Sports Then and Now

After a disappointing 2010 season, can Padraig Harrington show the fight needed to help Europe win the Ryder Cup?

With the Ryder Cup only two weeks away now, many Ryder Cup Betting pundits, experts and commentators are already suggesting that the European team simply need to turn up in order to win. However, whilst they are certainly a good team, is it just possible that the Europeans are being hyped up too much in their tag as favourites?

Whilst the European team’s players have, on the whole, displayed a fantastic level of form this season, the Ryder Cup is a competition that can overwhelm even the most seasoned of professionals. With high hopes surrounding players such as Martin Kaymer, currently being tipped far and wide in the golfing world for a bright future, it is just possible that the levels of expectation will become too great, leaving Kaymer and other debutants looking and feeling like rabbits stuck in the headlights. Read the rest of this entry →

Colin Montgomerie has put his reputation on the line with his Ryder Cup decisions.

On October 3rd Colin Montgomerie will either be sitting down to toast his European team’s victory, or he will be spending the evening, and perhaps the months and years to come, attempting to figure out how he failed to mastermind a victory that had for a long period of time seemed almost inevitable.

Should it be the latter, many fans will be looking at his decision to choose Padraig Harrington as part of his European team as one of the key moments that helped to shape the cup. The Ryder Cup betting makes the home side firm favourites, but some fear they could find themselves carrying some deadweight.

With no major victories since 2008, the choice of Padraig Harrington has failed to inspire anyone, with Ian Woosnam the latest high-profile name to suggest either Justin Rose or Paul Casey should have got the nod ahead of the Irish man. Read the rest of this entry →

It is still unclear whether Tiger Woods will be part of the U.S. team at the 2010 Ryder Cup.

Twelve months ago, anyone suggesting that golf’s world number one and the sport’s most high-profile player wouldn’t be taking part in the 2010 Ryder Cup would have been greeted with a reply of “Is he injured?” or “Are you mad?” However, with golf’s most famous event rapidly approaching, has the time come for the mighty Tiger to be denied a wildcard pick and be left to watch the competition on television alongside millions of fans?

Despite having shown earlier promise when he returned to the clubhouse after taking time off to sort out his personal problems, Woods has failed to reach the heights that had seen him become possibly golf’s greatest ever player.

Having openly admitted he is struggling with his game, and suffering the ignominy of requiring a wildcard pick just to make the team, it is now time to leave the Tiger at home and instead look to the form guide when choosing who captain Corey Pavin should be taking with him to Celtic Manor. Read the rest of this entry →

Dustin Johnson will look to bounce back from his PGA ending at the upcoming Ryder Cup.

With golf’s most high-profile event, the Ryder Cup, rapidly approaching and his top player (and world number one) Tiger Woods drastically out of form, the last thing the US team captain Corey Pavin needed was to see one of his stars make a schoolboy error… yet that is exactly what Dustin Johnson did in the recent PGA Championship.

With his high-profile mistake creating yet more negativity for the US team, those who like to place a Ryder Cup Bet may be forgiven for ignoring placing bets on whether the Europeans can regain the trophy and instead turn towards looking at the margin of victory that they will regain the famous trophy by.

In spite of this, Pavin believes that Johnson will recover his spirits in time for the confident European fans to eat their words, suggesting that with so many key players needing captain’s picks to make the European side, the Americans can pull off an unlikely victory. Read the rest of this entry →

Both Corey Pavin and Colin Montgomerie will have some tough choices when finalizing their 2010 Ryder Cup teams.

If Golf Betting punters are looking for Ryder Cup pointers, the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational was the event that suggests a European win is not as probable as has looked likely for much of this season. Home advantage and a glut of in-from players made Colin Montgomerie’s men early favourites, but events in Ohio have redressed the balance.

Montgomerie has seen a handful of players make notable breakthroughs this year but these young guns were not in the hunt at the Firestone Country Club. Tiger Woods and Anthony Kim might have been near rock bottom on the final leaderboard, but the top of it was dominated by home players.

Hunter Mahan led a virtual clean sweep after 72 holes, with six of the top seven being Americans. Each is in the top 20 on Corey Pavin’s Ryder Cup list, with the consistent Bo Van Pelt – five top-five finishes in his last 11 tournaments – and in-form Jeff Overton certain starters at Celtic Manor. Read the rest of this entry →