The rosters are all set for the PGA Tour’s 2015 Presidents Cup, with the tournament set to tee off for the first time in Asia this Thursday.
The Jack Nicklaus Gold Club in Incheon, South Korea will play host to the event as Team International will gun for just its second victory in 11 tries and will look to put an end to Team United States’ domination. And what exactly did the experts around the web foresee in this upcoming golfing spectacle? Let’s check in below with some of their inputs to give us an upper hand for some strategic wagers.
If you’re in need of more opinions apart from these pundits, allow us to personally guide you with our complete preview and sleepers picks for the tournament after this.
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Experts Picks and Predictions for the 2015 Presidents Cup
NBC Golf
Expert
Prediction
Jason Sobel
Team International
Jason Sobel of NBC Golf (golfchannel.com) may have made his prediction for this year’s Presidents Cup way ahead of schedule as part of his 2015 PGA Tour season predictions, but his early forecast still rings true and as credible to date, especially with the announcement in August about some changes in the tournament’s format.
[sc:Golf240banner ]Sobel openly admitted that his prediction was mainly based on the simple law of averages given that Team International has only won one of the tournament’s eleven matches. However, he did still go on to defend that International fixtures like 2015 PGA Championship winner Jason Day, Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen make for a daunting upper-tier of the roster.
In addition, the team also arguably has its best lineup since its win back in 1998 thanks to some emerging talent in Matt Jones, Anirban Lahiri and Carlos Ortiz, who all could provide much needed balance to the pairings in Thursday and Friday’s foursome and fourball play.
PresidentsCup.com
Expert
Prediction
Amanda Balionis
Team International (16-14)
Kelly Hawkins
Team US (17-13)
Sean Martin
Team International (15.5-14.5)
Mike McAllister
Team US (17-13)
Bryan Mullen
Team US (15.5-14.5)
Who better to put in their two cents on the even than the folks helming over the tournament itself? PresidentsCup.com’s 11-man panel was almost equally split on who will prevail on top this Sunday, with the group slightly favoring team United States, 6-5.
Taking inputs from five of the site’s most credible contributors (as seen above), managing editor Mike McAllister and digital producer Bryan Mullen both agree that the US – currently priced at -270 to win the event – just has too much talent and depth compared to the International team. McAllister even further elaborated that with team US having 12 players in the Top 30 of the World Golf Rankings as opposed to the International’s five should serve as enough evidence that the Americans will win its fifth-consecutive Presidents Cup.
Meanwhile, Trending on TOUR host Amanda Balionis and events editor Sean Martin both gave Team International final score predictions of a slim 16-14 win. Balionis and Martin argued that having five Asian-born players in the team will be fired up to put on a great show and performance in Incheon as a sort of “home course” advantage to finally put an end to the International’s struggles at the event.
Golf Magazine’s senior editor Joe Passov showed no signs of hesitation in stating that this will indeed be the year that the Internationals break the US’ half-decade run.
Passov would go on to say that the new format that Team International captain Nick Price fought so hard for to get better competitive parity than before should be the key factor. He also stated that Team United States is probably lacking the drive to stay on top already after having been kings of the tournament for so long, and that the long trip to the other end of the Pacific will have the Americans jet-lagged and needing to make a quick transition first more so than their foreign rivals.
Top Bet
Expert
Prediction
Top Bet
Team US (16-14)
We here at Top Bet are sticking stateside with our pick, believing that the United States will continue to own the International team for as long as the World’s best golfer in Jordan Spieth is still an American (which is likely forever) and playing at a high level like his career-defining 2015. Spieth, the current FedEx Cup champion, is actually just 2-2 in his past involvement at the Presidents Cup, but his unparalleled play this season could very well propel his team with greater ease than expected.
And let’s not forget that US team captain Jay Haas used his last pick to have the timeless Phil Mickelson on board. Many believe that “Lefty” was recruited for him to merely extend his streak to 11-straight appearances at the Presidents in as many number total events. But even if that was the case, having the 45-year old Mickelson for leadership and other intangibles is one advantage that the Internationals do not possess.
