Place Your Bets on the 2016 Ryder Cup

The 2016 Ryder Cup is only a few weeks away, and now is the perfect time to place your bets for either team USA or team Europe with Bet365!

The 41st annual Ryder Cup will feature the best players from both the USA and Europe facing off against each other to determine which continent is at the top of the golfing world. Let’s take a look at the betting odds set by Bet365, and some of the key players to keep an eye on.

Team USA enters as the betting favorites

Unsurprisingly, team USA is heading into the 2016 Ryder Cup as the betting favorites. Many of the consensus top players are from the US, and overall, the American team has more highly-ranked players. That does not mean team Europe has a weak lineup heading into the matches.

Team Europe’s team is certainly talented, although part of the reason most online sportsbooks in the UK such as Bet365 list them as an underdog is that a number of them have never played in a Ryder Cup before. For six of the twelve players, this will be their first Ryder Cup experience, whereas all but one player on team USA has played in the competition before.

Phil Mickelson will be hoping to win big for good ol’ team USA (photo: curiyo.com)

Will that really make an impact on the results? Who knows. All of the European players have tremendous experience in other competitions, so the fact they have never played in a Ryder Cup may not be an issue at all.

Who are the top players on team USA?

The United States’ team for the Ryder Cup is filled with experienced players, most notably Dustin Johnson, 23 year old Jordan Speith, and the legendary Phil Mickselon. Jordan Speith may be the most talked about player heading into the 2016 Ryder Cup, as he is coming off 2015 wins in both the Masters Tournament and U.S. Open.

Jordan Speith is one of the most exciting American prospects in golf (photo: latimes.com)

Speith may be the most exciting prospect in golf, but Phil Mickelson has shown time and time again he is one of the best players in the world. “Golf’s best loser ever” has been a professional since 1992, and has an incredible 42 PGA Tour wins under his belt. Team USA will surely count on Mickelson’s experience helping them when the Ryder Cup begins.

Dustin Johnson is arguably the best golfer alive right now after his amazing performance to win the 2016 U.S. Open. He drew some criticism and made US gambling news for withdrawing from the 2016 U.S. Olympic Games over Zika Virus concerns, but that decision was certainly understandable. In Johnson’s most recent PGA appearance, he won the BMW Championship by a margin of 3 strokes. Each of these three players will be tasked with performing well for team USA, and are a major reason Bet365 lists them as the favorites.

Who are team Europe’s star players

Team Europe also has a number of talented and experienced players heading into the 2016 Ryder Cup. Seven of the twelve players hail from the UK, with the others coming from Sweden, Spain, Belgium, and Germany.

At the top of their pack is Rory Mcilroy, a Northern Irish golfer who has competed in the Ryder Cup three times in the past, with European victories in each. Mcilroy is without a doubt the best golfer in Europe at the moment, and will be facing tremendous pressure to perform well for his team.

Danny Willett and Henrik Stenson will be the other unofficial captains of team Europe during the 2016 Ryder Cup, and for good reason. This year, Willett became just the second Englishman in history to win the Masters Tournament, and the first European to ever win the Augusta National. Stenson has been in golf’s World top 10 rankings for over four years, and recently took home a silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Rory Mcilroy is unquestionably Europe’s best golfer (photo: shemazing.net)

What are the 2016 Ryder Cup’s betting lines?

As we stated before, team USA is entering the 2016 Ryder Cup as the betting favorites. Their mix of players are expected to perform tremendously well with each other, but as we’ve seen in the past anything can happen. USA’s odds to win the Ryder Cup are listed at 8/15, according to Bet365. Team Europe are the betting underdogs to win, with odds of 15/8.

Golf is a very tough sport to predict, but most experts are agreeing with the USA’s status as the favorites. They are bringing the more experienced and surging players, almost all of whom have competed in the Ryder Cup before. You certainly can’t count out team Europe however, as they have a massively talented team as well.

Who do you think will win the 2016 Ryder Cup? Will you be betting on the matches? Leave your comments below, and if you like to bet on sports in the UK, make sure to check out GamingZion’s sportsbook section to find all the best sites for betting on golf!