It’s a strange time of year on the golfing calendar. No sooner had the European Tour finished for 2008 than the Race to Dubai started in China in earnest. As the weeks go by it’s difficult to know which event is affiliated to which tour and plenty names are missing as they take a well earned break in the tax havens around the world.

So, where does the golf World Cup stand in all this? Well, it’s not included in the Race to Dubai, but 28 teams of 2 do battle for $5 million worth of prize money and a bit of national pride to boot.

The tournament’s still out in the far east as the Mission Hills Country Club in China hosts the event. This shouldn’t have too much affect on the betting as the players have been playing all their latest golf in that part of the world and should be well acclimatised.

The format of the event sees 36 holes each of foursomes and fourballs, there’s no individual competition and no cut. The fourballs are played on Thursday and Saturday and the foursomes Friday and Sunday.

When approaching this format from a betting perspective you need to look at the teams and how they complement each other. If you look at the top of the betting, Sweden and England are 4/1 each a two