The 2021 staging of the Ryder Cup begins in Wisconsin on Friday and before the first tee shot is struck in the morning foursomes there is still time to keep on looking at the various markets. We have covered the outright market and the top USA scorer one and now we’ll look at the top European market.
Europe are the outsiders for this competition so it might be that their leading scorer doesn’t need the five points which Francesco Molinari bagged in Paris three years ago. In a competitive market it is 7/2 the field so there is plenty of value around.
Automatic Qualifiers
The first way into the Ryder Cup as far as the European team is concerned is the European points list and it is the US Open champion and world number one Jon Rahm who topped that list. The qualifying goes back a year when Tommy Fleetwood was the European star and he came second while the BMW PGA champion of last year, Tyrrell Hatton, was third in the European standings. Bernd Wiesberger was the last one in that list to have automatically qualified.
The other way into the European side is through the world points list where Rory McIlroy is the first qualifier courtesy of his win at the Wells Fargo Championship. Viktor Hovland has had a good year on the PGA Tour and he has qualified through that list as well as has Paul Casey who was a shot or so away from landing the USPGA Championship at Harding Park last year. The other two qualifiers come through two men who went very well in America at the start of the year in Matthew Fitzpatrick and Lee Westwood.
Captains Picks
Unlike his opposite number, European captain Padraig Harrington gave himself just the three picks, one fewer than Thomas Bjorn had when he led Europe to victory in Paris in 2018. He picked those after the recent BMW PGA Championship with the first of his picks coming in the form of a rookie, albeit a pretty experienced golfer in the form of the 2019 The Open champion Shane Lowry, who was a few shots from qualifying automatically.
Harrington went for experience with his other two picks with the all-time leading scorer for Europe in Sergio Garcia another of his picks. He got himself into the Tour Championship on the PGA Tour to highlight the sort of season he has had. The other pick was Ian Poulter, the Postman, who will be looking to deliver a performance akin to that which he came up with in 2012 when he almost singlehandedly turned the Ryder Cup on its head at Medinah.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account to get up to £25 in free bets! Perfect offer for this tournament! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Profile
So who are we looking for this week? Clearly in order to get the most points we’re looking at someone who will play as many of the five sessions as is possible. Anyone carrying an injury or who isn’t suited to both pairs formats should be forgotten this week, especially if Europe are to come out on top in this competition. If they do that we’re looking for 4+ points to be the winning total so anyone who might only play three sessions aren’t worth considering.
In saying that, Europe aren’t expected to fare as well as they have done in recent Ryder Cups so there might be a route where a player who doesn’t play every session lands the top score, but for safety it would be a good thing to be on the player who could play five games. The positive when picking the Top Europe scorer is that there are only three rookies on the team and plenty of experience so previous partnerships could easily be revived.
Betting
I don’t think this is the easiest market to bet on this year. I say that because you would think that Jon Rahm is the standout candidate but he was suffering from illness last week and if that hasn’t cleared up then asking the Spaniard to play five rounds in three days will be a tough ask. They are all much of a muchness aside from him with the exception of a couple of players such as Bernd Wiesberger and potentially Matthew Fitzpatrick who are unlikely to be involved in too many sessions.
I’ll take a chance on Shane Lowry because I think of the European side I would suggest he fits this course the best which might see him get the nod in more sessions than others. Lowry is a very good driver of the ball with a wonderful short game and a good putter but as importantly as all that he is very good in the wind. He is a likeable sort as well so you wouldn’t think he would be too difficult to pair up with others in the team. There is a chance he will partner Rory McIlroy at some point which will do his hopes no harm but he and Tyrrell Hatton might be a nice blend too. At 11/1 I’ll take a chance on the Irishman to deliver the goods here.
Tips
Back S.Lowry Top Europe Point Scorer (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 12.00 with Coral (1/4 1-3)
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2021
