’re here to debate a series of statements for writers and editors to declare as “Fact” or “Fiction” along with a brief explanation. Responses may also (occasionally) be “Neutral” since there’s a lot of gray area in golf.

Do you agree or disagree? Let us know on the SI Golf X account.

Scottie Scheffler is the favorite to claim Olympic gold according to the bookmakers and also SI’s pick to win. They’ll be proven correct this week at Le Golf National. 

Bob Harig: FICTION. There are too many good players with too much motivation to simply pencil Scheffler in as the winner right now. We’ll get a better idea of how much the Olympics means to him soon enough but this won’t be an automatic win for Scheffler, who has some putting issues to straighten out after a tough performance at Royal Troon.

John Pluym: FICTION. Xander Schauffele is the Champion Golfer of the Year and riding high after his victory at Royal Troon (sounds like he had a little too much beer and wine out of the Claret Jug). He’s the hottest player in the world, so I think he should be the favorite and not Scheffler.