The first World Golf Championship gets underway on Wednesday with the WGC-Accenture Matchplay event at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Cup in Arizona. This unique tournament has the world's top 64 players battle it out in match play golf, with the golfers whittled down each day through to Sunday's final played over 36 holes. Last year, the final was between Ian Poulter and Paul Casey, with Poulter coming out on top. The two Englishmen are amongst the favourites to feature heavily again in 2011, which will see a return to the event for Tiger Woods who was absent last season. Woods heads the betting on 12/1 with bookmaker Paddy Power, but second favourite is last season's runner-up Casey on 14/1 and the players could meet in the quarter-final.
The 64 players are split into four brackets, each named after famous old golfers. Each player is given a seeding based on their world ranking, but it rarely pans out that the top eight players reach the quarter-finals! There were upsets in abundance in last year's tournament, especially in the early rounds. You can bet on each individual match, as well as bet on who will win each of the brackets and of course who the outright winner will be.
In the outright betting, it's Paul Casey who makes most appeal at 14/1. The Englishman has been the beaten finalist for the past two seasons on this course, clearly loves it in the desert and has already won the Volvo Golf Champions in Bahrain this season. Casey obviously loves the matchplay format and desert golf, having previously performed well in Ryder Cup golf and winning the old HSBC World Match Play back at Wentworth in 2006. He's also won twice in Abu Dhabi as well as his two final appearances at Dove Mountain and at 14/1 each-way with Paddypower he looks a competitive bet in what is a weakish looking first three rounds for the Englishman.
At bigger odds in the outright betting, Robert Karlsson makes some appeal at 45/1. The Swede is another who loves desert golf, having won the Qatar Masters and the Dubai World Championship last season and two top six finishes in the two events he played in this year's Middle East Swing. He has a modest record at Dove Mountain but the draw could work out nicely for him should he beat Hiroyuki Fujita in the first round. At 45/1 each-way, he'd be our outsider bet for the week.
The Bobby Jones bracket looks very competitive, with Lee Westwood and Steve Stricker the two top seeds. Westwood hasn't enjoyed this event in the past but should be too strong for the out of form Henrik Stenson in the first round. Stricker lost in the first round last year losing to Ross Magowan twelve month's ago. Matte Manassero faces Stricker first up this year and could be a decent bet in the match betting at odds of 11/8. However, it's Luke Donald that really catches the eye in this bracket, the Englishman is a fantastic Ryder Cup player and odds of 1/2 to win his first round match with American Charley Hoffman. Donald would then meet the winner of the Edoardo Molinari and Martin Laird contest, before a possible match up with the likes of Manassero, Stricker, Schwartzel or Ishikawa. At odds of 7/1 Donald looks a decent bet to win the Bobby Jones Bracket.
Wednesday's match bets look fascinating and we've come up with a couple of trebles to get stuck into. Firstly our banker treble featuring those odds on shots who should make light work of their opening round. Rather than including those mentioned above, we've gone for Robert Allenby to beat Ross Fisher at odds of 8/11, Dustin Johnson to beat Mark Wilson at 4/7 and Tim Clark to beat Camilo Villegas at odds of 4/6. All three are odds on to win their first round matches but the likes of Villegas and Fisher are out of form with Clark and Allenby doubty competitiors. Wilson has a win to his name this season on the PGA Tour in Phoenix but he could well get outgunned against the big hitting Johnson. A treble pays just over 7/2 with Paddy Power.
For our outsiders, we've plumbed for Anders Hansen to beat Matt Kuchar at odds of 6/5, Stewart Cink to cause an upset beating reigning champion Poulter at 11/10 and Edoardo Molinari to beat Martin Laird at what looks like a great price of even money. Hansen recently finished second in the Desert Classic and Stewart Cink has finished no worst than the fourth round in this event for the last three years and runner up in 2008. Molinari has been a bit out of touch, but should have the game to see off Laird who might just be feeling the nerves in his first World Golf Championship.
Outright Betting
12/1 Tiger Woods
14/1 Paul Casey
16/1 Lee Westwood
16/1 Rory McIlroy
16/1 Martin Kaymer
20/1 Phil Mickelson
22/1 Graeme McDowell
25/1 Ian Poulter
28/1 Luke Donald
28/1 Steve Stricker
28/1 Geoff Ogilvy
28/1 Nick Watney
33/1 Dustin Johnson
33/1 Jim Furyk
33/1 Ernie Els
40/1 BAR
Ben Hogan Bracket Odds
9/2 Phil Mickelson
6/1 Graeme McDowell
15/2 Ian Poulter
9/1 Matt Kuchar
10/1 Alvaro Quiros
10/1 Rickie Fowler
12/1 BAR
Gary Player Bracket Odds
5/1 Martin Kaymer
5/1 Rory McIlroy
15/2 Hunter Mahan
8/1 Jim Furyk
10/1 Justin Rose
10/1 Robert Karlsson
12/1 BAR
Bobby Jones Bracket Odds
6/1 Lee Westwood
7/1 Luke Donald
7/1 Steve Stricker
7/1 Nick Watney
9/1 Retief Goosen
11/1 BAR
Sam Snead Bracket Odds
4/1 Tiger Woods
9/2 Paul Casey
15/2 Geoff Ogilvy
9/1 Ernie Els
9/1 Dustin Johnson
14/1 BAR
Odds supplied by Paddypower.com, with live betting in-running throughout the tournament.
Posted: Tuesday, 22nd February 2011
Author: Russell Lloyd
Tags: wgc accenture world matchplay, world golf championship, paul casey, paddypower,
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