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3-4; -3.35pts Day 1 foursomes play (2pts): Tiger Woods & Steve Stricker to beat Ian Poulter & Justin Rose +105 @ SkyBet [available generally] LOST 2&1
An impressive as the European pairing is in matchplay - both have winning records in this event - this is still being played at Medinah, USA, where the course has been set up, as usual, to favour the home team. And this is still the course on which Tiger has won two PGA Championships (it is also in the State in which Stricker has won three of the last four John Deere Classics). I see this as being a very close Ryder Cup and matches like this are ones that the Americans will need to win if it will be close. I'll certainly take plus-odds in this match. Day 1 fourballs play (2pts): Tiger Woods & Steve Stricker to beat Lee Westwood & Nicolas Colsaerts -138 @ Pinnacle [available generally] LOST 1 HOLE Day 2 foursomes play (2pts): Sergio Garcia & Nicolas Colsaerts to beat Zach Johnson & Jason Dufner +150 @ 5Dimes [available generally] LOST 2&1
The headline on the Ryder Cup site says enough: 'The Greatest Debut in Ryder Cup History'. After eight birdies and an eagle in his round yesterday, who could disagree. I had backed Woods & Stricker to win that match and they still had a 12-foot putt on the last hole to tie the match, so that shows how dominant Colsaerts had been in his pairing with Lee Westwood. Westwood had lost to Johnson and Dufner in the morning, but he and Molinari had been over-par. These are very good odds to back two players who are in much better form heading into this event, have some momentum from yesterday and, in Garcia, has two top-3 finishes in the PGA Championships on this course. The Europeans should bounce back today and this should one match that they will win. Day 2 fourballs play (2pts): Rory McIlroy & Ian Poulter to beat Zach Johnson & Jason Dufner -110 @ Ladbrokes [available generally] WON 1 HOLE Day 3 singles plays (2pts): Luke Donald to beat Bubba Watson -125 @ 5Dimes, Bet365 & Paddy Power [available generally] WON 2&1
Donald has been of the underperforming Europeans in this team, particularly as he knows the course and the area so well. But Bubba showed yesterday that he can lose his game under pressure and there is no more pressure game than #1 on Ryder Cup Sunday. Phil Mickelson to beat Justin Rose -130 @ 5Dimes [available generally] LOST 1 HOLE
Mickelson has been in great form this week. Rested from only playing in one session yesterday, I can only see another impressive performance from him in front of his home crowd. Zach Johnson to Graeme McDowell -120 @ Paddy Power [available generally] WON 2&1
McDowell is another European to have underperformed this week. Two years ago, he was winning the Ryder Cup; he has looked a long way from that player this week. Tiger Woods to beat Francesco Molinari -175 @ Paddy Power [available generally] HALVED
Surely it is inconceivable that Tiger will go 0-for-4 this Ryder Cup. This may end up a dead match, so the 'ties push'is important, but he should have more than enough to beat the Italian. |
NOTES
* UPDATE: 18th September 2012 *
Following the dramatic reversal in the performance of my
18-hole tips over the last two months, there will be a change in my posting
policy:
There will now be posted up to a maximum of five plays per round,
but only for the PGA, European, Champions, LPGA and Nationwide Tours.
This does include co-sanctioned events by these Tours.
As before, these plays will typically be 2pts and cover only '2-ball'
matches rather than '3-ball' matches. Where my analysis points to a
particular mismatch that is not reflected in the odds, higher stakes may be
advised, up to a maximum of 6pts.
Note that '2pts' represents 'to win
2pt' if the player is odds-on (negative in moneyline terms or less than 2.0 in decimal odds) and represents
'2pts staked' if the player is odds-against (positive in moneyline terms or at least 2.0 in decimal odds).
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