One of the best bets whenever a Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup comes around is on the Top American point scorer and this year’s Presidents Cup is no different.
In Presidents Cup’s gone past this market was fairly easy to bet on because everyone used to play on the opening two days and only two players in each session on the Saturday used to be rested. That has all changed this year though so now we have to factor in who could and couldn’t sit out.
It comes as no surprise that Jordan Spieth is the favourite to deliver the goods in this market and while I’m not adverse to his chances of winning his price is a little skinny and it should be noted that he lost his singles matches in both the 2013 Presidents Cup and 2014 Ryder Cup to Graham DeLaet and Graeme McDowell respectively. He didn’t escape his group in the Accenture Matchplay either so his recent solo form in matchplay isn’t great.
When I bet on these markets I’m looking for a player who you would take to win a singles match as if they never change partners throughout the week the Sunday singles could well be the decider in winning or only tying the bet. It is obviously also important that your player plays as many of the sessions as possible and the better the man he is partnered with the better.
Rickie Fowler is the second favourite in this market but I’m not so sure I would want to be on him. A natural partner for him would be Phil Mickelson and while that would be a fun group to follow I’m not convinced it is solid enough to win many matches.
Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson come next and while Watson is likely to get a solid partner, especially in fourballs I’m not sure Johnson will do a lot. He could prove me wrong but he has looked disillusioned with the game since he blew the US Open.
At the other end of the scale you would think coming back from injury Chris Kirk is unlikely to play all the matches so we can leave him out. JB Holmes wasn’t originally on the team so you’d think he is unlikely to see all the action while Jimmy Walker’s form is a concern. Ditto Matt Kuchar.
I’ve got this down to Zach Johnson and Patrick Reed and that is ironic because I think they are the two men likely to partner Jordan Spieth which can’t possibly be a bad place to be given how well Spieth is playing at the minute. I’m going to plump for the latter though.
Patrick Reed showed he is up for the fight in the Ryder Cup last year and his partnership with Spieth was very strong so we are likely to see that this week especially if the Americans have one eye on the Ryder Cup next year. Reed beat Stenson in the singles in the Ryder Cup so we know he can win us a solo point.
This course looks nice for Reed. He doesn’t have to be accurate off the tee but he can go pin hunting with the iron in his hand and if he misses the greens we know he has a sensational short game. He is a good putter too so whoever he partners he will be an asset to but given that he’s likely to be alongside Spieth at some point I’ll ride that pairing and take Reed at 2.5 times the price of the star youngster.
Back P.Reed Top American (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 11.00 with Betfred (1/4 1-3)
