Ryder Cup

Subscribe

5-0; +13.34pts 

Fourball play (2pts):

Jordan Spieth & Patrick Reed to beat Ian Poulter & Stephen Gallacher +150 @ BetVictor [available generally]  WON 5&4
A match containing three Ryder Cup rookies and a player out of form, so I would make this a much closer match than these odds suggest. Gallacher is a home player who lives than one hour from the course and has a great record in the Johnnie Walker Championship on this course, but as the home player he is under more pressure than any player this week and that pressure is legendary in this event for rookies. As for Poulter, he is struggling with his game with just one top-50 finish in his last six starts and only two top-10 finishes this year. His record in this event stands at 12-3-0, but his worst format in terms of his record is fourballs (4-2-0) and he has been rested from this format in each of the last two Ryder Cup so that is additional evidence that this is his least effective format. Spieth and Reed will be an unpredictable pairing as rookies, but both have been in much better form than Poulter recently and both rank higher in the World Rankings than both Europeans. I see this as a match with a slight edge to the American teams so, as with all the pre-event odds, I see the value on the American side at this stage, but this is still an event in which stakes are minimal.

Foursomes play (2pts):

Lee Westwood & Jamie Donaldson to beat Jim Furyk & Matt Kuchar +164 @ 5Dimes [available generally]  WON 2 holes
Donaldson's form and Westwood's experience should make them a good team. This should be a very good match, but I make it a very tight one, so the value should be on the underdogs again, particularly with the ties lose option in the foursomes format.

No Saturday fourball plays. 

Foursomes play (2pts):

Lee Westwood & Jamie Donaldson to beat Zach Johnson & Matt Kuchar +153 @ 5Dimes [available generally]  WON 2&1
Same reasons as yesterday. The value should be on this side at these odds. Even though they were beaten this morning, they made a good partnership yesterday in this format.

Singles plays (2pts):

Phil Mickelson to beat Stephen Gallacher -108 @ 5Dimes [available generally]  WON 3&1
It was a surprise to see Mickelson absent from today's matches as he had played very well in the Friday morning fourballs and just looked rather tired in the afternoon. That won't be an issue tomorrow and playing in Single #5, he has an important role to play as the first six matches must put red on the leaderboard early on. In this situation, he tends to respond well, particularly as it has become public knowledge that he pleaded with Tom Watson to be play today. That doesn't augur well for Stephen Gallacher who hasn't featured since his one appearance in this week's event. That the Daily Mail opened its column with "By the time the most calamitous, catastrophic and cursed Ryder Cup debut ever to feature in Stephen Gallacher’s worst nightmares had come to a shuddering anti-climax..." says it all about the home player's debut in this event. He may not have read those opening lines from the British paper, but he surely couldn't have avoided the Scottish Daily Record's heading "Nightmare debut for European team's sole Scot Stephen Gallacher as US rookies turn it on". He was under the enormous pressure on Friday as a home player and a wildcard pick, that will pale into insignificance compared to the pressure that he will face tomorrow, particularly if the Americans have early success in the lead games. I can't see him recovering tomorrow and would have opposed him with virtually any of the American team tomorrow.

Jamie Donaldson to beat Keegan Bradley +100 @ William Hill and ToteSport [available generally]  WON 4&3
This is Single #10, so this will be the only play this week in which the tie pushes for fear of an anti-climax tomorrow. Bradley partnered Mickelson on day one with a 1-1-0 record and sat out today alongside Mickelson and it is a very long wait from Friday's foursomes to Singles match #10 ... by the time the tees off, it may already have become apparent that there will be no repeat of Brookline or the Miracle of Medinah. As a Captain's wildcard pick, it is particularly galling that he has been benched so, together with his patchy form, that could easily lead to a deflated performance from Bradley. That is unlikely to be the case with Donaldson who has been in great form heading into this event - 1st, 7th and 4th in his last three starts - and throughout this week in which he has played in three sessions (and thus played and won for the second time today). He has looked very impressive so far this week and really should be the clear favourite in this match.