Golf News

How will golf’s biggest rising star fare in the game’s biggest international team event? Oddsmakers expect Rory McIlroy to be the European Team’s top point getter, but still earn fewer points than Tiger Woods. This will be Rory’s second Ryder Cup appearance, the young phenom from Northern Ireland went 1-1-2 in Europe’s victory two years ago.

Here are your Rory McIlroy 2012 Ryder Cup odds:

• Odds to be the Top European Points Scorer: +500
• Odds to be Top Overall Points Scorer: +1000
• Odds to Be Top Irish Point Scorer: -200
• Odds to Hole the Winning Putt: +1600
• Odds of Getting More Points Than Tiger Woods: +125
• Odds of Getting The Same Number of Points as Tiger Woods: +400
• Odds of Getting a Hole In One: +10000
• Odds of Getting No Points: +1600

How will golf’s biggest star fare in the game’s biggest international team event? Oddsmakers expect Tiger Woods to do pretty darn well at the 2012 Ryder Cup, which begins Friday. In six previous Ryder Cup appearances, Tiger has a 13-14-2 career record.  Still oddsmakers have him as the favorite to get the most points of any golfer in the event, most likely 2, 2.5 or three out of a possible five points.

Here are your Tiger Woods 2012 Ryder Cup odds:

• Odds to be the Top American Points Scorer: +500
• Odds to be Top Overall Points Scorer: +800
• Odds to Hole the Winning Putt: +1200
• Odds of Getting More Points Than Rory McIlroy: +110
• Odds of Getting The Same Number of Points as Rory McIlroy: +400
• Odds of Getting a Hole In One: +10000
• Odds of Getting No Points: +1600

Rory McIlroy has won the past two PGA Tour playoff events, and three of his past four starts. If he can make it three straight in the final postseason event, The Tour Championship, the young phenom from Northern Ireland will take home an eight-figure bonus. At +450, Rory is a slight favorite to do just that, with Tiger Woods expected to be the next best bet at +500.

Tiger has won this event twice and can also take home the $10 million bonus with a win this weekend. Three others in the field are also guaranteed the bonus with a win, if someone in the rest of the 30-golfer field wins, the big bonus will come down to tiebreakers based on where Rory and others place on the final leaderboard.

Here are your 2012 The Tour Championship odds for all the top competitors:

There’s no PGA Tour event this weekend as the top 30 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings prepare for next week’s Tour Championship, but some of Europe’s best players will be competing at the BMW Italian Open.  Italy’s own Francesco Molinari is the betting favorite, with Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts expected to be his stiffest competition.

Francesco will be playing in his second Ryder Cup later this month, while Colsaerts will be making his Ryder Cup debut.  A third member of the European Ryder Cup team will also be competing in Italy, former World Number One Martin Kaymer of Germany.

Francesco won this event back in 2006. Other former winners in the field include Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Sweden’s Fredrik Andersson Hed.

Here are your 2012 BMW Italian Open odds for all the top competitors:

• Francesco Molinari, Italy (World Ranking: 30) 8/1 – Won Italian Open in 2006