The Ryder Cup is perhaps the one tournament when even non-golf fans may get a little excited about the sport as the cream of Europe pits itself against the best from the States over three, usually raucous, days of match play action.

The 24 players on show are famously not paid for competing in the biennial competition, but how can punters try and get in the money when betting on the event? Here we profile how to spread bet on the Ryder Cup.

The most popular fixed odds markets when betting on the Ryder Cup are the main Outright Winner or To Lift Trophy prices (i.e. a tie would be good enough to see Europe lift the trophy), various group sections on top points scorer, plus handicap and correct score odds.

Ryder Cup spread betting specials

Spread betting on the Ryder Cup covers all the above markets plus much more besides with a whole host of specials including the chance to go ‘higher or lower’ on the spread betting firms’ predictions of a range of outcomes over the tournament.

Selections include the number of holes that will be halved during the 28 matches, the total number of Europe holes or USA holes won, the total number of matches that will be halved or the number of matches which reach the 18th hole.

In each case you would look at the ‘spread’ and sell if you felt the spread was too high or buy if you felt it was too low. E.g. the Spreadex quote for Total Europe holes won at Gleneagles is 114.75 – 116.75, so if you expected Europe to win at least 117 holes, you may opt to buy £10 a point at 116.75.

If Europe went on to win 122 holes you would make a profit of £52.50 ((122 – 116.75) x £10) but if Europe only won 111 holes you would lose £57.50 ((111 – 116.75) x £10). Just for reference on this market, in 2012 Europe won 109 holes, in 2010 they won 122 and in 2008 they won 113.

Spread betting on players' Ryder Cup points totals

Betting on the number of points players will score in the Ryder Cup is a hugely popular area and the spreads have a number of ways to play on player points. Firstly you can buy or sell on each player’s spread based on a 50-30-20-10 index (50 points if they are top points scorer, 30 if they are second top, 20 if they are third highest and 10 if they are fourth highest).

So if you fancy Mr Ryder Cup himself Ian Poulter to be top points scorer (Poulter was top overall points scorer in 2008 and 2012 and joint top European points scorer in 2010), his Spreadex spread pre-event was 10 – 13 to be top European Points Scorer or 6 – 8 to be Top Overall Points Scorer. I.e. if you bought £1 a point at 8 for Top Overall Scorer and he ended top you would make £42 (50 – 8) but if he finished fifth highest points scorer or lower you would lose £8 (0 – 8).

Other ways to bet on each player’s points is the Player x 10 Points market where a win = 10 points and a halved hole = 5. So if a player earned 3.5 points in this year’s Ryder Cup it would equal 35 points on the Spreadex Player x 10 Points market.

If that’s not enough, then try the Player Point Matchbets where you can bet on which paired players will score the most points. Players are awarded 10 points for scoring more points than their matchbet opponent plus a further five points per point won by. So Spreadex is predicting the Rory McIlroy v Ian Poulter matchbet to be McIlroy/Poulter 4 – 6. I.e. if McIlroy scores two points more than Poulter this would make-up at 20 in favour of McIlroy.

In-play Ryder Cup spread betting

In-play betting is of course all the rage and the best way to do this in the spreads on the Ryder Cup is by the 10-3 Matchbet markets. Here 10 points are awarded per winning player/pair plus a further three points per hole won by. So a match won 5 and 4 would result in a make-up of 25 for the winning player/pair (10 + (5 x 3)). The prices here are updated hole by hole, allowing you to open up new bets at any time or close out existing bets to either take a profit or cut a loss.

Looking back at the overall betting, the main equivalent to the fixed odds Outright Winner market for the spreads is the 10-3 Match Supremacy market where the winning team is awarded 10 points plus a further three points per point won by.

This market is again offered in-play throughout the three days meaning you can open and close bets as the score swings to and fro. So, for example, at the end of the second day of the 2012 Ryder Cup with USA leading 10-6, Spreadex’s 10-3 Match Supremacy price was USA/Europe 21.5 – 24.5. This meant the price suggested USA were going to win by between four or five points (10 + (4 x 3) = 22).

Of course the final day ‘Miracle of Medinah’ saw Europe eventually win 14 ½ - 13 ½ meaning the 10-3 Supremacy market made-up at 13 to Europe (10 + 3). So spread betters who sold at 21.5 (getting with Europe) made 34.5 times their stake (21.5 + 13), while punters who bought at 24.5 (getting with USA) lost 37.5 times their stake.

Other Outright spread prices include the 25:10 markets with the spread based on each team being awarded 25 points for winning the Ryder Cup or 10 points for a tie. There are also a long list of 25:10 Handicap markets with 25 points awarded if the team wins with the handicap or 10 if they tie with the handicap.

With plenty of other markets available including markets offered based on a make-up on each day or specials such as Multiholes (holes won multiplied by holes remaining in a match), Stop at a Win (matches played x 10 until a named team wins a match) or Stop at a Halved Match (matches played x 10 until a match is halved) there are plenty of ways to try and help you get in the money during the Ryder Cup, even if the players themselves are not.

For further betting inspiration, don't forget to view our Ryder Cup Infographic, which details the performance of the 24 players over the major golf tournaments throughout 2014.