PGA Insider - The President’s Cup Betting Preview

Golf: Americans Look Like a Cinch in the President’s Cup

Tee-off: 10/8/2009

This Thursday the PGA Tour hosts the President’s Cup to. Held at the Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco, CA, the President’s Cup is somewhat like the Ryder Cup, as pits the best in the world, that is the entire world outside of the United States, against the best in the United States.

The Ryder Cup is between the U.S. and the Europeans. The President’s Cup is between the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Winning the President’s Cup should be harder than winning the Ryder Cup, right? Probably not. We’ve got Tiger and Phil and they have both been lights out lately. With, arguably, the two best golfers in the world on your side, its little wonder why the Americans are -350 in the sportsbook to win the President’s Cup.

Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker, Kenny Perry and Sean O’Hair on the American side should have no trouble dispatching of a team led by Geoff Ogilvy, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Angel Cabrera.

In the last four PGA Events, which made up the FedEx Cup Playoffs, the Americans were stunning. Mickelson won the Tour Championship. Woods won the BMW Championship. Stricker won the Deutsche Bank Championship and finished second in The Barclays. That means that the Americans hold all of the cards as Ogilvy, Els, Singh, Cabrera and every other golfer on the International side just hasn’t done much in the past two months.

-350 in the sportsbook is a gift.

Odds To Be Found on Top American and Top International

The sportsbook is offering terrific odds on Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Kenny Perry and Steve Stricker to be the Top American in the President’s Cup.

El Tigre is going off at +350 which are the best golf odds on him in a long time. Mick is going off at +550, Stricker at +750 and Perry at +1200.

My pick is Steve Stricker at +750. He’s been awful in his past two events which means that he comes up big in this. Stricker is the kind of golfer that plays two unbelievable events, two bad events, another unbelievable event, etc. He’s due for an unbelievable event and at the odds, he’s the bet.

On the International side, the sportsbook is offering the same odds, +650, on Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Geoff Ogilvy. Vijay Singh is going off at +750, but I like a long shot to be the high scorer on the International side.

The odds on Tim Clark are +1200 to outscore his fellow International Team players. Clark has had a decent 2009 even though he’s been under the radar for most the year. His golf odds are just too good to pass up.

Top Combined Points Scorer Comes Down to Mick, El Tigre and Steve Stricker

Tiger Woods is the favorite, of course, to be the Top Combined Points Scorer in the BetUS online sportsbook. The odds on El Tigre are +500.

Phil Mickelson at +700 and Steve Stricker at +1000 are better wagers than Tiger, though. Mick was fantastic when winning the Tour Championship and as I wrote above, Stricker is due for a terrific outing.

Golf bettors should seriously think about betting on Phil or Stricker in the Top Combined Points Scorer category.