2018 ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf Odds & Preview

The World Cup of Golf features two-man teams from 28 different countries who play for their nation as well as a prize purse that has $7 million in it, including $2.4 million for the winning team. The International Federation of PGA Tours organizes this tournament, one of the oldest in the history of golf. It started as the Canada Cup when it began in 1953, but the last three tournaments have been held in Melbourne, Australia. The format alternates stroke-play rounds between four-ball and foursomes. This year’s tournament features 56 players, with one seeded and one unseeded player from each participating country. The seeded player can select a partner from the same country that is ranked in the top 500 players. Days 1 and 3 are four-ball, and Days 2 and 4 are foursomes. The United States has the most wins in this tournament, with 24 victories as of 2016. Take a look at our golf betting preview for this tournament.

2018 ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf Odds & Preview

It’s going to be a memorable week back in the @MelbSandbelt. 😍 pic.twitter.com/zKr2FL3Kvx

— World Cup of Golf (@WorldCupofGolf) 19 de noviembre de 2018

The Australian team is the favorite to win, not just because of the fact that the tournament is being held down under. They won it all in 2013, and Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith make one of the best duos in the tournament. Leishman won PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 2009 and has four Tour wins to date. Smith has competed in the PGA, European and Australasian Tours. He does not have the resume that Leishman has, but he has the consistency of play to help lead Australia to a win. Their odds sit at 9/2, ahead of England, the United States and Denmark, who won the tournament in 2016. England sits second on the favorites list, and this would be their third win overall, and their first since 2004. They bring a duo of Tyrrell Hatton and Ian Poulter. Hatton has three wins on the European Tour and took part in the Ryder Cup for a victorious Team Europe. Poulter has been a part of two World Golf Championships and currently ranks #5 in the world table. Thanks to that star power, England’s odds sit at 6/1, primarily because of the long trip ahead of them. The United States has 24 titles, but they haven’t won since 2011, and before that, they hadn’t won since 2000. The fact that Kyle Stanley and Matt Kuchar are representing the US in this year’s tournament suggests that American golfers don’t put a whole lot of emphasis on this trophy. Kuchar was part of the winning duo back in 2011, which is why Stanley (the seeded player) picked him. Stanley is still looking to put together a resume of his own, but he has shown the sort of consistent play that shows he is on the rise. The odds currently sit between 8/1 and 17/2, depending on which book you look at. If the United States had picked a higher-tier player for the seeded player, having Kuchar on board could make this much more favorable for the United States, given that Kuchar comes in as the lower player despite having the championship on his resume.

Can Denmark repeat?

They send the same pair — Thorbjorn Olesen and Soren Kjeldsen — but there is better competition all around in the tournament, which is why the Danish odds have slipped to 12/1. Those are high odds for a returning champion, particularly since this pair of golfers is the same, but several of the countries have sent higher-ranked players than they sent back in 2016, which will make the task tougher. Even so, this pair of countries could be seen as a “dark horse” worth wagering alongside another team up the table, as there is some power in the experience and momentum that Olesen and Kjeldsen bring into this tournament. 2018 ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf Prediction: Australia wins