Europe has ‘cracked the code’ in the past.
Team spirit and an ethos of mutual encouragement and support are often cited as key when Europe finds success at the Ryder Cup. Team USA tends to enter the biannual showdown with an aggregate of higher-ranked players but perhaps less camaraderie than their opponents.
An important factor in Ryder Cup betting is the matchplay team format, which is very different from the individual strokeplay mostly played by pro golfers. Foursomes and betterballs make up half the Cup’s points.
Foursomes sees paired partners playing alternate shots with the same ball, while betterball counts the best of two scores on each hole. This makes the pairing choices of captains Luke Donald and Keegan Bradley very important on the first two days of the tournament – two players must complement (and compliment!) each other well.
CBS Sport’s preview of the 2025 Ryder Cup, starting on Friday at Bethpage Black in New York, says, “Overall talent is important, but the ability to gel with teammates across four sessions and get the best out of one another is something else altogether. Europe appears to have cracked the code in the first two days … while the US typically makes a charge on Sunday when 12 singles matches are contested.”
Home ground advantage
Bookmaker odds on Day 1 and Day 2 Foursomes and Fourballs (betterball) put the two teams much closer together than odds on the overall result.
The US is 1.63 to win overall, with Europe 2.50. However, Day 1 Fourballs are US 2.20, Europe 2.70; Day 1 Foursomes, US 2.30, Europe 2.65. Similar for Day 2.
Home ground advantage is a big influence in odds setting, but other elements within the match provide myriad betting opportunities.
Experience of top-level matchplay has proven to be important in the past and Europe fielding 11 of the 12 players who won the Cup in Italy in 2023 might also count this week.
The top point-scorer category for the three days has world No 1 Scottie Scheffler (US) at 5.80, followed by Rory McIroy (Europe) at 9.90, Jon Rahm (Europe) at 10.10, Bryson DeChambeau (US) at 10.90), Xander Schauffele (US) at 12.10, Russell Henley at 13.0 and Tommy Fleetwood (Europe) at 13.60.
Spaniard Rahm (5.00) is favourite to finish as the top wildcard pick, ahead of Patrick Cantlay (US, 6.50) and Justin Thomas (US, 8.50), with Europeans Matt Fitzpatrick (11.00) and Shane Lowry (14.10) value-bet outsiders.
All odds correct at time of publishing and subject to change.
