Ryder Cup Betting / Paul Krishnamurty / 16 September 2008 /

Humiliation in the previous two Ryder Cups has not made the US hungrier, says Paul Krishnamurty.

"At some point the players might say: 'We're not doing this any more because this is ridiculous'. You're just a slave for the week."

So says PGA Tour 'star' Hunter Mahan, who reluctantly makes his Ryder Cup debut at Valhalla. At a stroke, Mahan unwittingly laid bare the reason behind his country's miserable fortunes in recent renewals. Compared to earning fortunes for coasting along in average tour events, representing your country in the Ryder Cup is apparently a chore. More amazing is that, despite his attitude, Mahan was awarded a wild-card. Its hard to imagine a European player making those comments, let alone getting away with them.

It would appear that the US haven't learned very much from their record nine-point defeats at Oakland Hills and The K Club. Humiliation hasn't made them noticeably hungrier, and there is no evidence as yet that they are capable of gelling as a team. And even after assessing the individual qualities of each line-up, I simply cannot make any case for them regaining the trophy at [2.3].

Previously, it's been the case that Europe's team-spirit compensated for their inferiority on the world stage. When Europe won in 2002 and 2004, they were in the middle of a an eight year drought in the Majors, they were doing so from their customary position as outsiders. Their dominance stemmed from great team-play in foursomes and fourballs, but the US were usually red-hot favourites in the singles.

All that has changed. With Tiger Woods out, the only players that Europe might fear are Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and Anthony Kim, and the first two haven't exactly lit up recent Ryder Cups. There's an abundance of rookies, who besides Kim are not particularly likely to ever strike it big in the years ahead. Mahan, JB Holmes and Boo Weekley could just as easily drift into obscurity.

Players expected to bring crucial experience to the mix, such as Kenny Perry or Stewart Cink, have looked badly out of form in recent weeks. Justin Leonard has yet to take a full point from any of his eight matches at the Ryder Cup. There's little evidence that many of this American side have ever mastered the art of matchplay. Steve Stricker did win a much-weakened WGC title nine years ago in Australia, but only Stewart Cink has even made the final of that US-based matchplay event since.

None of this compares favourably with Europe, who have more than their fair share of matchplay specialists. Henrik Stenson has only lost one match from eleven at that same WGC event. Paul Casey has won its Wentworth equivalent, and already has a good Ryder Cup strike rate. Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood rate among the greatest players ever to compete in this competition, well on their way towards all-time top points scorer status.

Perhaps as significantly, Europeans have started dominating Majors. Not only does Padraig Harrington deserve the player of the year award for his consecutive Major victories, but any other lingering European inferiority complexes were consigned to the dustbin by filling the top-3 places at Birkdale, and finally breaking through in the USPGA with three of the top-4.

Furthermore, there are very few form worries for Europe. Robert Karlsson emphatically quashed any doubts about his fitness by winning in Germany last week, where rookies Graeme McDowell and Soren Hansen, plus evergreen Miguel-Angel Jiminez also demonstrated that all is well with their games.

Try as I might, it's hard to find a case for the US. Home advantage could count for something in Kentucky, though less so nowadays as most Europeans play regularly in the States. No doubt US captain Paul Azinger will have ensured the course is set-up to favour his 'target' golfers, but even here I doubt they hold any particular advantage. Such a set-up would equally play to the strengths of the likes of Karlsson, Stenson, Casey and Justin Rose.

All things considered then, it has to be Europe at a very reasonable [2.02], though it must surely be much closer than 2004 or 2006. Historically, the Ryder Cup is famed for producing nail-biting finishes and that would suggest we're 'due' another close one. So as well as backing the visitors, I'll be backing the draw at [13.5] in the hope it will trade shorter on Sunday.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: