Ryder Cup 2021: Prediction and betting odds

The Ryder Cup returns for the first time since 2018 with hosts United States favourites to reclaim golf’s biggest team matchplay competition.

Europe secured a dominant victory over the USA last time out at Le Golf National, with the biennial tournament then delayed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

USA captain Steve Stricker has a stacked 12-man team featuring eight of the world’s top 10 and a number of players who are fresh from big wins at majors or on the PGA Tour.

Europe under Padraig Harrington have the experience of a decade of dominance at the tournament, however, with Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter all key to the team’s last win on American soil in 2012.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the return of the Ryder Cup.

When is it?

The competition will tee off on Friday 24 September and conclude on Sunday 26 September. This year’s edition will see the Ryder Cup take place in the USA, at Whistling Straits, Haven, Wisconsin.

How can I watch it?

The Ryder Cup will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event in the UK, beginning with the opening foursomes at 1pm BST on Friday 24 September. If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.

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Europe team

Captain Padraig Harrington has confirmed his 12-man as: Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Bernd Wiesberger, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Paul Casey, Matt Fitzpatrick, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry and Ian Poulter.

Rahm, Fleetwood, Hatton and Wiesberger qualified for the team through the European points list. McIlroy, Hovland, Casey, Fitzpatrick and Westwood all came through the World points list while Garcia, Lowry and Poulter were all captain’s choices.

Harrington left out Justin Rose and he said it was a difficult decision to make: “It was incredibly difficult with JR. Clearly he was in contention in his last two events.

“Did I need more? Maybe not but the fact of the matter is, with who he was going up against, the consistency of Shane Lowry, the heart of the team has been Ian and Sergio over the years, somebody had to lose out.”

USA team

Skipper Steve Stricker has unveiled his 2021 squad as: Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger, Harris English, Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth.

Morikawa, Johnson, DeChambeau, Koepka, Thomas and Cantlay were all automatic qualifiers and Berger, English, Finau, Schauffele, Scheffler and Spieth are all captain’s picks.

Odds

USA - 8/15

Tie - 11/1

Europe - 15/8

Prediction

USA are undoubtedly boast the strongest team on paper, featuring a number of major champions in Collin Morikawa, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth and players who are arguably coming off the best season of their careers, such as Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau.

Questions remain over the USA’s team spirit, which was the big talking point following their 2018 defeat at Le Golf National, and Europe have shown in recent years that their collective has been greater than the sum of their individual parts.

It’s still hard to look past a USA victory, however, who look set to reclaim the Ryder Cup on home soil.