This week’s golf comes from Paris where Great Britain and Ireland take on Continental Europe in the annual Vivendi Trophy. The tournament has been renamed the Vivendi Seve Trophy in honour of the great Seve Ballesteros who died earlier this year from brain tumors. The tournament features the top money earners from each area in a range of competitions including singles, pairs and foursomes.

While Great Britain’s team includes Lee Westwood, in form Simon Dyson and Open winner Darren Clarke, bookmakers have them priced at 6/5 in golf betting. The Continental Europe team includes Matteo Manassero, Francesco Molinari and Peter Hanson, a somewhat weaker team one would have thought, yet bookmakers have made them the 4/5 favourites for the event. As a punter, I’d be jumping on those GB/Ireland odds real quick.

When it comes to the highest point scoring player, Lee Westwood is favourite at 18/5 from Ian Poulter and Simon Dyson, both at 5/1. The leading European player is Matteo Manassero at 6/1. Those odds add further confusion to the European team’s favouritism. Dyson is in hot form having won his third KLM Open in six years last weekend and could be one to watch in the leading player betting.

International tournaments like this are becoming hugely popular again, due in part to the recent success of the Ryder Cup competition. Last weekend, the British and Ireland team defeated the US in the Walker Cup, a competition restricted to amateur golfers. There was a good gallery that followed the players around over the weekend and the tournament received some decent airtime on television as well. Punters are now able to bet on a wide range of golfing tournaments and events, and with the competition very even now, the odds are stacked well for the average punter. When one player stands out, like Tiger Woods did for a long time, the odds become skewed and the value is poor. Happy days for golf punters at present, you just have to pick the right winners.