by Ben Perks
This year’s Ryder Cup golf tournament tees off on September 24 at Whistling Straights. Three years after Team Europe regained the Cup in Paris, the United States finally has a chance to get some revenge in front of a home crowd in Wisconsin.
Although Europe won the last Ryder Cup tournament 17.5-10.5 in Paris at Le Golf National’s Albatros, sportsbooks have made Team USA -200 favorites to win this year’s event.
The US side has more quality in its ranks. However, the team features six players making their Ryder Cup debut: Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Daniel Berger, Harris English, and Scottie Schefler.
Therefore, Team Europe’s golfers will be looking to use their experience to upset the odds by beating their US rivals once again. Online sportsbook Bovada has tipped the Europeans as +225 underdogs to win the 2021 tournament.
Ryder Cup Tee Times This Friday
The 43rd edition of the tournament gets underway on Friday at 8:05 (ET). It will be interesting to see how the futures odds for this tournament change after these initial matches.
Foursomes Tee Times (ET)
- Match 1 – 8:05
- Match 2 – 8:21
- Match 3 – 8:37
- Match 4 – 8:53
Four-ball Tee Times
- Match 1 – 13:10
- Match 2 – 13:26
- Match 3 – 13:42
- Match 4 – 13:58
Team USA
The United States boasts eight of the world’s top 10 ranked golfers in their 12-man team. What’s more, Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and Justin Thomas are six major winners in the American ranks.
In past Ryder Cups, however, top-ranked Americans have found it challenging to work as a team as well as their European rivals. The lack of team bonding has led to defeats against the odds many times in this tournament. For this reason, the unsavory rivalry between DeChambeau and Koepka is a worrying sign.
List of Players
- Collin Morikawa
- Dustin Johnson
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Patrick Cantlay
- Brooks Koepka
- Justin Thomas
- Daniel Berger
- Jordan Spieth
- Xander Schauffele
- Tony Finau
- Harris English
- Scottie Scheffler
Team Europe
Europe’s team has seven players that pulled over that last Ryder Cup victory in Paris, including Spanish world number one Jon Rahm, Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, and England’s Tommy Fleetwood.
Lee Westwood returns for a European record-equalling 11th appearance, while Harrington selected fellow veterans Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter as two of his three wildcards.
Garcia has competed in nine Ryder Cups and is with 25.5, whereas Poulter has played some of the best golf of his career. The Englishman, and his fellow teammates, will be hoping he continues to play well in his seventh appearance for Team Europe.
Irish golfer Shane Lowry, who won the Open Championship in 2019, is the third captain’s wildcard. The Irishman will be making his debut at the tournament along with Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger and Norway’s Viktor Hovland – both representing their respective nations for the first time.
List of Players
- Jon Rahm
- Rory McIlroy
- Viktor Hovland
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Tyrrell Hatton
- Bernd Wiesberger
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Lee Westwood
- Paul Casey
- Sergio Garcia
- Ian Poulter
- Shane Lowry
Ben is a sports journalist & part-time trader with a passion for finding +EV bets. Ben lives in Madrid, Spain where he enjoys the live poker scene, and sunshine where he covers UFC, MLB, NHL, NBA, as well as tennis betting.
