World Cup Golf Betting Analysis

Twenty four teams of two will gather at Vilamoura in Portugal, competing in the name of their nations, something that always serves to add an edge to proceedings. The format is two days of foursomes, and two days of fourballs.Most of the players seem to enjoy team formats, and for four days they will take to the mild fairways of the Algarve with the title of World Champions up for grabs. In any other sport that would be considered the height of all potential accomplishments, and whilst that would be going too far in golf, it is a trophy that the winners hold with great pride. The winners may not get a street party in their respective capital city, but we can expect to see 48 totally committed golfers on show this week.And there is some fine quality amongst them.Englands sports fans are having a rare old time of it at the moment. With the cricketers on a high, and both the rugby union and football teams beating good opponents over the weekend, in golf they also contributed four names in the top seven at the HSBC Champions Tournament in Shanghai. This list was spear headed by David Howell who plays this week, who held off Tiger Woods for four straight days, a confidence boost that could linger far longer than just the one week that this preview is immediately concerned with.He was drafted into a winning team for this World Cup, as England won twelve months ago, and Paul Casey is the man to make way. His seventh place in Shanghai was impressive, but on overall form there is no doubt that Howell deserves his place and his better ranking position decided this. Alongside him will be the other half of last years winning combination, Luke Donald.In an age of (golf) ball bursting power, Donald?s rather more conservative approach is refreshingly effective. Although he has not won any titles during 2005, the 27-year-old has done his reputation no harm, and of all the European talent around at the moment, we consider him the most likely to reach out and claim a Major within the next couple of seasons.Splitting his time between Europe and USA has done him no harm either, with comfortable top 20s managed on both money lists. Apart from the Majors, Donald has not finished outside of the top 18 in any European tournament this year, and has also managed to accumulate 12 top 25?s in 18 American outings.His most recent results have been 14th at the Tour Championship, 11th at the WGC-American Express and 6th at the WGC NEC.With Howells form obviously in bloom and Donald a tried and tested article in this format (he was excellent in the 2004 Ryder Cup); we feel the 4/1 is worth taking. Howell is also a veteran from last years Ryder Cup where he performed superbly, and also has team experience from the Walker Cup as an amateur, when he contributed 2 points out of 3 to a winning effort at Royal Porthcawl. At the Seve Trophy in September also, the 30-year-old won four points in five matches. His win in China actually took him ahead of Donald in the world rankings to 13th place (Donald is 15th) and this team does have a formidable look.Spain look strong with Sergio Garcia leading the way, although we have plenty of doubts about Miguel Angel Jimenezs game at present and so 9/2 looks short.South Africa always enjoy this event too, and are looking to win for the 3rd time in 5 years. Trevor Immelman and Tim Clark are their entrants this time, but we do not feel their current form measures up against Englands, from a best price of 10/1 at VCBetAnyone playing with Argentina this week can expect to play all of their approach shots first, as the South American team is made up of two of the longest hitters in the game, Angel Cabrera and Ricardo Gonzalez. In fact, whilst Cabrera was the longest driver statistically on the European Tour for 2005, it was Gonzalez who won that accolade in 2004.Cabrera loves this event, and is an ever present since 1998, and also revels in team environments. This was shown in a Presidents Cup debut this season in which he was only beaten once in five matches for the Rest of the World team against America. Although never winning the World Cup, he did come second in 2000 with the awesome team of David Duval and Tiger Woods the only one to beat him and his mentor, Eduardo Romero.2005 was a fantastic campaign for Cabrera with the undoubted highlight being the capture of the BMW Championship, the flagship event in the European calendar in May. That was largely responsible for his fifth place on the Order of Merit but there has been much other good golf too, including 2nd place at the Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe.Gonzalez has matched his countryman with three Euro titles so far in his career, although the first half of 2005 saw a marked lapse in form. Since then however the signs have been encouraging, with no missed cuts in the last seven, and four top 20?s in this time.The two have partnered one another at the World Cup once before, when finishing third in 1998, and a price of 22/1 allows for an each way selection. This pays out at 1/5 odds for a top four result.So, two of the favourites for the football world cup next summer are also our favourites for success in the golf world cup this week. England and Argentina are worthy of places in this week?s betting verdict in what is a small field in golfing terms.