WGC World Match Play Championship: Can Tyrrell Hatton oust defending champion Scottie Scheffler?
Matchplay takes centre stage on the USPGA tour this week, as Tipstrr golf expert Martin Colwell examines where the best betting value lies ahead of the Dell Technologies World Match Play Championship.
2023-03-21WGC World Match Play Championship: Can Tyrrell Hatton oust defending champion Scottie Scheffler?
This is the final year that the World Match Play Championship is to be part of the USPGA Tour schedule, and its swansong will take place at its normal venue of Austin Country Club in Texas.
A par 71 and 7,108 yards in length, this Pete Dye-designed course has uneven fairways, severe elevation changes and is littered with shrewdly-placed pot bunkers.
This week, the 64 golfers will be split into 16 groups of four, who will play in a round-robin format each group winner proceeding to the final 16. The knock-out phase of four further rounds follows, so the winner and runner-up will have earned their share of the $20million prize pool after playing seven rounds in five days.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler beat Kevin Kisner 4&3 in last year's final, just a year after finishing runner-up to Billy Horschel (2&1) in 2021.
World number one Scheffler will tee off as the 7/1 favourite, and is grouped together with Tom Kim, Alex Noren and Davis Riley in his group. If he were to win his group Scheffler is seeded to play Sungjae Im, or possibly Tommy Fleetwood in the last 16.
Jon Rahm is next in the betting at 10/1. Rahmbo made the quarter-finals in 2021, and he has to get past Billy Horschel, Keith Mitchell and Rickie Fowler, which is not the easiest of groups. However, the Spaniard is in generally good form apart from some upset in the past two weeks, and is seeded to meet Cameron Young in the next round if he is successful.
And then at 12/1 there is Rory McIlroy, who will be strongly fancied, although I struggle to see Rory wanting to play seven rounds in five days as part of his Masters preparations. I cannot be with Rory at these odds, especially as his recent form has not been great.
Patrick Cantlay is a 14/1 shot who does not have a good record in this tournament and so may not be value at these odds, as this could be part of his Masters prep also? Cantlay has Brian Harman, K H Lee and Nick Taylor in his group. I smell an upset here, maybe K H Lee?
At more enticing odds we find Tyrrell Hatton, an experienced match play golfer who is in great form after enjoying top-six finishes in three of his last four USPGA events.
The Englishman has Russell Henley, Lucas Herbert and Ben Griffin in his group, so not the toughest of draws on paper. He is then seeded to play McIlroy in the last 16, but Hatton is in better form than his Ryder Cup team-mate and looks more appealing value to make the quarters and beyond.
Matt Fitzpatrick missed the cut last week after making two costly errors, but other than that his game looked in decent shape. Another experienced match play golfer, Fitzy has Sahith Theegala, Min Woo Lee and JJ Spaun in his group. Tough enough.
The winner of this tournament usually comes from the top of the market and so that is where we should keep our focus.
- Please note - prices can vary from bookie to bookie, especially as some are offering each-way terms on four places and others on eight, so it is worth shopping around.
Martin Colwellprovides golf tips asPuttfordough23$$on theTipstrrplatform
