Presidents Cup betting tips and preview
It’s Presidents Cup week and the Australian spectators look to be in for a treat. More rookies than ever will be teeing it up and the quality of the teams points to a cracking contest. Here are my main Presidents Cup betting tips.
The details
Venue: Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Melbourne, Australia
Date: December 12-15, 2019
Course stats: Par-71, 7,047 yards
Defending champion: USA
Presidents Cup betting tips and preview: Who will win?
On paper this is one of the most one-sided contests in golf and rightly so considering the history of the event and the strength of the Americans in terms of world rankings.
The average world ranking on the American side is 12.3, which is considerably better than any players ranking on the International team. Adam Scott is the highest ranked player on Ernie Els’ team at 18th.
Unsurprisingly, the visiting Americans are long odds-on to win the tournament outright (4/11 with bet365). This won’t be of any interest to those looking for a bet to win a few quid from a small stake but it looks the right price and a likely winner.
On the opposite side of things, the Internationals are priced at 11/4 and there could actually be some value in this.
There is absolutely no expectation that Els’ team will come close to winning and with that comes less pressure. This is one of the factors that could point to a potential upset.
The side is also flooded with rookies and, while there is always an argument to be made for veterans, a group of fearless rookies could be just what is needed to take down the strong visitors.
The Internationals have only won the competition once and that was back in 1998 at the site of this week’s clash, Royal Melbourne.
There are certain parallels to be drawn between this year and that. A significant similarity is it marked the only other staging where a team has gone into the event with an average world ranking less than 13.
Team USA were toppled then and there’s no doubt Els will be using that occasion to spur on his underdogs.
Presidents Cup betting tips and preview: Top combined points scorer
This market is always an interesting one for team events and bet365 have some prices that take my fancy.
If the Internationals are to pull off the upset, I think Sungjae Im (25/1) will play a starring role. The South Korean was the Rookie of the Year on the PGA Tour last season and qualified for the Tour Championship so he’s already used to playing among the biggest names.
He has settled into life on the PGA Tour brilliantly and I would be happy to back him at 25/1 on the off-chance the Internationals are victorious.
The favourite in this market is quite rightly Justin Thomas (8/1), who was the leading points scorer for USA in his first Ryder Cup last year and joint-second points score in his Presidents Cup debut two years ago.
He looks set to be one of the key players again this time round and has been in good form in recent months. Many think he could be partnered with Tiger Woods after he played alongside him at the Hero World Challenge and this could be a lethal combination.
Realistically, whoever Thomas partners he will be a key player in Team USA’s bid to retain the Cup, and I think he is actually overpriced in this market.
For the latest prices, visit bet365.
Joe Hughes
Tour editor covering men's golf, women's golf and anything else that involves the word golf, really. The talk is far better than the game, but the work has begun to change that.
