Punters backing Europe despite strong US Ryder Cup team

The Ryder Cup is less than 48 hours away and suddenly punters are backing the European team with the bookmakers.

It is 25 years since the USA won a match on foreign soil, but they have crossed the Atlantic Ocean with one of the strongest teams in living memory.

World No.1 Dustin Johnson, Masters champion Patrick Reed and the resurgent Tiger Woods are just three of the big names taking part, while Phil Mickelson is the only member of the side not currently ranked in the world’s top 20.

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That is compared to six of the Europeans, but as the tournament nears, punters are going with history, backing the home side and their price is going down.

“While this incredibly strong USA team might be the 19/20 favourites, we have certainly seen a real swing in the betting towards Europe this week who are now 11/8 from 13/8 on Betfair Exchange,” a Betfair spokesperson told Yahoo Sport UK

“We are wondering if this late surge for Europe has something to do with punters perhaps starting to consider the Americans’ terrible away form in the tournament, of which they haven’t won outside of the States since 1993, a staggering 25 years ago.”

When it comes to player markets, Woods is now third favourite to score the most points, with experienced European players Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose also in the running

“One player who doesn’t have a particularly good Ryder Cup record is Tiger Woods, but following his recent resurgence, he is now 14/1 third favourite to be top scorer,” they added.

“Justin Rose is currently favourite to be the top scorer at odds of 10/1, while Rory McIlroy is the most backed player in this market at 11/1.

“Phil Mickelson is completely friendless with just £100 bet on him so far out of the £40k bet on this market and at odds of 85/1 perhaps he could be a dark horse to watch out for.

“So far we’ve seen £2m bet on The Ryder Cup on Betfair Exchange, with £1m of that coming this week alone, and considering we saw £30m wagered in 2016 in what was a particularly one-sided contest, if this one goes down to the wire we could see in excess of £40m bet by the time the trophy is lifted.”

Ryder Cup 2018

USA 19/20

Europe 11/8

Draw 12/1