While the two regular strokeplay tournaments take place in South Africa and Hawaii from Thursday those who like their golf in matchplay format are treated this week with the latest EurAsia Cup which is a Ryder Cup style tournament between Asia and Europe.
This is the second staging of the tournament in its current guise although prior to this biannual event the same nations were involved in the Royal Trophy. The first EurAsia Cup in Malaysia in 2014 was tied so whoever wins this weekend will win the cup for the first time.
The format for the week is slightly different to the Ryder Cup in that there are only three sessions rather than five. On Friday all 12 men are involved in six fourball matches before the same 12 play in foursomes on Saturday and the competition concludes with 12 singles matches on Sunday to decide the destination of the trophy.
In the seven Royal Trophy competitions Europe had the edge winning five times and losing twice and so with that in mind they are probably the worthy favourites this week and the mere fact that it is Ryder Cup year and Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke leads them here makes me think they will be taking this seriously particularly those who might need a wildcard for Hazeltine down the line.
Although Europe are worthy favourites this has to be the strongest Asian side they have ever managed to assemble for a tournament of this ilk. Not only does it have some star studded players but they will be playing in conditions that are familiar to them so I’m not sure I’d want to be taking them on. Certainly not to begin with at least.
I’ll leave the Cup winning market alone for now but there are a couple of Top Team Scorer markets to go at and they always interest me in this thing. What I like about this particular tournament when betting on these sort of markets is the fact everyone plays in every session so we don’t need to work out who might and might not play.
If we start with the Asian market we will see a pretty competitive betting heat, made arguably even more competitive given that the fourball pairings have been announced already.
Byeong-Hun An is the favourite in the market and he has the help and experience of Thongchai Jaidee alongside him in the opening round so it isn’t hard to see why he is the favourite but when we are betting on a tournament of this kind we have to be on someone who you would fancy to win a singles match because the likelihood of pairings staying together and getting the same score on the first two days are high.
I’m not convinced An would if he gets a bad draw and that puts me off him. Of that pair I would rather be on Jaidee but the fact they take on Matt Fitzpatrick and Danny Willett on Friday puts me off a little I must say.
Anirban Lahiri has to be on anyone’s radar. He’s a leading Asian player but he’s been given the task of going up against Ian Poulter in the fourballs which isn’t what you want when each player only has three matches.
Initially you could be forgiven for thinking that Nicholas Fung and Danny Chia were making up the numbers here but they have landed the potentially favourable draw against Victor Dubuisson and Soren Kjeldsen so all of a sudden they might be worth a try but there is still one other I prefer.
Predictably for anyone who has followed me for however long that man is Kiradech Aphibarnrat. I think Jeev Milkha Singh has pulled off a masterstroke in putting the Thai out last with SSP Chawrasia and I have to say they look a good pairing.
It is extra helpful they go up against one of the weaker pairings in Lee Westwood and Chris Wood. I say weaker. They’re not weak although Westwood needs to play well but they are not as strong as some pairs Clarke has put together.
We know Aphibarnrat can win a singles match. He’s the Paul Lawrie Matchplay champion where he defeated some really solid golfers and he has a style made for matchplay with his aggressive pin hunting style and underrated putting game so at a crazy 11/2 I’m on Aphibarnrat here.
Looking at the European market and the same philosophy applies. We’re looking for someone who we know we can rely on in the singles. On the face of it that would be more in this market than the Asian one.
Generally in these formats Ian Poulter is the first port of call and I certainly wouldn’t disagree with that because he’s a wonderful matchplay golfer and always raises his game in these team events but he was recently enjoying his 40th birthday in Vegas so he might be carrying a bit of rust which isn’t ideal.
Danny Willett and Matt Fitzpatrick are the favourites and they are paired together in the opening round so they will score the same in the first day so I can see why they are favourites but they’re not certainties to beat An and Jaidee so they can be swerved easily enough.
There are many other contenders in this market but the man I’m going with is Victor Dubuisson. He is experienced enough in these team events having played in the Ryder Cup and we saw in the Accenture Matchplay in the past that he can beat anyone over 18 holes so we wouldn’t be fretting over the draw on Sunday.
He and Kjeldsen aren’t certainties to beat Chia and Fung but that is the pairing they would all want to face and if they do win that the Frenchman would be on the board and have plenty to build on. At 7/1 he looks the pick of the European market.
Back K.Aphibarnrat Top Asian Player (e/w) for a 2/10 stake at 6.50 with Bet365 (1/4 1-3)
Back V.Dubuisson Top European (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 8.00 with William Hill (1/4 1-3)
