Niall Lyons has three golf betting tips for this week’s Presidents Cup.
Presidents Cup
Forever in the shadow of the European versus USA version of this format, the Presidents Cup hasn't been many people's cup of tea down the years.
The domination shown by team USA in this event has been a large part to do with that and if the event is ever to gain a closer or indeed similar popularity to the Ryder Cup then we need closer contested matches.
Last time around at Quail Hollow is was an American rout with the hosts winning 17.5-12.5.
The Internationals can't lay a glove on them in the States but it's a slightly different story when they're hosting and there is reason to believe this may indeed be a very close match.
Presidents Cup Tips
- 2pts Internationals winning margin 1-3pts 6/1 Skybet, Ladbrokes, Coral
- 1pt Byeong Hun An Top International 14/1 General
- 1pt Henley Top USA 25/1 General
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Internationals Winning Margin 1-3pts
2015 saw the Internationals run them very close in Incheon, South Korea when they went down by a single point. In Melbourne a few years later they had a big lead at one stage only to see it eroded over the final few days to lose 16-14.
It feels like they are edging closer when hosting and I suppose the betting reflects that. There are holes to picked in any side and to some extent it can be a little guesswork but in Brian Harman and especially Max Homa there be a couple of weaknesses in the favourites' squad.
Max Homa has struggled for months now and as we saw with Justin Thomas in the last Ryder Cup that kind of form is difficult to turn around in a match like this.
As I said though, it's a fickle game Matchplay and nine holes can turn plenty on it's head.
Team USA were heavily criticised by not playing tournament golf in the lead in to Rome last time out and I'm surprised they have chosen a similar approach here.
Clark (MC), Homa (MC) and Theegala (7th) are the only three to have played since the Tour Championship at the Procore. That could come back to bite them once again.
Internationals are priced at 5/2 across the board and although I don't want to take a strong stance on the Outright market there does look like there's some juice in the Internationals winning margin price.
It would be fanciful to suggest they may win this match by a long way given the fact they haven't won one since 1998 so the 6/1 available that they win by 1-3 points looks the way forward.
If they were to win the match they would need to win by 16-12 or more for that bet to be beaten and at more than double the price of their outright odds it looks a much better way to play it.
2pts Internationals winning margin 1-3pts 6/1 Skybet, Ladbrokes, Coral
Byeong Hun An Top International
I wasn't expecting to see much to go at in the team points markets either but I was extremely surprised by Byeong Hun An being the outsider of the field in the Top International Points market.
An played the Open, Olympics, St Jude, BMW, Tour Championship and BMW PGA since late July and his worst finish in all of those was 33rd.
An now is one of the longest hitters in the game and has a similar profile to many of the top hitting Americans.
For my money he should be playing both foursomes and fourballs and I'd be surprised if they don't make full use of his firing long game across the week.
His weak point down the years with the putter has improved also so providing he's hitting straight enough in practice I think he could be used in all the games.
He's playing plenty better than many ahead of him in the market and looks an obvious each way bet.
Russell Henley Top USA
Finally I'll take a punt on the outsider in team USA also to do the business. I expect Keegan Bradley to sit out a session maybe just for the experience with what's ahead of him next year and given room for some unexpected bad form one or two might sit out another.
As a rookie Russell Henley is most likely to be sat at some stage also but he has always struck me as someone made for this type of game and I'm happy to risk the 25/1 on offer.
Henley, similar to Keegan Bradley has a burning passion for events such as this and his dogged character and explosiveness will be perfect for this.
DataGolf have him ranked as the 7th best golfer in the world right now and although his win rate doesn't match many of the others, his consistency certainly does.
7th in the US Open, 5th in the Open and 4th at the Tour Championship shows what kind of form Henley is in and given there are no ill effects from a three week break he should relish this opportunity.
