Bubba Watson enters first Olympic golf tournament in 112 years as favorite

Bubba Watson might be heading into the Olympics ranked as the No. 5 golfer in the world, but when the first round of Olympic golf in 112 years tees off Thursday, he will be seen as the early frontrunner of the field.

With the top four and six of the top 10 men’s golfers in the world opting not to compete in Rio de Janeiro, Watson is the highest-ranked golfer competing and leads a four-man team from the United States that has all of its athletes in the top 10 of the 60-player field.

In addition to Watson, the Americans competing in Rio are Rickie Fowler (world No. 7, third-highest in Olympic field), Patrick Reed (world No. 13, No. 7 in Olympic field) and Matt Kuchar (world No. 15, No. 8 in Olympic Field).

This story was originally published August 10, 2016 at 7:14 PM with the headline "Bubba Watson enters first Olympic golf tournament in 112 years as favorite."