Sports Blog 31/08/2016: Golf Preview – Ryder Cup, Friday September 30th to Sunday October 2nd 2016

With the competition just over a month away there is plenty of reason to get excited for the Ryder Cup, especially since European captain Darren Clarke confirmed his team on Tuesday!

Interestingly half of the 12 man squad are Ryder Cup first-timers, something that may have contributed to Europe’s status as underdogs. Despite the fact they have been victorious for the last 3 years, the European team is at a fixed odds price of 7/4 to win the Cup, compared to the USA’s 4/7, with it at 10/1 to be a tie (the last of which happened in 1989).



Most notable of the debutantes is Danny Willett, shock-winner of the Masters back in April and favourite to successfully defend his European Masters title this weekend at a Leaderboard Index spread of 9-12. Then there is the young Thomas Pieters, one of Clarke’s picks announced on Tuesday. The Belgian is hotly tipped to be a future world No. 1, showing a glimpse of that promise in Rio as he finished in 4th place.

The other players raising the curtain on their Ryder Cup careers are Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello and the English trio of Matthew Fitzpatrick (at a European Masters Leaderboard Index of 7-9), Chris Wood (at 4.5-6.5) and Andy Sullivan (at 4-6).



Of the usual suspects Rory McIlroy, who has a Deutsche Bank Championship Leaderboard Index spread of 11-14 heading into the weekend, was unsurprisingly the first name on the sheet despite a lacklustre year at the majors. The Northern Irishman is joined by Olympic gold medallist Justin Rose (at a Deutsche Bank Championship spread of 4.5-6.5), silver medallist and Open Championship winner Henrik Stenson (at 9-12) and Sergio Garcia (at 5-7). Rounding out the team are Clarke’s final 2 wildcards, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer.



Although Davis Love III hasn’t yet confirmed his US team, there are still a few players guaranteed to make an appearance. Dustin Johnson, winner of June’s US Open, finished top of the points qualification table, and will be looking for his form to carry him to a Deutsche Bank Championship win, to which he enters with a spread of 12-15. Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickelson are at 10-13 and 5-7 respectively, while PGA Championship victor Jimmy Walker is at 1.5-2.

In terms of who will be selected in Love’s wildcard picks, Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler (ranked 6th and 8th in the world respectively) stand a good chance of making an appearance, as does Olympic bronze medallist Matt Kuchar.