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Solheim Cup: Avoid the Prop Bets and Consider Daily Match Winners
By Keith Stewart, PGA
Published on
Rose Zhang during the 2023 Solheim Cup.(Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
If you are new to golf betting, the next two weekends can be a bit confusing.
Most tournaments, betting operators release the odds early in the week and we have a plethora of opportunities to take advantage of for our weekend wagers. The Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup are completely different.
Whether you are seasoned bettor or new, I recommend you read my last article where I broke down who would win the Solheim Cup. That’s the first bet you will make prior to the matches getting started. The second type of pre-match bet I recommend is picking the daily winners. Many books will offer you the opportunity to pick either side to have the most points on any given day during the match.
Leona Maguire of Team Europe. (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
I believe the European team has an edge. Their players have competed in 31 Solheim Cups and hold a 62-43-13 record. The American side can only call upon 15 previous Solheim Cups and a 24-26-13 record. Five rookies are registered on the U.S. side and three for the Europeans. Experience is a tangible asset in these international team matches, and Europe possesses a strong edge in Spain.
Many of the other pre-match proposition or “prop” bets involve scoring points. I don’t recommend these bets for anyone. Captains Stacy Lewis (USA) and Suzann Pettersen (EUR) hold too much control over these outcomes. The most points by any player, most points on the U.S. side, most points by a rookie, are all examples of these type of bets. I find it impossible to predict who will earn the most points if I don’t even know how many times each player will compete.
Captains used to always send out the best players for all five matches. Times have significantly changed from the Annika and Tiger days. In four of the last five Solheim Cups, only one player competed in five matches.
One out of 24 participants and an American player didn’t play five times in any of the last five. If we reduce the group to playing only four times, it becomes much more difficult to predict the outcome. At the risk of being redundant, save your budget and get ready to use it on the actual matches.
After all, that’s the best part of wagering all weekend. On Friday and Saturday, we have eight different matches to predict and Sunday we have twelve! As a PGA of America Coach, I believe in education. Take my advice and stick to the daily team bets. Now that Lewis and Pettersen have their pairings, the gloves then come off and all bets are on.
Keith Stewart is an award-winning PGA of America Professional. He covers the LPGA and PGA TOUR for Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, LPGA, and PGA TOUR. If you are looking to raise your golf acumen and love inside information about the game, check out his weekly newsletter called Read The Line.
