A year on from when it was originally due to take place, the eyes of the golfing world will be on Wisconsin this weekend when the stars of USA and Europe compete for the Ryder Cup at the iconic Whistling Straits course.
Europe regained the trophy in Paris three years ago and Padraig Harrington and his team will be assigned the task of retaining it but the USA will be backed by a partisan crowd on a course which looks to suit so will be favourites to win the cup back.
Recent Results
2018 – Europe 17.5-10.5 USA
2016 – USA 17-11 Europe
2014 – Europe 16.5-11.5 USA
2012 – USA 13.5-14.5 Europe
2010 – Europe 14.5-13.5 USA
2008 – USA 16.5-11.5 Europe
2006 – Europe 18.5-9.5 USA
2004 – USA 9.5-18.5 Europe
2002 – Europe 15.5-12.5 USA
The Format
28 individual rubbers will make up the Ryder Cup. There are two sessions of play on the first two days and then one lengthy one to determine the champions over the course of Sunday.
Friday and Saturday are made up of morning foursomes where both captains pick pairs to play alternate shots with one ball and then afternoon fourballs in which each pairing will play their own ball. There are four rubbers in each session making up 16pts heading into Sunday.
On Sunday each of the 12 players will be out on show in singles action with a point for the overall course the reward for the winner of each. At the end of Sunday the individual points are added up and the nation with the most wins. The first team to 14.5 points wins the cup. If it ends 14-14 Europe will retain the trophy.
Schedule
Friday Morning: 4x Foursomes matches
Friday Afternoon: 4x Fourballs matches
Saturday Morning: 4x Foursomes matches
Saturday Afternoon: 4x Fourballs matches
Sunday: 12x Singles matches
The Course
We are at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin this week, the host course of the USPGA Championship in 2004, 2010 and 2015. European vice-captain Martin Kaymer won the title in 2010 which might be significant. The course this week is a par 71 as opposed to the 72 it was when the majors were here. It stretches to 7,390 yards but there are three par 4s that go beyond 500 yards and another which on the right day might be drivable so this is going to be setup as a big boys golf course.
The defence of the course is the fact it is exposed and is at the mercy of the wind and there is forecast to be a bit of a breeze this week which will be to the liking of the Europeans. There isn’t going to be a lot of punishment for missing the tee so you would expect this to be a week of bombs away off the tee with the winning side the ones who will hole the most putts on these slightly trickier than usual greens.
USA
Steve Stricker has one of the strongest sides ever compiled at his mercy this week. From a world ranking point of view this is the best American side there has been. It is so good that a major winner this season in Phil Mickelson couldn’t even make the team. The Open champion Collin Morikawa is here as is the FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay, whose form has arrived at just the right time for the event.
Assuming Brooks Koepka is fit, he, Dustin Johnson, Tony Finau and Bryson DeChambeau all add longer than normal length to the American side, a team who has six rookies in it, although one of those rookies is The Open champion and another is the Olympic champion so they are rookies in terminology alone. Stricker has experience of being USA captain in the Presidents’ Cup which went very well and he’ll be hoping to complete the double here.
Europe
Padraig Harrington will follow on from the good work done by Thomas Bjorn as European captain but he has his work cut out a little more than the Dane because he is on away soil. Not only are Europe playing on a course which will be setup against their strengths, but the current travel restrictions mean that other than expats there will be no European fans in the boisterous crowd either. That can’t be underestimated.
The one thing Europe do have in their favour is the world number one Jon Rahm, the US Open champion who could be the talisman of the competition. Rory McIlroy tends to deliver his best in this tournament as well while Viktor Hovland is off the back of a great PGA Tour campaign. There is plenty of experience in this Europe outfit with Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter veterans of this competition. Shane Lowry is a rookie but he was The Open champion in 2019 so he is pretty experienced too.
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Outright Betting
Europe have won nine of the last 11 Ryder Cups but I would be very surprised if they win this one. Aside from the fact that this is the strongest USA side put together before, the big problem the Europeans have is that a number of their team peaked in terms of form a long time ago. Lee Westwood hasn’t played great since he was runner up at Sawgrass while the form of Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood has been AWOL for much of the year. Even the likes of Matt Fitzpatrick and Ian Poulter have fizzled out a little recently.
That is in contrast to the Americans who have Cantlay as the FedExCup champion, Finau who won the first of the play-off events, DeChambeau who only lost a play-off in the second of them, Morikawa who two months ago won The Open and Schauffele who seven weeks ago won the Olympics. Very few of their players are out of form and although they have a lot of rookies there aren’t many in the side who are playing team golf for the first time. Europe won the Solheim Cup when the odds were against them but I think this is a step too far. I expect a cosy American win.
Correct Score
I really do think this will be a one-sided competition, partly because I don’t see enough Europeans in good enough form to make the singles competitive and if they are a blowout and the Americans dominate the fourballs which they should do with the power they have, Europe can’t possibly do enough damage in the foursomes to make this competition competitive. The only way Europe stay close here is if America implode but there are so many options for Steve Stricker I just don’t see it.
Therefore I’m going to take a couple of large margin correct scores in the USA favour and I’m going to go for a six and seven point win for USA. USA won their two recent Ryder Cups by five and six points and I expect them to be as dominant again, if not slightly more dominant so the 16/1 on 17-11 and 18/1 on 17.5-10.5 both feel like they are in the game. These look like nice ways to add to the handicap.
Tips
Back USA (-2.5) to beat Europe for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
Back them here:
Back USA to win 17-11 for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with Bet365
Back USA to win 17.5-10.5 for a 1/10 stake at 19.00 with BetVictor
Back it here:
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