Ryder Cup betting preview: Bettors are (unsurprisingly) backing the United States to win at home
Bettors are confident in the United States' chances of winning the Ryder Cup on home soil.
The American team's odds are now at -190 at BetMGM ahead of the tournament beginning on Friday. The U.S. opened at -140 to win and the odds have grown as the U.S. has gotten nearly 49% of wagers and 62% of the money bet on the outcome.
The Europeans’ odds have gone up as a result too. The European team was at +130 to win the tournament and is now at +210 to win. The Euros have gotten approximately 43% of wagers — just over 8% of the tickets are on a tie. If the two teams tie at 14-14, Europe retains the Cup.
Lineups for the first session of Friday’s morning foursomes will be released on Thursday. Friday’s matches include foursomes (the alternate shot format) in the morning and fourball (best ball) in the afternoon on both Friday and Saturday, with singles match play on Sunday to close it out.
Whoever wins the singles matches on Sunday is likely to win the Ryder Cup. The team that’s gotten the most points out of the 12 available on Sunday has won the last four Ryder Cups. The U.S. in 2010 was the last team to win the singles matches and still lose the Cup. Europe has won four of the last five Ryder Cups and seven of the nine tournaments played since 2000.
BetMGM is offering a ton of bets ahead of the tournament and there will be only more things to bet on as the action gets underway.
Will the U.S. win big?
If you’re confident in the United States’ chances of a win, you should give the European team some points and bet against the spread. You can take the U.S. to win by two or more at -145 and a win by three or more points at +115. The two American wins this century (2008 and 2016) have been by five and six points, respectively.
Who will score the most points?
Jon Rahm enters as the favorite to score the most points of any golfer at the event at +700. He’s ahead of Justin Thomas (+900) and Rory McIlroy (+1100) on the board. The golfers with the worst odds to score the most points are Europe’s Bernd Wiesberger and Lee Westwood. They’re both at +6600.
Rahm is favored to score the most points for Europe (+350) while Thomas (+500) is favored to do the same for the United States. Jordan Spieth (+650) is the No. 2 favorite for U.S. top scorer. It’s likely that Thomas and Spieth will be paired together for most or even all of the partner matches.
Wiesberger is at +2800 to be the top points scorer for Europe while Harris English is at +2500 for the U.S. English plays some incredibly steady golf and could be decent value at that number if he was going to play in nearly every match. But with such a crowded U.S. lineup, English appears to be in the bottom four in the pecking order.
Who is the highest-scoring captain’s pick?
Nine of the 12 players automatically qualified for the European team while six of the 12 American players were automatic selections. Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry and Ian Poulter filled out the European squad and Garcia is the favorite to score the most points of that group at +160.
On the U.S. side, Spieth is the favorite to be the highest-scoring captain’s pick at +275 along with Xander Schauffele. That’s not surprising at all. Tony Final is third at +400. Spieth and Schauffele (+400) are also the co-favorites to be the highest scoring captain’s pick of either country.
Hole-in-one and other prop bets
The odds aren’t great that a hole-in-one will happen during the Ryder Cup. A hole-in-one on either Friday or Saturday is at +800 and an ace on Sunday is at +650.
There are some other fun prop bets too. You can bet on which player will be the first to go for each country during singles play on the final day. Both McIlroy and Thomas (+200) are the favorites for each country while Rahm is at +300 to go first for the Europeans.
Europe is also a decent value to take an early lead. The United States is -145 to be the first team to go up by one while Europe is at +115.
