SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – Six days after winning the Tour Championship, Tiger Woods finds himself in the role of underdog as he looks to help extricate the Americans from an early Ryder Cup deficit.
Woods and Patrick Reed lost their opening fourball match against Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari, and with the four men again set to clash Saturday at Le Golf National, the undefeated Euros have been listed as slight betting favorites at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook. Fleetwood and Molinari opened at -125, meaning bettors must wager $125 to win $100, while Woods and Reed are +105 meaning a $100 bet yields $105.
The other match that will feature the Europeans as favorites is the opener, where Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia are -130 against the pair of Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau. Koepka and Finau are listed at +110, although they teed off as +120 underdogs Friday before toppling the pairing of Justin Rose and Jon Rahm.
Match scoring from the 42nd Ryder Cup
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The Americans are favored in the other two matches, with the biggest perceived advantage belonging to Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler. Johnson and Fowler will play together for the third straight session, and they are -160 favorites against the all-English duo of Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton, who are listed at +140.
In the anchor match sure to bring with it plenty of fire, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are -125 favorites against Ian Poulter and Jon Rahm, who are +105.
After storming from behind to take a 5-3 overall lead in the competition, the Europeans are now -160 favorites overall to win back the Ryder Cup. The U.S. team is a +140 underdog, and it’s an almost exact role reversal from the opening line that had the Americans favored at -150 and the home team at +130.
