Olympic golf dark horse picks 2024: 3 sleepers who could win gold at Paris Games

Olympic fever is going around as the 2024 Paris Games are officially underway. Over the next two weeks, elite athletes will compete for a coveted gold medal, and now it's golf's turn to enter the fray for the third straight summer games; following more than a 100-year absence before the 2016 Games. The famed Le Golf National is prepped and ready to host golf at the 2024 Olympics.

Host of the 2018 Ryder Cup and The Open de France on the DP World Tour, Le Golf National welcomes 60 of the world's top golfers this week including World No.1 and 2024 Masters Champion, Scottie Scheffler, defending Olympic gold medalist and two-time major winner this year, Xander Schauffele, four-time major winner, Rory McIlroy, and two-time major winner, Jon Rahm, to name a few.

With a host of the elite names in the sport all striving for one of the most prestigious honors in all of sports, the task at hand for a potential dark horse winner of the gold medal in 2024 may seem daunting, having said that, however, here is a look at three potential dark horses who could spring a surprise and claim top spot on the podium at the 2024 Olympic golf competition in France.

3 Dark Horses who could win Olympic Gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics

3. C.T. Pan, Chinese Taipei

Like Xander Schauffele and Rory Sabbatini, C.T. Pan can call himself an Olympic medalist after securing his spot on the podium at the 2020 (2021) Tokyo Olympics in dramatic fashion. Pan took home the Bronze at the Tokyo Games after winning an epic seven-man playoff against some of the game's biggest names including, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Hideki Matsuyama, and Paul Casey; to name a couple. Can Pan repeat the feat this time around? He will be hoping to go one better and shock the world by taking home the Gold Medal this time.

The 32-year-old Pan has played sporadically and has had mixed results to date in 2024, but he has the perfect game to spike when clicking on all cylinders; as demonstrated by results of T2 at the John Deere Classic in early July and T3 at the Mexico Open at Vidanta in February. Le Golf National places a premium on accuracy with numerous water hazards in play; an element that could bode well for C.T. Pan who is one of the more accurate players in the field from off the tee (12th).

Pan winning the gold at the 2024 Olympics would be a surprise to many, then again, very few would have expected him to take home a medal at the last Olympics, either. C.T. has the potential to be a sneaky dark horse at these games.

2. Abraham Ancer, Mexico

Mexico's Abraham Ancer will make his second consecutive appearance at the Olympics following his debut at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Like Pan before him, Ancer had a good showing at the last Olympic Games. The 33-year-old took T14 in Japan alongside Norway's Viktor Hovland at Kasumigaseki C.C. last time around; he will be looking to go one better at the Paris Games.

Since the Tokyo Olympics, Ancer joined the LIV Golf Tour in 2022 and won for the first time on LIV earlier this year at LIV Hong Kong where he beat 2022 British Open winner Cameron Smith, and England's Paul Casey in a playoff. Abraham Ancer has finished 12th or better in five of his eleven starts on the LIV Tour this season and is coming into the Olympics on the back of a 16th-place finish in his last start at LIV's UK event last week. While the 33-year-old may not be the longest driver of the golf ball, he is another accuracy maven off the tee leading all LIV Golfers in fairways hit percentage this season. He also ranks 12th on the LIV Tour in greens in regulation percentage this year.

Ancer has shown that he is more than capable of winning big events all over the globe with wins on LIV, at the PIF Saudi International, and at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in 2021. On his day, Mexico's star golfer in his second Olympics could surprise.

1. Alex Noren, Sweden

While Sweden's talented young star Ludvig Aberg will enter these Olympics with all of the attention, and rightfully so, Noren could surprise at a familiar locale. Like both of the aforementioned dark horse candidates before him, Noren will be making a second straight start at the Olympic Games.

In 2021, Sweden's Alex Noren made his Olympic debut and took 16th at the Tokyo Games. Now, Noren returns at a familiar venue at Le Golf National where he has experienced a great deal of previous success. The eleven-time career winner won the Open de France at Le Golf National in 2018 and then proceeded to earn two points for the victorious European Ryder Cup Team later that year.

The 42-year-old is having an excellent season to date with twelve Top 25 finishes or better in eighteen starts; highlighted by finishes of T9 at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, 3rd at THE CJ Cup Byron Nelson, T12 at the PGA Championship, and T13 at the 152nd Open Championship in his most recent start. His blend of elite ball striking and accuracy off the tee make him a dangerous dark horse contender at the 2024 Olympic Games, as does his familiarity with the host venue. It wouldn't be a total shock to see Noren excel at Le Golf National again and take home the Gold Medal at these Olympics.