Ryder Cup Betting / Paul Krishnamurty / 22 December 2011 /

The golf season is over but we will soon be in the 2012 swing and Ryder Cup talk will dominate the campaign like never before and with good reason - the next meeting looks like being a classic, says Paul Krishnamurty

It's that strange time of year again, when the first task of a Tuesday morning isn't to study the week's golf form, and everyone's talking about shopping, trees or even religion, rather than the significance of the driving distance stats.

Horse racing, football and even darts fans are in their element over Christmas, but we golf nuts must face a fortnight of starvation. An opportune moment, then, to look ahead towards the feast awaiting us next year.

The golfing centrepiece of 2012 will be the Ryder Cup, played in September at Medinah Country Club, Illinois, for the first time. The early betting is predictably tight, with the USA narrow favourites at [2.04] to regain the trophy from Europe.

Prior to that enthralling late September weekend, qualification for each side will be a significant side-story every week, with competition for places hotter than ever.

Given European golf's unprecedented strength in depth, the battle to earn the two wildcards available to captain Jose Maria Olazabal will be particularly fierce. As usual, the decisive event will be the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, which produced a spectacular finale in 2010, when Edoardo Molinari birdied the last three holes to claim the title and a spot in the victorious European side.

US captain Davis Love has much more scope, with four picks, which will be finalised slightly earlier, following the PGA Championship.

That slight edge in terms of choice may be one reason for the US to be trading as favourites, although home advantage is probably more significant, in expectation of a repeat of their 2008 triumph at Valhalla. Every other indicator, however, favours Europe. Gone are the days when the USA boasted superior individual players, with Europeans now holding the top-four spots in the world rankings. In addition to that big-four, they can boast arguably the best matchplayer in the word in Ian Poulter; a champion in both versions of the World Matchplay title and winner of eight of his last nine Ryder Cup points.

Europe of course also hold the edge on recent history, winning six of the last eight renewals. Many of those came, however, during an era when the US struggled to gel as a team, whereas recent evidence suggests they've finally got their act together in this format. Last month they successfully defended the Presidents Cup at the same tough Australian venue where a star-studded line-up had been hammered previously. Notably, Tiger Woods seems a different player in these team events nowadays, humbler and totally committed to the cause.

Tiger will also doubtless relish the return to Medinah, where he won two PGA titles. So for that matter should Sergio Garcia, who shot to prominence when runner-up to Woods on this course in the 1999 PGA, and finished third in 2006. Much depends on whether Sergio can qualify, although if he doesn't, the temptation for his old Spanish foursomes partner Olazabal to offer a wildcard will be huge.

Here's my long-range predictions for each line-up:

Europe: Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey, Alvaro Quiros, Francesco Molinari, Peter Hanson, Alexander Noren

USA: Tiger Woods, Hunter Mahan, Dustin Johnson, Nick Watney, Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Gary Woodland, Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler, Webb Simpson, Bubba Watson, Anthony Kim

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