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President's Cup Prediction
Author: Ian Hudson 14/11/2011
2011 November 17th - 20th The Presidents Cup, Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The International Team can take advantage of playing on a familiar course by wining the 10th staging of the President's Cup this week. They have only won the match on one occasion and that was when it was played at the Royal Melbourne golf Club, the host course for this year's renewal.
The President's Cup is a series of matches between teams representing the United States and an International team comprising players from the rest of the world but not including Europeans. The matches are contested biennially by two teams of twelve.
Initially it was held in even numbered years, with the Ryder Cup being held in odd numbered years. However, the cancellation of the 2001 Ryder Cup pushed both events back one year and the President's Cup is now held in odd numbered years.
The first President's Cup was held in 1994 and there have been nine renewals in total. The United States have won the matches on seven occasions while the International team have won the event just once. The event was tied in 2003 when it was played in the US. The Internationals have only ever won at home. They beat the Americans in 1998 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, the course to be used this year.
The International team contains three rookies, players who have not played in the event before. The highest world ranked player in the team is Jason Day who currently stands seventh in the official world rankings. The lowest ranked player is Retief Goosen at 54. The average ranking within the side is 35 and only two players are not within the top fifty players in the world.
The United States team includes six President Cup rookies. The highest ranked player is Dustin Johnson at number five. The lowest ranked player is Tiger Woods. This is his seventh appearance in the event and in the past he has always been the world's number one at the time of the event. The average ranking within the US team is 19th in the current standings. .
The International team can boast a total of twenty six appearances in the President's Cup. Players from the States playing this year's event have played in the matches on twenty eight occasions in the past. The one notable difference between the President's Cup and Ryder Cup is that every player has to play on both of the first two days which means that even the rookies have some experience before the crucial final day singles.
With Woods in the side the Americans clearly have the most major championship winners appearing this year. Six of their players have won majors and their total wins of the Grand Slam tournaments is nineteen, though Woods has fourteen of these. The International team includes five major champions but their total is nine majors. Therefore, if you take Woods out of the equation the International have won four more majors than their opponents.
In predicting the winners of the matches the biggest factor is the host course. Royal Melbourne takes a fair amount of learning and it's not an easy course by any means. The non-playing captain is Greg Norman so his side will be assured of support from the galleries. More of his players will be acquainted with the course and that will be a massive help. I can see the Internationals feeding of their followers to win by about 3 points.
Golf Betting Tip: Presidents Cup International Team at 1.97 with Betfair