Ryder Cup singles matches a chance to cash in.
Those who snapped up the 2.50 on Europe to win golf’s Ryder Cup will be a happy bunch of people on Sunday morning – with the visitors leading by a remarkable 11½-4½ and needing only 2½ more points to retain the trophy.
Ahead of the final 12 singles matches on Sunday evening (SA time), Europe have been slashed to 1.01 for the overall win. The US are 39.00 – up from 1.65 favouritism on Friday!
For Europe backers, the singles offer a chance to capitalise on winnings; for US supporters, a chance to recoup losses.
Betway has the US at 1.82 and Europe at 2.40 to win the most singles clashes – despite the embarrassing hidings handed the Americans in the foursomes and fourballs at New York’s fearsome Bethpage Black course.
The odds-setters’ thinking might be that the US cannot possibly keep getting beaten, not with the likes of world No 1 Scottie Scheffler among their number. The American superstars will be desperate to salvage pride and show their true abilities.
The US’s favouritism before tournament teed off on Friday morning was partly based on the longtime trend of host teams winning the biannual event and partly on the Americans having most of the world’s top-ranked players in their team.
But, as pointed out by some pundits, down the years the Europeans have cracked the code on camaraderie and team spirit better than their opponents and the Cup’s early pairs matches offered a chance for them – and punters – to profit.
It’s not as if the US played badly, but the European players were always there for their partners in crunch situations – epitomised by the pairings of Spaniard Jon Rahm and Englishman Tyrell Hatton and Irishman Rory McIlroy and Englishman Tommy Fleetwood.
That type of mutual support isn’t as big a factor in individual matches, so siding with carefully selected US players might be a smart call.
However, the 2.20 about Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard to beat Ben Griffin (1.70) looks fair value.
All Betway odds correct at time of writing and subject to change.
