Golf Betting

Soon, US Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin will announce his four wild card selections to round out his team’s 12-man roster. The big question is will Tiger Woods be one of those four picks. If Pavin bases his pick on career achievements. there’s no way he doesn’t take Tiger.  But Pavin has given hints he wants to treat all golfers equally, so what if he were to try to reduce everything to impersonal numbers?

One way to do it would be to add Ryder Cup points rankings, official world rankings, and FedExCup rankings.  With eight men already on the team — Phil Mickelson (ranked #2 in the world), Steve Stricker (#4), Jim Furyk (#6), Matt Kuchar (#10) Hunter Mahan (#13), Dustin Johnson (#24), Bubba Watson (#25), and Jeff Overton (#46) — here’s how the best Americans left would rank:

• 1. Zach Johnson 11, 17, 15

Sunday, captain Colin Montgomerie had to make three wild card picks to fill out his 12-man European Ryder Cup Team roster. Paul Casey, ranked 8th in the world, and Justin Rose, ranked 23rd, were the biggest names left off the team. While Casey didn’t complain or even blame the strange qualifying system, Rose wound up and took a pretty big shot at Montgomerie’s three wild card choices.

“I thought I had as good as shot as anyone,” said Rose. “I don’t think many people would have gone with those three.” The three Monty did pick all have higher world rankings than Rose — England’s Luke Donald (#11), Italy’s Edoardo Molinari (#15), and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington (#19) — and Monty has said that if Lee Westwood isn’t healthy enough to play, Rose will get his spot.  While Rose was the PGA Tour’s hottest golfer earlier this summer, winning two tournaments in a one-month span with another top 10 finish in between, he missed the cut at both The British Open and The PGA Championship.

If the odds for this weekend’s Deutsche Bank Championship, the second round of the FedExCup playoffs, are any indication, Vegas is regaining its faith in Tiger Woods.  Tiger’s the 7/1 favorite to win the tournament. In a bit of a surprise, the next-best bet is no longer world number two Phil Mickelson (16/1), but Steve Stricker at 11/1.  Stricker is ranked fourth in the world, and second in the FedExCup standings.

Vegas also likes Tiger to not just make the cut (-700 YES/+400 NO), but to finish in the top 10 (-130 YES/EVEN NO). Tiger’s only missed one cut all year — though he would have also miss the cut if the WGC-Bridgestone had a cut.  But he’s also only finished in the top 10 twice this year, both at majors. Before finishing T12 last week in the first round at The Barclays, Tiger’s best non-major finish was a T23 at The Memorial in June.

Matt Kuchar bested Martin Laird in a one-hole playoff to win The Barclays, the first round of the FedExCup playoffs.  Tiger Woods closed with a 67 on Sunday to finish T12, which moves him from 112th to 65th in the FedExCup standings and allows him to play in the second round of the playoffs. In Scotland, European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie named all 12 members of his team, and left off two big names.

Nine players automatically qualified for the European Ryder Cup team: England’s Lee Westwood (ranked 3rd in the world), 2010 PGA champion Martin Kaymer of Germany (#5), Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy (#7), England’s Ian Poulter (#12), 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland (#14), England’s Ross Fisher (#26), Italy’s Francesco Molinari (#35), Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez (#38), and Sweden’s Peter Hanson (#40).  That left three captain’s picks for Monty, and he went for England’s Luke Donald (#11), Italy’s Edoardo Molinari (#15), and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington (#19).  Notably absent from the team are England’s Paul Casey (#8) and Justin Rose (#23).