In the last six years Europe and the United States have been winning the Claret Jug in alternate years, and if that pattern is repeated, fans of golf betting will witness an American raider lifting the old trophy. Which three U.S. golfers have the strongest claims?

Matt Kuchar (+4000 at 888Sport)

The 41-year-old is enjoying a superb season and plenty of his best results hint at a good week on the linksland. His two wins have come at El Camaleon in the Mayakoba Classic and Waialae in the Sony Open which, while tropical, are both by the sea and susceptible to blustery breezes.

In fact, his runner-up finish in the Heritage at Harbour Town makes it three top efforts in such conditions. He was also second in the World Golf Championship Match Play at Austin CC, a track that was designed with rolling linksland as an inspiration.

He’s been no slouch in the 2019 majors, collecting T12th in the Masters, eighth in the PGA Championship and T16th at Pebble Beach in the U.S. Open. He also gave bettors a nudge when posting a first-round 63 at The Renaissance Club in the Scottish Open.

Don’t overlook his desire to right an Open wrong either because two years ago he thought he was about to break his major duck with victory at Royal Birkdale only to run into a rampant Jordan Spieth. He’s +4000 with 888Sport to go one better this week.

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Brooks Koepka (+1000 at DraftKings)

There’s plenty of talk this week about the distinct challenge of the course. Many of the tee shots call for positional play, and Francesco Molinari has said at those times everyone will be hitting to the same spots. Others, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke included, have noted the thick rough and narrow fairways on the longer holes.

What all of this means is that driver can be played, but whoever uses it as a main weapon will need to be hitting it arrow straight. Does that take Koepka out of the equation? After all, he has achieved so much of his success in recent years by overpowering courses that offer width from the tee.

The flipside of all of this is that his record is so impressive you wonder how you can possibly overlook him. After all, he’s won four of his last nine major championship starts, and this season alone has been tied second in the Masters, winner of the PGA Championship and second in the U.S. Open.

He’s but a few shots from going for a 2019 Grand Slam in other words. It’s also true that his caddie Ricky Elliott is from Portrush. How much good news do you want? He’s +1000 with DraftKings.

Tiger Woods (+1800 with FanDuel)

Time to consider the Big Cat, and the first thought is that it was at Carnoustie 12 months ago that we got the first hint that the comeback was on. Why so? Well he turned up, reminded everyone that the Scottish course was the one where he first fell in love with links golf and then he proceeded to glide through the first three rounds before pouncing on the front nine in the final day.

When he made the turn he was leading, and while he couldn’t convert, the flame had been re-lit. A few weeks later he won the Tour Championship and a few months after that he won the Masters.

Now he is back on the linksland and we can expect his eyes to be alight with excitement, just as they were a year ago. On the other hand, we have to wonder just how much rust he needs to knock off because since his glory at Augusta he has made just three starts and had only one top-10.

That said, he has played two full practice rounds at Portrush, and while he looked a little stiff, the fact that he walked 36 holes tells us much. He’s +1800 with FanDuel.

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