One of the pinnacles of the golfing calendar, the Ryder Cup, makes its bi-annual appearance this weekend as the world's best represent Europe and the United States at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy.
It's the 44th iteration of the golfing spectacle and the third time the tournament has been held outside of the US or Great Britain. Italy hosts the team event for the first time with the United States the defending champions, having won the trophy 19-9 at Whistling Straights two years ago.
Luke Donald (Europe) and Zach Johnson (US) captain the who's who of golf, with the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Patrick Cantlay all in attendance. Both sides have named four rookies in their 12-man rosters, which should provide some interesting matchups.
The US (5/6) are steady favourites to retain their title. They need to secure 14 points across the three days – which includes eight fourball matches, eight foursome matches, and 12 singles matches. Europe is priced at (6/5) with the tie at 12/1 - there have only been two ties in 43 previous Ryder Cups. The US are a slightly shorter price to lift the trophy at 4/6.
Betting on the correct score is pretty much a lottery with so many potential outcomes. Perhaps the Margin of victory bet is the better punt. The last four meetings have won by between 5-10 points, with the last close contest held in 2012. USA to win by between 4-6 points is a price not to be sniffed at 19/4.
The United States' big names – Scheffler, Cantlay and Xander Schauffele were rookies in 2021 and produced a combined match record of 8-1-2. They'll likely be in contention for the Top Individual Points Scorer market priced at 8/1, 10/1 and 10/1 respectively. Collin Morikawa also has an impressive 3-0-1 match record and is 18/1 in the market.
For Europe, the majority of the roster has questionable records in the tournament, with Tommy Fleetwood (4-2-2) owning the best win ratio. He's 12/1 to be the top points scorer, with only Rory McIlroy (17/2) and Victor Hovland (9/1) - who lost or drew all five of his outings in 2021 - priced lower.
Perhaps the best betting options can be found in the Top Golfer by Category markets. Max Homa (6/4) and Brian Harman (11/2) are both ranked in the top ten in the world rankings and are in play in the American rookie market. Sepp Straka (16/5) could be the best wager in the European rookie market.
In the overall Wildcard market, Morikawa (7/1), given his performance in the format when he was paired three times in fourballs/foursomes with Dustin Johnson, could be the play depending on his partner.
Looking at over/under lines on individual players Morikawa O1.5 (4/6), Cantlay O2 (Evens), Sepp Straka O1 (11/10) and Brian Harman O1 (5/4) are enticing lines that could be factored into a parlay.
