Ryder Cup Betting Offers 2025

Golf is often seen as a possibly the most individual of all the top sports. Many even accuse golfers of not caring about national pride, witnessed when a lot of professionals refuse to go to the Olympics. There is one major exception to this rule however, the Ryder Cup. This team event is contested every two years between the best golfers from the USA and Europe, alternating between the two continents. The cup caps the end of the golf season coming after all four majors and generally sees some the world’s best golfers at their seasons best.  The Ryder Cup in 2025 is the 45th instalment and will be held at the Bethpage Black Course on Long Island, New York.

Originally contested between Britain and the USA the event expanded to include all of Europe in 1979. The event was established in 1927 and is today the most prestigious match play team tournament in the world. Historically the Ryder Cup has seen some great battles and with continental pride at stake it tends to have a very different atmosphere to the stroke play majors. Below are all the top deals ante-post and through the event with scheduling info and event history further down.

Ryder Cup Betting Offers for 2025

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2025 Ryder Cup Schedule

Ryder Cup Format

Qualification and Team Selection

In the early days the Ryder Cup selection process was similar to cricket and other sports with an American and British selection committee that would pick the players. Over time this has evolved into a system where the top ranked players are selected automatically with the captain picking the rest of the team. Europe and America have slightly different selection criteria.

The European system selects the top 4 players from the Ryder Cup European points list, points are earned from previous results in the Race to Dubai tournaments. The top five players from the Ryder Cup world points list (who haven’t already qualified above) are also automatically selected. This is based on total world ranking points earned in the previous calendar year. Finally, the captain selects a further 3 players (down from 3 in 2018) and is announced at the end of August, this makes up the final team of 12 players.

The USA select 8 leading players from the Ryder Cup points list, this is made from results at the previous two years of major championships (the current year earning double points), World Golf and Players Championships and PGA tour events. One point is given roughly for every $1,000 earned. The remaining four places are selected by the captain.

The Ryder Cup is a professional only event and is only open to players on respective European or PGA Tours.

Captains and Vice-Captains

The USA team captain is selected by the PGA of America executive committee with the Europe captain picked by the European Tour selection committee. Although in the early days captains were also selected as players these days captains are non-playing. Their primary duties are to meet to decide the order of play on the first two days and choose the team line up.

Arnold Palmer was the last captain to play in 1963 and although modern captains don’t play all of them have contributed as players previously. The exception being the British captain John Taylor in 1933.

Captains also select vice captains to assist in organising the tournament as well as motivating players, discussing tactics, etc.

The 2018 European captain was Thomas Bjørn and the USA captain was Jim Furyk.  The USA had three vice captains, all members of the Task Force set up after 2014, these are Tiger Woods, Davis Love III (2016 captain) and Steve Stricker. Europe had five vice captains: Robert Karlsson, Pádraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell and Lee Westwood.

For 2021 Pádraig Harrington was promoted to Europe captain and Steve Sticker elevated to be the USA skipper.  Not to be outdone by Europe the US had 5 vice-captains; Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson, Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson and Fred Couples and Europe also had 5; Robert Karlsson, Luke Donald, Martin Kaymer, Henrik Stenson and Graeme McDowell.

In 2023 the captain selection became a headache.  Zach Johnson was named US captain and Henrick Stenson the Europe captain, however, Stenson was later replaced by Luke Donald due to being involved with the LIV Golf Tour.

The US again named five vice-captains: Steve Stricker, Davis Love III, Jim Furyk, Fred Couples and Stewart Cink. Before being removed Stenson named Thomas Bjørn and Edoardo Molinari as Europe vice-captains and these were retained. Donald then named Nicolas Colsaerts, José María Olazábal and Francesco Molinari as the other three, making five vice-captains for Europe too.

Europe have already announced that Luke Donald will remain as captain for 2025 following his teams victory in 2023.

There are now almost as many non-playing team members as players!

Tournament

The Ryder Cup is a match play tournament; this means players earn a point for winning a hole rather than in stroke play where players are ranked based on the lowest number of strokes. This means the play is far more tactical, captains simply need their players to win enough points rather having the lowest number of stokes overall. It is quite possible to win a match with a higher number of strokes than your opponent so long as you win more holes.

The tournament proper takes place over three days, Friday through Sunday. In this time 28 matches are played over 18 holes. The winner of a hole scores one point for their team, half a point is awarded for a tie, the winning team is simply the team with the most points. If there is a tie overall there is no playoff system, the Ryder Cup is simply retained by the current holders.

The format of the Ryder Cup has changed in its history, which you can read about further down, but has remained consistent since the event was expanded to include all of Europe in 1979. Days 1 and 2 consist of 4 foursome and 4 fourball matches (see below) with day 3 made up of 12 singles matches between all the team members.

The captains decide the order of play, with 4 fourball matches played in the morning and 4 foursome matches played in the afternoon on the first two days. An individual player can play a maximum of five out of the 28 matches, two foursomes, two fourballs and their own singles match. This means a player can play both in the morning and afternoon on the first two days.

The first team to 14 1/2 points wins, all matches are 18 holes.

Foursomes and Fourballs

Foursome matches are played between two teams of two golfers. Players play the same ball alternating shots through the hole, one player tees off on odd-numbered holes and the other on even-numbered holes, the winner being the team with the lowest number of shots for a given hole and the lowest number of points overall.

Fourball matches are also played by two teams of two but here each golfer plays with their own ball. The golfer in the team with the lowest number of strokes on a hole is counted with the higher score discounted. The winning team from each foursome or fourball matches wins a point overall for the team, if tied each team gets half a point.

Singles

This is very straight forward, players from each team are paired off and play over 18 holes. The player with the highest number of points from 18 holes wins one point for their team, tied games give ½ each to each team.

Singles matches are often the most fun to watch. Here the golfers are more in their comfort zone as they are playing on their own, yet this is also the time when the pressure can really mount up, especially if the game is late in the order in a closely matched event.

2025 Bethpage Black Course (Farmingdale, New York)

The 2025 Ryder Cup will be played at the Bethpage Black Course in Farmingdale, New York.  The famously difficult 18 hole public course is part of Bethpage State Park, opened in 1936 it has been rated among the toughest courses throughout its existence.  No wonder then it has hosted two US Open events (2002 and 2009) and the PGA Championship (2019).

The Black Course is not only a long one, measuring 7,468 yards (6,829 meters) with a par of 71, it has the highest possible slope rating of 155 – meaning even the best golfers can mess up on this course.

The course is special and it should produce a special Ryder Cup.  It is a bold move for the US to select this course given its difficult but if it works it will pay off and players will be able to show off too.

Situated around 30 miles form Manhattan the course is locked in by urban landscape on all sides but Bethpage State Park is big and this gives it a very picturesque feel.  It is close enough to the coast that changing weather and wind can be a factor and combined with an already difficult course that can lead to big surprises in major tournaments like this.

What makes the course special is the consistency of the holes, there are very few easy ones for a birdie.  The longest hole is the 13th at 608 yards (par 5) and the shortest the 14th at 161 yards (par 3).  The majority of holes are 400-500 yards and so this course requires a lot of focus and a lot of luck too to get the best rounds.

It may be worth noting that of the three majors played at this course each time an American won.  That isn’t to say Europe won’t enjoy success but with the US able to pick golfers like Brooks Koepka (2019 PGA winner here) it won’t be easy.

Ryder Cup Venues

The Ryder Cup alternates between the USA and Europe every two years, therefore each hosts the event every four years. The tournament moves around within each country too with most venues hosting the cup or the first time.

Only a few courses have hosted the Ryder Cup more than once, the Belfry held the event a record four time in 1985, 1989, 1993 and 2002, Royal Birkdale held it twice in the 1960’s and Ainsdale also did a double in the 30’s. The first ever cup took place at the Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts and the first in Great Britain two years later in 1929 at Moortown Golf Club in Yorkshire.

Since the 2020 tournament was postponed to 2021 the Ryder Cup now goes back to being held in odd numbered years, as was the case up to 1999.

Future Venues

Previous Ryder Cup Results

Ryder Cup Overall Wins

Ryder Cup Winners Since 1979

Player Statistics

History and About The Ryder Cup

Ryder Cup Early History

Looking at the records it is obvious why the Ryder Cup changed from an Ango-American affair to include the rest of Europe, Great Britain were simply being played off the course each year. This was not however the case in the early 1920’s. In fact the origins of the Ryder Cup tournament goes back to the 1921 British Open held at Gleneagles. The USA at this time had never won an Open and so a fund was set up by the magazine Golf Illustrated in conjunction with the PGA to send a team of 12 of America’s best to win it.

The team sailed to Britain for a warm up match to be held two weeks prior to the Open between Britain and the USA. The game consisted of 10 singles and 5 foursomes which Great Britain won 9-3. This was not an official event and didn’t lead to the direct creation of the Ryder Cup but it was the first match played between the two countries. The objective succeeded too as Jock Hutchison became the first USA player to win the Open in 1921.

In 1926 a similar chain of events occurred again. This time a larger than expected team of Americans made the trip over to Britain for the Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club and so a competition was arranged where Walter Hagan would select a team of 10 Americans to play 10 Brits. The match on was again overwhelming dominated by Britain winning 13-1.

The event in 1926 was sponsored by Samuel Ryder, an English entrepreneur and golf lover. A trophy was supposed to be presented that year but for reasons unknown it was not (possibly because the gold cup did not yet exist), it was first presented the following year and this is how the event got its name.

A year later in 1927 a much more formal tournament was organised, again funded partly by Samuel Ryder, to played at Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts. Teams of 10 were selected and played four 36-hole foursomes and eight 36-hole singles, the USA won 9½–2½.

It was quickly realised an annual competition was not going to work and so the next event was arranged for 1929 to be played at Moortown Golf Club in Yorkshire, the event has remained biennial ever since. The Ryder Cup was not hosted between 1937 and 1947 due to the second World War with the only other rearranged fixture being 2001 due to the 9/11 attacks in the USA. The event was pushed back to the following year (2002) causing the Ryder Cup to switch from odds to even numbered years.

The Ryder Cup was cancelled in 2020 due to the corona virus pandemic and rescheduled to 2021, the 2022 event in Rome was pushed back to 2023 as a result.  The Ryder Cup has now switched permanently back to odd numbered years. It was originally held in odds numbered years up to 1999 before the 2001 version was postponed to 2002 due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York.  The event was then held in even numbered years until 2018.

Format Changes

Initially the Ryder Cup was contested between two teams of 10. From its beginnings in 1927 until 1959 the format remained as 4 36-hole foursome matches followed by 8 36-hole singles over two days, giving a total of 12 points to be won. In 1961 the format changed from 36 hole matches to 18 hole games with 8 foursomes and four singles, again over 2 days, increasing the number of points available to 24. This only lasted for one tournament as in 1963 the Ryder Cup expanded to three days and fourball matches were introduced for the first time. Here 8 foursomes were played on day 1, 8 fourballs on day 2 and 16 singles on the new day 3, giving a total of 32 points to be played for.

In 1969 the number of players on each team increased from 10 to 12 and in 1973 the format changed so that both foursomes and fourballs were played on the same day. In 1977 the tournament reduced to 10 matches (5 foursomes, 5 fourballs and 10 singles) for one year but changed again to it’s current format a year later when the tournament was expanded to include all of Europe. The format has remained unchanged since with 28 points up for grabs from 8 fourballs, 8 foursomes and 12 singles.

American Dominance and the Rise of Europe

In the early years it was the Americans who were desperate to gain an edge over their British counterparts by raising funds to send teams of the best USA players over to Britain to win the Open. By the time the Ryder Cup started honours were roughly even, the USA won their first two at home (1927 and 1931) and likewise Britain won their first two at home (1929 and 1933).

This didn’t last long, USA won the two Ryder Cups before the suspension for WWII and on the resumption in 1947 America carried on winning. In fact between 1935 and 1971 Great Britain won just the once in 1957. For the 1973 Cup Irish players were also invited to join the British team. This however did little to stem the flow as the USA went on to win in 1973, 1975 and in 1977.

In 1979 the most significant change in Ryder Cup history was made as the British team changed to the European team. It is said Jack Nicklaus himself recommended the change to help create a more competitive tournament. This was also coupled with the rise of the Spanish Golfer Steve Ballesteros and German Bernhard Langer.

The change was an immediate success and in the years since it is the USA who have become the underdog. Despite carrying on their winning streak in 1979, 1981 and 1983 the USA finally lost to Europe on 1985 and didn’t win again until 1991. The 1990’s saw a very competitive period with America winning again 1993 followed by a double for Europe in 1995 and 1997 and the USA again in 1999.

Following the year gap due to the New York 9/11 attacks, it was Europe who came to dominate the Ryder Cup winning six out of seven tournaments from 2002 to 2014. To stem the tide the USA set up a task force for the 2016 Ryder Cup, this worked wonders as the USA were dominant from the outset, beat Europe eventually 17-11.  The USA were brought back down to earth in 2018 however, despite being favourites with a rejuvenated Tiger Woods on the team they lost deservedly to Europe in Paris.

The USA won by 19 points to 9 in the rescheduled 2021 tournament held in Wisconsin.  Europe were certainly under par but the US were equally as dominant and this has shaken up the European team. Many thought the USA would win in Europe for the first time in 30 years in 2023 in Rome given their 2021 dominance.  It wasn’t to be as a fired up Europe team went 4-0 ahead in the first session and never looked back. The USA will now have to wait until 2027 in Ireland to break their duck on the continent, having now failed to win in Europe since 1993

Despite the dominant win in 2023 the 2025 event provides a much tougher test for Europe, who will require more than good play to beat the American’s on home soil.  The saving grace may be the Bethpage Black Course is exceptionally challenging and doesn’t automatically favour the USA as a few bad rounds can easily swing the whole tournament.  We will wait and see.