Ryder Cup golf betting preview: USA cherishes underdog role
By MATT FARGO
The PGA Tour season closed with a victory from Bill Horschel at the Tour Championship. That victory gave him the FedEx Cup championship and a cool $11.44 million heading into Ryder Cup week. While the Masters and the U.S. Open have many of us glued to our televisions throughout the weekend, the Ryder Cup tops them both.
Gleneagles Hotel is a par 72, 7,243-yard layout that goes back to the third Curtis Cup women's team matches in 1936 between the United States and Great Britain & Ireland. The Europeans have a significant edge on this track as 11 of 12 players have played here in a tournament while none of the 12 Americans have done so.
It is no secret that Europe has owned this event, winning seven of the last nine Ryder Cups including last time at Medinah Country Club in Chicago. The Europeans come in with that momentum as well as having the overall higher ranked players in the world. Ryder Cup past success is a huge part in going forward and it brings out the confidence in players as well as allowing the captains to better set up the matches. While Europe has dominated of late, the Americans are cherishing the underdog role.
The Europeans are -180 favorites which may seem like a lot of value on USA and I believe it is. Obviously being from here, I will be rooting hard for the Americans but this is not a homer bet. Trust me, I could still make a bet on the other side and root for the Americans. While the Americans are huge underdogs in the eyes of many, I think they make a very strong case for bringing the Ryder Cup back home. They were painfully close back in 2012 and that alone is huge motivation.
When looking at the players and the possible matchups, there are all sorts of numbers that get thrown our way and some of those can either be useless or outdated. Case in point, only four U.S. players have a winning Ryder Cup record, while only one European player has a losing one. Advantage Europe right? Not really. These records are not indicative of how the players actually played as it was more who they were playing against. It is not necessarily the player that makes the record as the captains have a lot to do with it.
While the European team has more of the higher ranked players, the average ranking of the players is lower on the United States side. That presents more balance and a chance to win matches many may not be expecting. There are nine players with experience on the American side and this is where the motivation really comes into play. If you add up the combined Ryder Cup records of those nine players, their cumulative record is 5-26. Individual match records are a combined 43-52-18 which isn't atrocious.
Rookies play a big part in the Ryder Cup as this experience is brand new. Two years ago, the Europeans had only one rookie on their roster, Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium while the Americans had four, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, Jason Dufner and Brandt Snedeker. And they almost pulled it off. This time around, the rookies are even at three on each side and the two rookies on the American side making their second appearance, Bradley and Simpson, went a combined 5-3.
Redemption has been a major theme of captain Tom Watson's message to his players. Seven players on this team were at Medinah two years ago and of those, six lost their singles matches on that auspicious Sunday. Look for that to be the deciding factor come Sunday in Scotland.
2014 Ryder Cup
USA +158 (5Dimes) 5 Units
By MATT FARGO
The PGA Tour season closed with a victory from Bill Horschel at the Tour Championship. That victory gave him the FedEx Cup championship and a cool $11.44 million heading into Ryder Cup week. While the Masters and the U.S. Open have many of us glued to our televisions throughout the weekend, the Ryder Cup tops them both.
Gleneagles Hotel is a par 72, 7,243-yard layout that goes back to the third Curtis Cup women's team matches in 1936 between the United States and Great Britain & Ireland. The Europeans have a significant edge on this track as 11 of 12 players have played here in a tournament while none of the 12 Americans have done so.
It is no secret that Europe has owned this event, winning seven of the last nine Ryder Cups including last time at Medinah Country Club in Chicago. The Europeans come in with that momentum as well as having the overall higher ranked players in the world. Ryder Cup past success is a huge part in going forward and it brings out the confidence in players as well as allowing the captains to better set up the matches. While Europe has dominated of late, the Americans are cherishing the underdog role.
The Europeans are -180 favorites which may seem like a lot of value on USA and I believe it is. Obviously being from here, I will be rooting hard for the Americans but this is not a homer bet. Trust me, I could still make a bet on the other side and root for the Americans. While the Americans are huge underdogs in the eyes of many, I think they make a very strong case for bringing the Ryder Cup back home. They were painfully close back in 2012 and that alone is huge motivation.
When looking at the players and the possible matchups, there are all sorts of numbers that get thrown our way and some of those can either be useless or outdated. Case in point, only four U.S. players have a winning Ryder Cup record, while only one European player has a losing one. Advantage Europe right? Not really. These records are not indicative of how the players actually played as it was more who they were playing against. It is not necessarily the player that makes the record as the captains have a lot to do with it.
While the European team has more of the higher ranked players, the average ranking of the players is lower on the United States side. That presents more balance and a chance to win matches many may not be expecting. There are nine players with experience on the American side and this is where the motivation really comes into play. If you add up the combined Ryder Cup records of those nine players, their cumulative record is 5-26. Individual match records are a combined 43-52-18 which isn't atrocious.
Rookies play a big part in the Ryder Cup as this experience is brand new. Two years ago, the Europeans had only one rookie on their roster, Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium while the Americans had four, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, Jason Dufner and Brandt Snedeker. And they almost pulled it off. This time around, the rookies are even at three on each side and the two rookies on the American side making their second appearance, Bradley and Simpson, went a combined 5-3.
Redemption has been a major theme of captain Tom Watson's message to his players. Seven players on this team were at Medinah two years ago and of those, six lost their singles matches on that auspicious Sunday. Look for that to be the deciding factor come Sunday in Scotland.
2014 Ryder Cup
USA +158 (5Dimes) 5 Units