The inaugural Vivendi Cup begins on Thursday near Paris at Golf de Joyenval. Three-time Major winner Padraig Harrington leads the odds. He is one of two European Ryder Cup golfers in the field, the other being Peter Hanson, who comes in second in the outright betting market.
Since we’re all brand new to the Vivendi Cup, here is a quick breakdown. The golf event will be played on two courses. The first 36 holes will be played as a Pro-Am on the Retz and Marly courses. The last 36 holes will be played by the top 65 players on the par 72 Marly. The courses were designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and are fairly short. The Marly has four par 5 holes, the greens of which are reachable in two shots. That means we should see plenty of birdies and a few eagles.
Harrington will be using this event to gear up for the Ryder Cup. He hasn’t won a tournament since the 2008 U.S. PGA Championship, but did finish second in the Irish Open and snagged five other top 10 finishes this year. His world ranking slipped to #22, the lowest it has been in four years. Hanson has two tournament wins this year, the Mallorca Open over the summer and the Czech Open in August. The Czech Open win guaranteed his place on the European Ryder Cup team. Like Harrington, he will be looking to polish his golf game in France.
Another player to look out for is Jose Manuel Lara. He won the Austrian Open last week and finished fourth in the KLM Open a week earlier. Though the Austrian Open was his first tournament win in four years, he still has good each-way betting value for the Vivendi Cup. One more player to consider in your golf betting this week is Gregory Bourdy. The Frenchman hasn’t missed a cut in 15 tournaments and is due for a win. He has plenty of value with somewhat of a home field advantage.
Vivendi Cup Winner Odds (provided by Eurobet)
Padraig Harrington: 10/1
Peter Hanson: 10/1
Chris Wood: 14/1
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano: 16/1
Gregory Bourdy: 18/1
Raphael Jacquelin: 201
Richard Green: 25/1
James Donaldson: 33/1
Peter Lawrie: 33/1
Soren Hansen: 33/1
Jose Manuel Lara: 40/1
Pelle Edberg: 40/1
Todd Hamilton; 40/1