Ryder Cup Golf Betting Tips, Offers, History and Stats

The Ryder Cup is a fascinating and very exciting golf tournament contested between the USA and Europe every two years. Here we bring you the latest betting tips and betting offers for the 2016 Ryder Cup which will be played from 30th September to 2nd October at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota. We’ve also got the history of the Ryder Cup and some interesting stats and trivia.

Ryder Cup 2016 Betting Tips

Betting tips for the Ryder Cup to appear once the teams are announced.

Ryder Cup 2016 Betting Tips

The best betting offers for the Ryder Cup will be posted here when the bookies release them nearer to the event.

Ryder Cup History

Two unofficial matches were played in the 1920s in which professional British and American golfers were pitted against each other, the latter of which came in 1926. It was at this match in Wentworth that entrepreneur Samuel Ryder was struck by inspiration, and the Englishman proposed that it became a regular fixture.

Ryder stumped up £500 for the trophy and the following year a Great Britain and Ireland team travelled to Worcester, Massachusetts, to take part in the first Ryder Cup. The USA won on home turf, and this set a trend for the next three meetings, with an American win in Ohio sandwiched between Great Britain and Ireland victories in Leeds and Southport.

The USA won again at home in New Jersey and in 1937 they notched their first win on British turf in Southport. The resumption of the Ryder Cup following the Second World War saw a period of sustained American dominance – Great Britain and Ireland’s win at Yorkshire’s Lindrick Golf Course in 1957 would be their only win between 1947 and 1983.

The tide turned in 1979, when the Great Britain and Ireland team opened its doors to European competitors. Team Europe won at the fourth attempt in 1985, with Spaniards Seve Ballesteros, Manuel Piñero, José Maria Cañizares and José Rivero and German Bernhard Langer joining their British and Irish counterparts in a 16.5-11.5 trouncing of their American opponents. The 1985 win signified a new era for the Ryder Cup, which became a showpiece in world class matchplay golf between two evenly matched teams.

Encounters became both quality-laden and hotly contested, with controversy often marring world class displays of golf. The 1991 ‘War By the Shore’ and the ‘Battle of Brookline’ in 1999 became the red-hot staple of Ryder Cup golf, as the competition’s significance grew on both sides of the Atlantic. Following the USA’s miraculous 1999 comeback in Massachusetts, the turn of the 20th century also saw a turn in European fortunes. Of the five Ryder Cups that took place between 2002 and 2014, the USA only secured a victory in 2008.

Team Europe secured a number of memorable victories in this time, but none more so than the ‘Miracle of Medinah’ in 2012. The USA, so confident on home turf, were again winding their way to a straightforward victory in Illinois. 10-4 up on the evening of Day Two, Team USA seemed well set ahead of Singles’ Day. Yet the Americans had not reckoned with the pairings of Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter, who roared – literally in Poulter’s case – to collect the final four-balls points.

On the final day, Europe stunned America and the world with what many called the greatest single day of golf in Ryder Cup history. Winning all of the first five singles matches, Europe tasted the unlikeliest of victories when Martin Kaymer sunk a six-foot putt to defeat Steve Stricker and spark wild celebrations. The Americans swore revenge, but at Gleneagles in 2014 it was not meant to be. Europe cantered to a 16.5-11.5 victory, with rookie Jamie Donaldson securing the win.

2016 will see a much more determined USA side line up against Europe at Hazeltine in Minnesota, with Davis Love III and Darren Clarke captaining teams equally confident of victory. When Samuel Ryder created a biennial golf tournament in his name, he wished to see the very best of American golfers take on the cream of the crop from his side of the Atlantic in a tussle of the very highest standard. He certainly got it.

Recent Ryder Cup Results

• 2014, Europe (Gleneagles), Europe won 16.5-11.5
• 2012, USA (Medinah), Europe won 14.5-13.5
• 2010, Europe (Celtic Manor), Europe won 14.5-13.5
• 2008, USA (Valhalla), USA won 16.5-11.5
• 2006, Europe (The K Club), Europe won 18.5-9.5

Ryder Cup Stats, Facts and Trivia

• Seeds – Samuel Ryder, father of the Ryder Cup, made his fortune selling penny packets of seeds. He must have sold a few because he donated the gold Ryder Cup having paid £250 to have it made – more than £5,000 in today’s money.
• Icon – Ryder came late to golf, but grew to love the sport after playing at the Verulam Golf Club in his native St Albans under the tutelage of renowned golfer Abe Mitchell. Mitchell played an unofficial game against the USA in 1926 at Wentworth, which he and British partner George Duncan won, and was due to be player-captain in the first official Ryder Cup match the following year but appendicitis ruled him out. However, his legacy lasted beyond 1927 – the golfer that stands atop the Ryder Cup trophy is a memorial to Mitchell.
• Turnaround – The USA dominated the Ryder Cup in its formative years, winning 18 of 22 ties in its formative state as a clash between the States and a Great Britain and Irish team. The Britain and Ireland team expanded to become Europe in 1979, and from then to 2014 Europe have won 10 times to the USA’s eight.
• Dominant – Europe managed three wins in a row from 2002-2006, a feat it matched in the period between 2010 and 2014. Impressive it may be, but Europe’s successful streaks pale in comparison to the USA’s iron grip on the tournament in the 1960s and 70s. Between a 7.5-4.5 defeat to Great Britain & Ireland in 1957 to a 16.5-11.5 reverse against Europe at the Belfry in 1985, the US team went unbeaten for a full 28 years.
• Legends – Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Colin Montogomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal, Lee Westwood and the great Seve Ballesteros all won 20 points or more for Europe during their Ryder Cup careers, with Westwood looking likely to have the chance to add to his tally in 2016. Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper, Lee Trevino and Lanny Wadkins have done the same for the USA, with only Trevino and Wadkins playing ties against Europe.
• Pals – Ballesteros and Olazabal are not only two of Europe’s most successful players in Ryder Cup history, but are also its favourite pair. The Spaniards played in 15 pairings matches together between 1987 and 1993, three times more than Peter Alliss and Christy O’Connor Snr managed. Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke have played the most games together without tasting defeat, winning six points from eight ties as a pair. No American pair has ever appeared more than six times together.
• Unbeatable – American Jimmy Demaret holds the record for most Ryder Cup wins amassed without a single defeat. Demaret played in 1947, 1949 and 1951, winning two games in each, to finish his Ryder Cup career with a record of 6-0-0.
• Age Gap – 32 years separate the record for youngest player (Sergio Garcia, 19) and oldest player (Raymond Floyd , 51) to appear at a Ryder Cup.
• Miracles – 2012’s ‘Miracle in Medinah’ saw Europe turn around a four-point deficit on the final day of play in Illinois to win 14.5-13.5. In doing so they equalled the record for biggest swing on the final day of a Ryder Cup tournament, matching the USA’s 14.5-13.5 win in Brookline in 1999. What makes Europe’s win even more impressive, as well as the fact it was on American turf, is that they in fact trailed 8-4 going into the final fourballs matches of Day Two, and subsequently won 10.5 of the remaining 16 points that were available.
• Debut – The Hazeltine National Golf Club will host the Ryder Cup for the very first time in 2016. In its 54 years of existence before the Ryder Cup comes to Chaska it has hosted the US Open and the PGA Championship twice each. In fact, it will be the first time that the state of Minnesota welcomes the Ryder Cup.