• USA backed to win close Presidents Cup at 7/24.50

• Rahm looks a worthy favourite in Madrid

• Course and current form makes Forrest a bet at 129/1130.00

• First round leader tip at 80/181.00, player form and much more

Presidents Cup Tips and Predictions

Presidents Cup 2024 Tips: 7/2 USA to edge victory

Dave Tindall: "Home advantage has become a big thing in these team formats when home skippers can set the course up to maximum advantage. Take the Ryder Cup. But for that miracle European win at Medinah in 2012, every Ryder Cup has been won by the home team since 2006. And while the United States keep winning the Presidents Cup wherever it's held, the last two away contests were tight.

"The Americans secured victory by a single-point margin in South Korea in 2015 and won by two back at Royal Melbourne in 2019. Contrast that to the last two Presidents Cups in the United States when the hosts won by eight at Liberty National and five at Quail Hollow.

"The counter-argument is that 'home' advantage this time is rather diluted. Royal Montreal will be teeming with Americans too, those actually living over the border or those making a short hop across it.

"While Australia and South Korea were far from home, Montreal is not. And most of the Americans will feel just as, or even more than, at home than some of the Internationals. And yet there is something to be said for Mike Weir setting up the course to suit his team. The home Canadian hero is a canny operator and will want to get the most out of it.

"Home advantage will help the Internationals and should lead to a close contest. But although this isn't the strongest ever United States team to head overseas, overall it looks good enough to take a narrow victory. Let's head to the Winning Margin market and go for a USA victory by 1-3 points. That gives us scorelines of 15.5-14.5, 16-14 and 16.5-13.5."

Form stats and course info

Andy Swales: "The Blue Course is no stranger to the PGA Tour, having hosted the Canadian Open five times since 1975. The last occasion was 10 years ago. It is a largely flat parkland course with water in play on six holes, and all of it on the back nine.

"The putting surfaces are smaller than the PGA Tour average, while both greens and fairways are sown with a combination of Bentgrass and Poa annua. The average fairway width for landing areas is a fairly typical 26 to 30 yards."

Open de Espana Tips and Predictions

The Punter: Rahm a fair price to go in again

Steve Rawlings: "Rahm has won here twice and Pavon had finished second in 2022, before winning last year, but the 2021 edition is as good a guide as any to highlight just how well course form stands up here. Cabrera-Bello beat Adri Arnaus in extra time and the pair had finished second and fourth behind Rahm in the 2019 edition.

"Like Rahm, Padraig Harrington has won here twice, and he was second behind Ricardo Gonzalez in 2003 before Gonzalez finished second to Charl Schwartzel in 2008. Rafael Jacquelin was fourth the year before he won here, Retief Goosen had course form figures reading 11-1-7, Brian Davis finished third in 2001 and second in 2002 and Paul Lawrie played here six times and finished inside the top-six three times...

"Jon Rahm returns to Madrid in tip-top form and he's a perfectly fair price at anything over 3/1. Having finished a respectable seventh in the Open, he won the LIV Golf UK event and since folding tamely at the Olympics in Paris in round four, where he traded at as low as 1.18, he's finished second in West Virginia and won in Illinois on the LIV Golf Tour.

"With tournament figures reading 1-1-17-1-9, it's clearly an event he takes extremely seriously. He was never at the races last year but he sat second at halfway when 17^th in 2021 and it's very hard to imagine him not contending given how well he's playing at present."

Each-Way Tips: Back high flying Ferguson at 45/1

Matt Cooper: "Madrid is not exactly Nairobi, Johannesburg, Mexico City or Crans Montana (all of them significantly high up) but at 657 metres above sea level its thin air does impacts on club selection and carry length, and players who do well there tend to have proved themselves in some other kind of altitude.

"Munich is much the same. It's about 520 metres above sea level and was the venue, in June, for Ewen Ferguson's third victory on the DP World Tour in the BMW International Open. Moreover, it was far from the first time the Scot has indicated that he's quite at home doing maths ahead of hitting approaches.

"His second Challenge Tour top 10 was in Prague (399m), he's twice been second on the same circuit at Adamstal (720m), he was the four shot 54-hole leader when eighth in the 2022 Kenya Open in Nairobi and seventh there this year. He was also, rather more straightforwardly, ninth in this event and on this course last year.

"He's in nice form, too. He was fourth at halfway when T36th in the Irish Open and then T18th last week (when ranking fifth for Strokes Gained Approach)."

First-Round Leader Tips: Picks from 70/1 to 80/1

Dave Tindall: "There are some much better signs for Andrew Johnston of late and this could be a good place for him to continue his uptick in fortunes.

"'Beef' was third in the European Masters at Crans after 18th in the British Masters. And a closing 66 in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth last week (T40) should put him in good heart.

"He hasn't played in Spain for a few years but his last four starts in the country show finishes of 4-24-15-7 while back in 2016 he won this very event at Valderrama.

"The 24th was at Club de Campo where he closed 68-67-68 and, without doubt, Spain is a special place for him. Seventh after 18 holes at Crans thanks to a 65, hopefully the Englishman has another low one in him from the off. He tees it up at 09.30 from the 10th."

Find Me a 100 Winner: Back Forrest at 129/1

Steve Rawlings: "Following his fast finishing fifth place finish in the Irish Open two weeks ago, Grant Forrest picked up from where he left off last week when he pitched up in Surrey for the BMW PGA Championship. The 31-year-old Scotsman played his first eight holes at Wentworth in six-under-par, and he was matched at just 17.5 in-running.

"A couple of bogeys on the back nine cancelled out a pair of birdies at 12 and 15 and if he hadn't made a mess of the final hole, where he recorded a double-bogey seven after finding the water with his third shot, he may well have met the first lay back target.

"He never really contended after the hiccup on 18 on Thursday but he broke par on all four days to finish tied for 30^th so he arrives in Madrid in reasonable form. I'm happy to chance him once more at a venue he's already shown he likes.

"As highlighted in the preview, course form has held up extremely well at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid so the fact that Forrest was third here in 2021 should bode well."

Course and current form stats

Andy Swales: "The Javier Arana-designed Black Course was opened in April 1956 and is a rolling, parkland layout with tight tree-lined fairways and small undulating greens. From its most-elevated positions, the venue offers panoramic vistas across the Spanish capital.

"Accuracy is usually more important here than distance. The spacious Black Course has little in the way of water hazards, although there are a handful of dog-legs and a reasonable quantity of sand. Club de Campo had been mooted as a possible venue for the 1997 Ryder Cup but missed out at the expense of Valderrama. The club is located a few miles north-west of the city centre.

"The defending champion is Frenchman Matthieu Pavon 25/1 whose 2023 victory, followed on from his runner-up finish 12 months previously. Pavon has enjoyed an excellent first full year on the PGA Tour where he won at Torrey Pines and went on to qualify for the Tour Championship."

Get the latest betting news from both of this week's events from The Punter's In-Play Live Blog