Monty betting Ryder Cup 2010 Furore

There doesn’t seem to be a day goes by recently without some sort of accusation of bet fixing. The most recent betting scandal story centres on Colin Montgomerie and the Captaincy of the Ryder Cup 2010. It has been reported over the last weekend that although Colin Montgomerie had previously been ranked a complete outsider as he had no interest in accepting the Ryder Cup Captaincy suddenly leaped up to become the odds on favourite at 4/9. This has caused controversy because word had been spreading fast that Montgomerie was offered the Captains position in principle and the sudden rise in betting on this market clearly fuelled the speculation that the Scot was in fact going to accept the position. A spokesman for Betfair has been quoted as remarking “Someone clearly had a whisper”.

No official announcement has been made nor has Monty himself made any comment other than saying “I don’t know what the situation is. All I can tell you is we have a meeting on Wednesday” and “It would be an honour to be selected, but we are no further forward with that selection process”. Should Montgomerie be selected then we would be unable to play in the tournament which is why it was always assumed that Colin Montgomerie would not want to be the Ryder Cup Captain.

Until this current speculation it has always been widely assumed that Jose Maria Olazabal would take up the Ryder Cup 2010 helm. Sergio Gomez, Olazabal’s Manager said that they had received no further contact from the European Tour chiefs since the original contact a month previous when they were first approached.

Ladbrokes have now suspended all bets on this market stating “Knowledge is power”, clearly feeling that distancing themselves from any market where the outcome could be a forgone conclusion is the best course of action.