The last day of the Ryder Cup takes place on Sunday, the day where we know where the famous trophy will go as the 12 players on each side head onto the Whistling Straits course in singles action looking for one of the 12 points on offer.
It is going to take something incredible for USA not to win the Cup from here given that they head into the singles with an 11-5 lead. That means they need just 3.5 of the 12 points up for grabs to win the tournament. Europe need nine of the 12 to keep the trophy.
First Six Matches
It comes as no surprise that Padraig Harrington has front loaded his side with his best players. Europe need at least five of the first six to go in their favour to have any sort of a chance. What wasn’t quite as expected was that Steve Stricker would reply in going strong himself, so we should be treated to six fantastic matches to open up what looks like being a routine day for the home side, even if history tells things are never quite like that.
The first match out onto the golf course sees Xander Schauffele going up against Rory McIlroy, who was a surprise pick from Europe when you consider how he has played this week. They will be followed by the FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay who has a singles date with the inspired Shane Lowry. Match three sees the WGC Matchplay finalist Scottie Scheffler taking on the best player this week in Jon Rahm before Bryson DeChambeau takes on Sergio Garcia. Match five sees The Open champion taking on Viktor Hovland in a battle of the rookies before Dustin Johnson meets Paul Casey.
Later Six Matches
It remains to be seen just what context the final six matches will be played in. If things go right for USA at the top of the day then these matches could be rendered irrelevant to them but if Europe are launching a Medinah like comeback then these games could yet contain plenty of pressure. That will be the aim for Europe – to make these matches mean something. If they do that then we could be in for a special evening. If not these games might lack some intensity.
The second half of the singles begins with Brooks Koepka going up against the debutant Bernd Wiesberger before The Northern Trust winner Tony Finau takes on an Ian Poulter who has disappointed so far this week. Justin Thomas then meets Tyrrell Hatton in a tasty match nine before Harris English takes on the European number one Lee Westwood. The final two matches of the competition sees Jordan Spieth looking to end his ridiculous record in singles play when he meets Tommy Fleetwood before Daniel Berger takes on Matthew Fitzpatrick in the final match out onto the golf course.
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Betting
I’ll take four bets in the singles on Sunday. The first of those comes with Sergio Garcia to beat Bryson DeChambeau. A lot is made of the length of Bryson DeChambeau but I don’t think enough is made of his struggles in the wind with his high ball flight. The other thing about his length is that the holes he can use it to his advantage could easily see it become a disadvantage if he gets out of position. Garcia isn’t quite as much of a maverick as DeChambeau and he’ll know he can pile some pressure on Bryson if he finds the fairways and gives himself control into the greens. That is exactly what he has done in this tournament so far and while there will be the odd hole Bryson gets it right and wins over the 18 I fancy Garcia to get the better of him.
The best bet for me in these singles is for Tony Finau to get the better of Ian Poulter. This is just a pick on course fit. Poulter isn’t suited to this test whereas the length of Finau is perfectly suited to it. We shouldn’t forget that when the USPGA Championship was here in 2015 Finau registered a top 10 so he has a good history on the course. Poulter has no better than a T37 here and doesn’t strike the ball well enough or long enough to compete with the power and class of Finau. This looks a stonewall USA point to me.
After that match we get into the realms of where USA might well have secured the Cup and Europe are playing for pride and two men who I think will be eager to restore some are Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood. Whatever happens I think Europe will be determined in these later matches because if they’re not they won’t just lose the cup but could do under in record breaking scores which nobody will want to be a part of.
Hatton has Justin Thomas in his singles match and he is far too big a price to beat a guy whose putter has been a concern for a good period of time and hasn’t really caught fire this week either. He has missed a number of putts you’d expect him to make, so much so that he was left out of the fourballs on Saturday. This test suits Hatton perfectly and he can pick up his first Ryder Cup singles point. Fleetwood is another who can do that when he takes on Jordan Spieth. Spieth is just too erratic with his long game for me and that is why he heads into this match without a win in the six singles matches he has played in Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. Some of the players to have beaten Spieth include Graham DeLaet, Graeme McDowell, Jhonattan Vegas and Thorbjorn Olesen and on a links test Fleetwood is better than all of those. I’ll take the consistency of the Englishman at a big price.
Tips
Back S.Garcia to beat B.DeChambeau for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back T.Finau to beat I.Poulter for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back T.Hatton to beat J.Thomas for a 3/10 stake at 3.10 with Sky Bet
Back T.Fleetwood to beat J.Spieth for a 3/10 stake at 2.88 with Boylesports
Back him here:
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