2012 Ryder Cup Odds To Win – United States Favored By Oddsmakers

Ryder Cup Betting Preview
By Alf Musketa
Sportsmemo.com

With the exception of The Masters, the Ryder Cup is the biggest event in all of golf. This year’s event will be played on U.S. soil at Medinah Country Club near Chicago, IL. A par 72 that stretches out to 7,658 yards, Medinah is an old tree lined U.S. Open style track with little water and reachable par 5's. The course set up is somewhat at the discretion of the home team's captain Davis Love III. He knows what type of team he has (captain picks the last four players) and therefore will set up the track accordingly. With many bombers on the U.S. squad we expect fairways to be wide and not much rough.

Matchplay starts Friday and ends Sunday with foursome (alternate shot) and four-ball (best ball) matches the first two days and two rounds each day with two-man teams. Sunday will feature 12 single head-to-head matchups.

Europe holds the Ryder Cup and will retain it with a tie, 14-14 points each; USA must reach 14.5 points to win. So, if you are betting that Europe would win, be careful with the wording that the sportsbooks post. "To retain the Cup" for the Euro squad is the same as winning the Cup and you might have to pay an extra price. Buyer beware.

The current line is USA -145 to win the Cup.

Team USA has five rookies. Team Europe has only two. However, last time on home soil it was the rookies who were fired up led by Boo Weekly and Anthony Kim that put the U.S. over the top. Team USA has seven major championship winners, the Euros only have four. Yes, the Euro team has the better overall record and has won four of the last five Ryder Cups. Team USA has won two out of the last three on home soil.

Team USA will most certainly be led by Tiger Woods; we expect him to be paired for both foursome matches with captain's pick Steve Stricker. The duo was undefeated at the President's Cup. With wide fairways, if Tiger has a shot at the green he's the best there is to the green and around it. Phil Mickelson recently went to the claw putter grip and his play improved during the Fed Ex Cup. He was t15th at the Tour Championship.

All players on Team USA made it to the Fed Ex Cup finals and the Tour Championship which was played last week. Team Europe had just five players on its 12-man team make it the Tour Championship – some of them did not play in any event of the Fed Ex Cup playoffs. The other seven Euro members participated in regular Euro Tour events where their season concluded a couple of weeks ago. Some of these members have not played tournament golf for 2-3 weeks and might be rusty.

I have not listed individual Ryder Cup records here for a reason. It's ancient history. The teams are different, the courses are different, and so are the captains. I'm not a fan of either team captain.

Ryder Cup Betting Preview and Pick
By Matt Fargo
Playbook.com

We closed the PGA Tour season with a win on Brandt Snedeker at the TOUR Championship. That victory gave him the FedEx Cup championship and a cool $11.4 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. The 39th Ryder Cup takes place from Medinah Country Club in Chicago, host of a U.S. Open and two PGA Championships, most recently in 2006.

Medinah is a par 72, 7,561-yard layout that has changed quite a bit since hosting its last big event. Greens have been redone, holes lengthened and water has been put in but the Americans will try and best use it to their advantage. Captain Davis Love III is allowed to set up the course any way he wants and he is having the rough mowed down and the greens running fast. Love said limited rough and quick greens should benefit the U.S. team as they are more used to those conditions than the Europeans are.

It is no secret that Europe has owned this event, winning six of the last eight Ryder Cups including last time at Celtic Manor in Wales. 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 home edge is still pretty big for the Americans.

It is so big in fact that the U.S. team is the favorites at -130. That may seem like a lot of value on Europe and it probably is but not enough to sway me and that that side. 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 but I will not have to do that this year. While the Americans are the underdogs in the eyes of many, I think they make a very strong case for bringing the Ryder Cup back home.

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, not one U.S. player has a winning Ryder Cup record, while only two European players have 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.

The Americans have a lot going for them. First off, it is on home soil and seven of the past 10 Ryder Cups were won by the home team. The Americans have lost only once at home dating back to 1999, in 2004 at Oakland Hills, which was set up like a major with thick rough and narrow fairways. As mentioned, it will be more wide open this time around which seems to fit the players games much better. And with that comes the boisterous fan base which is obviously a huge edge.

While the European team has more of the higher ranked players, on the U.S. roster, only Jim Furyk is outside the top 20. The Americans also have a ton of momentum on their side as all 12 U.S. Ryder Cup players were in the Tour Championship as opposed to just five of the European players. Making it even more positive, seven American team members finished inside the top 10 and while the grind of the FedEx Cup was enormous, it will certainly not suggest a letdown this week.

Rookies play a big part in the Ryder Cup as this experience is brand new. The Europeans have only one rookie on their roster, Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium while the Americans have four. Disadvantage? Not at all. Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson have won a major championship, Jason Dufner has won twice on tour this year and has been in the mix in the majors and Brandt Snedeker just won something called the FedEx Championship thanks to three top six finishes in the playoffs.

Overall, the American have a little more experience (115 matches vs. 111 matches) so there is no real edge there but with the way the Americans are playing right now, they will be extremely tough to beat.

2012 Ryder Cup

USA -130 (5 Units)