Ryder Cup Betting And Odds

The Ryder Cup dates back to 1927 and is named after Samuel Ryder, who sponsored the trophy and paid members of the winning team a fiver each. The first match, then between the British and the Americans, was held at the Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts.

In 1973 players from the Republic of Ireland were invited to join the Great Britain team and in 1979 the competition really started to take shape when players from other European countries were eligible to join the team. Stars like Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer bolstered "Team Europe", as they became known, and made the contest a lot less one-sided.

In fact, Team Europe pretty much owns the Ryder Cup in the past 25 years, being the winning team 8 of the last 12 times. The defending champions heading into the 2010 event in Wales are the Americans, however, after they crushed Europe in the 2008 event in Kentucky winning by 16.5 points - 11.5 points.

The format of the Ryder Cup with four-ball matches followed by a day of high-intensity match play games (the singles) lends itself to betting, as punters can bet on individual matches as well the overall winner and on how many points each player will earn for his team.

Over the years the Ryder Cup has become the happy place for Colin Montgomery, the fierce Scottish competitor best remembered for never winning a major. He owns a record of 6 wins, 2 ties, and 0 losses in singles and his 7 points earned is a joint record, but he played by far the fewest number of matches to get there. He will captain Team Europe in 2010, and it is little surprise that bookies have installed them as favourites to reclaim the Cup.

There is betting available on what colour shirts the respective teams will wear, who will be given the honour of the opening drive for each team, and what form the winning celebration will take. The Ryder Cup is truly a feast for golf betting, and it makes for riveting viewing as well. Enjoy!

Click on our a Bookmaker logo on the right to compare Ryder Cup odds.