Dan Roebuck’s Seve Trophy preview: Side with GB&Ire at 11/8

Despite having won the last six renewals, Great Britain and Ireland are the second favourites to win the 2013 Seve Trophy at 11/8, held again this year at Saint-Nom-la-Breteche.

Past form counts for nothing it seems, but in fairness to the Ladbrokes odds compilers it’s easy to see why they have been persuaded to price up the Continental Europeans as the 8/15 market principles.

Jose Maria Olazabal’s side have the better average world ranking and Race to Dubai position, and while four players that did qualify to play under Ollie this week have snubbed the event – including recent Fedex Cup winner Henrik Stenson – seven players that could have teed up for Sam Torrance in France have decided not to play – including Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter who helped to win seven points between them two years ago.

However, it’s interesting that both teams can boast six 2013 European Tour wins on their collective CVs, which suggest that this contest will be closer than the current odds suggest, which must trigger a bet on the visitors this week at 11/8.

Such has been the dominance of the GB&Ire team in recent years; they have managed to win this event by five points in three of the last five matches, only ever losing the inaugural tournament back in 2000, when a Sergio Garcia-inspired European side won by a single point.

The GB&Ire team warmed up well ahead of the clash in Paris, with every player on Torrance’s team teeing up in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, garnering two top ten finishes and five top 35s.

The Europeans – those that did turn up – didn’t fare so well, with Joost Luiten’s 24th place effort the best (with no other golfer claiming a top 35 finish).

Admittedly, half of Olazabal’s side didn’t play, but inactivity for some of them could be a problem. We haven’t seen Peter Hanson, who has struggled with injury this term, on the fairways competitively for a month.

Those looking for top points’ scorer bets could do worse than side with 10/1 shot Scott Jamieson for the GB&Ire team. The Scot won three out of four points in 2011 and has begun to rediscover his form recently with two top 25s in his last two starts. While for the Europeans, Thomas Bjorn, who won in Switzerland last time out and beat Westwood in the singles two years ago, looks the best bet at a healthy 8/1.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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