2024 Presidents Cup Expert Picks and Predictions

Golf is back this week, and so is Geoff Ulrich with his 2024 Presidents Cup Expert Picks and Predictions:

Welcome to the 2024 Presidents Cup betting preview. If you’re not familiar with the Presidents Cup, it's a biannual team event that pits squads of 12 golfers against one another in a matchplay format over four days of play.

Before betting on the 2024 Presidents Cup, make sure you're getting the best available prices on all of your PGA prop bets with our PGA Prop Bet Finder!

Format for the 2024 Presidents Cup

Here is the full format for the four-day event:

• Thursday: Fourball matches (each player plays their own ball): 5 matches.
• Friday: Foursomes (each team plays one ball, alternate shots): 5 matches.
• Saturday: Foursomes and Fourball: two waves, 4 matches a piece. 8 total matches.
• Sunday: 12 singles matches (every player plays in one match).

The American squad is made up of the following 12 golfers: 

• Brian Harman
• Tony Finau
• Keegan Bradley
• Russell Henley
• Patrick Cantlay
• Max Homa
• Scottie Scheffler
• Sam Burns
• Xander Schauffele
• Collin Morikawa
• Sahith Theegala
• Wyndham Clark

The International squad is made up of the following 12 golfers: 

• Adam Scott
• Jason Day
• Byeong Hun An
• Hideki Matsuyama
• Mackenzie Hughes
• Si Woo Kim
• Corey Conners
• Christiaan Bezuidenhout
• Taylor Pendrith
• Sungjae Im
• Min Woo Lee
• Tom Kim

The event will be played at Royal Montreal this year, a 7,200+ yard Par 70 venue with tighter tree-lined fairways and smaller greens, and should favor accurate iron players and players with creative short games. 

The venue hosted the 2007 Presidents Cup where the American squad triumphed 19 1/2 to 14 ½, but the event did have some breathtaking moments, including a huge upset on Sunday where Canadian Mike Weir (who is the 2024 International Captain) beat Tiger Woods in singles play. 

I’ve listed the current odds for the event below and as it stands, the International side is heavy underdogs. However, since it’s a four-day event with matches taking place daily, there are still a ton of player props and individual match bets we look to for value as well. 

For now, I've decided just to focus on those and will have some match bets up, later in the week.

Presidents Cup Golf Classic Betting Odds

2024 Presidents Cup betting odds (DraftKings):

Expert Picks for the 2024 Presidents Cup

Below are my favorite betting targets for the week. I’ve created an entire card you can peruse at the end. 

Additionally, if you can make each-way bets (win and place bets in one) then I’ve included that option for some players as well where the odds are relevant. 

For more information on how each-way bets work, you can click here. 

Collin Morikawa Top Points Scorer (+900; bet365)

Morikawa has been a very underrated matchplay player for the Americans at these events. The two-time major winner went 3-0-1 as a rookie at the 2021 Ryder Cup, which included a 3-0 record in the team event. He then went 2-1 at the Presidents Cup in 2022, despite not being in top form.

He enters this year’s version of the Presidents Cup off a 2nd place finish at the season-ending Tour Championship and even though he failed to win, had a monster season racking up top-five finishes at the PGA and Masters. Considering the course should favor elite mid-iron players I expect Morikawa to be one of the Americans who take to Royal Montreal and be leaned on early and often in team play–-where he’s excelled in the past.

With Scottie Scheffler’s matchplay record somewhat suspect to date, the longer odds on Morikawa being the American leader in points this week look inviting enough to take a piece of.

Russell Henley Top USA Captain’s Pick / USA Rookie (+900 / +550; DraftKings)

Henley is making his USA Presidents Cup debut this week and will also be playing in his first team event for the USA. The 35-year-old has had a very solid season, despite not winning, landing a T5 at the Open Championship, a T7 at the US Open, and a T4 at the TOUR Championship. He’s one of the most accurate drivers on the PGA and also a wizard with his wedges, making this week’s tighter Par 70 track right up his alley.

Henley may be a rookie but he’s also a veteran who has played in match-play events before and has outperformed most of the other USA captain’s picks, excluding perhaps Keegan Bradley.

Just given his recent form and suitability for this venue, Jim Furyk may give him a chance to go out in team play right off the bat. If that happens I think you’ll see him excel and potentially get 4 matches in, which would give him a shot at hitting both top rookie and Captain’s pick on the team. 

He’s got the longest odds on Team USA in both those categories, which I think is a mistake, especially with the course and recent form in his favor.

Corey Conners Top International Points scorer / Top Canadian (+800 / +150)

Conners is another player who should benefit from this week’s setup. Of the 24 golfers in play this week, he ranks 8th in SG: Approach stats and 3rd in SG: Off the Tee stats over the last 24 rounds and is coming off a very good week in Napa where he gained 7.6 strokes ball-striking alone. 

Conners may not win as much as he should but he’s ridiculously consistent (hasn’t missed a cut since June 2023) and is typically fantastic around these tighter, accuracy-driven courses. 

Just this summer he managed a T6 at Hamilton Country Club, which hosted the RBC Canadian Open, on a very tight Par 70 setup with some similarities to Royal Montreal. Conners isn’t just the top Canadian on the squad either. He may be the best ball-striker in this event outside of the top three American players and someone the International team will need to step up if they are going to be competitive this week.

Given his recent form and how well he competed in Canada earlier this year, I think there’s a great chance we see Conners lead the way for the International squad. If he can replicate some of Mike Weir’s success (his captain) at Royal Montreal this week, who grabbed 3.5 points on this course in 2007, there’s a chance he not only cashes the top Canadian bet but also the top International point-getter as well.

International to win Fourballs (+200)

The last time the Internationals got to play on home turf was in Australia back in 2019. Granted, they had a veteran-laden squad that season but they also managed to use their knowledge of the course to their advantage and and jump out to an early lead in team play that year, winning the opening set of matches 4-1.

I think a similar scenario could play out here. On top of the course being extremely tight and unforgiving on approach, the International squad has a ton of Canadians on it so the crowds are going to be lively from the get-go. This could certainly bother the talented, but well-fed, American squad–-who probably would rather not have to deal with a bunch of rowdy French Canadians. 

Further, the tight course this week likely plays a lot more to the strengths of the Canadians who have sharpshooters like Corey Conners, Tom Kim, Hideki Matsuyama, Si Woo Kim, and Christiaan Bezuidenhout who don’t hit it that far off the tee, but love these kinds of setups.

Rather than take the +275 on the Internationals to win the event outright (a tall task) I’d much rather ride with them for a fast start on Day 1 and then reevaluate the overall markets afterward. 

Betting Card for the 2024 Presidents Cup

• Collin Morikawa top Points Scorer (+900; bet365) 
• Russell Henley top USA Captain’s Pick / Rookie (+900 / +550; DraftKings)
• Corey Conners Top International Points scorer / Top Canadian (+800 / +150) 
• International to win Fourballs (+200; bet365)