Friday Foursomes: Westwood/Molinari v Dufner /Johnson

Match 3 of the Friday foursomes will be perhaps the least talked about in the build-up, but it could also be one of the tightest contests. At best odds of 6/1 with Ladbrokes, I could even see it being halved.

The European pairing is Jose Maria Olazabal’s first big gamble. The experienced Lee Westwood has a proud alternate shot record in Ryder Cups (W7 L2 H4), but more often that not those victories came with another stellar name alongside him.

With all due respect to Francisco Molinari, he doesn’t quite fit into that category. The Italian lost his only foursomes encounter in 2010 and failed to register a win in three rubbers overall. It will be a big ask for Westwood to get the best out of him here.

Team USA line-up with the solid-looking due of Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner. Johnson has a respectable Ryder Cup record (W3 L3 H1) which needs to be upgraded when you consider that all those games occurred overseas. He will relish his home debut alongside another one of Love’s rookies.

Dufner has enjoyed a great season which has seen him propelled to number nine in the world. My only concern would be a total lack of top-level matchplay experience. It’s all about how he handles the situation.

So with Westwood looking like the strongest individual and Molinari the weakest, this match just looks to close to call. A good opportunity to back the tie at pretty long odds.