Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer head the betting for the WGC-Accenture Matchplay tournament after reigning champion Ian Poulter and Tiger Woods crashed out in the first round on Wednesday. Serial finalist Casey has a favourable draw and Bet 365 have priced him at 10/1 in the betting, with Kaymer alongside him after both men were clipped in from twelves.
Poulter beat Casey in the final last year but crashed out to Stewart Cink to become the first defending champion in nine years to go out at the first round stage. While Woods had been favourite in the ante-post betting but was downed by Stewart Cink to go out in the first round for only the second time in his career and extended his tournament win drought to 18 months.
The loss of those two players has opened up the betting and Paul Casey, finalist in 2009 and 2010, looks well set to take advantage of a kind draw. He will be confident of making the quarter-finals at least and he is 8/15 on to beat Jason Day in his second round match on Thursday, and his 10/1 price to win the tournament outright with B365 is an industry best.
Race To Dubai winner Martin Kaymer meanwhile comfortably overcame the highly rated Seung-Yul Noh 7 & 6 on Wednesday and comes up against Englishman Justin Rose, who beat Zach Johnson. Kaymer is 4/7 on to beat Rose and on current form it is hard to see 11/8 shot for the match Rose beating the outstanding German.
The other stand out second round match will be the meeting of the American Ryder Cup teammates Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler. The match will see the experienced old hand of Mickelson taking on the up and coming star of American golf in Rickie Fowler. Mickelson is available at an industry best of 14/1 in the betting to win the tournament outright with Bet 365 after his 6 & 5 win over Brendan Jones and he is 8/13 to beat Fowler. But we fancy Fowler, who beat Peter Hanson in the first round, to produce a win that would possibly see a 'changing of the guard' and he is available at 5/4.
There is still plenty of interest from a British perspective and Lee Westwood is a 16/1 punt with Bet365.com to win a tournament he has fared poorly in the past. He has failed to reach the last 16 in 11 attempts but he started well on Wednesday with a win over 2007 champion Henrik Stenson and continues his campaign against the man who knocked him out last year - Nick Watney.
Elsewhere, Graeme McDowell, who is a best price of 14/1 in the betting for the tournament, is favourite for his match as he takes on his Ryder Cup teammate Ross Fisher who has been out of form of late but did reach the semi-finals in 2009. While Rory McIlroy is now as short as 11/1 to win outright and he takes on Ben Crane.
Outright Betting
10/1 Paul Casey
10/1 Martin Kaymer
11/1 Rory McIlroy
12/1 Geoff Ogilvy
14/1 Graeme McDowell
14/1 Phil Mickelson
16/1 Lee Westwood
18/1 Nick Watney
20/1 Luke Donald
25/1 Hunter Mahan
25/1 Stewart Cink
25/1 Charl Schwartzel
30/1 BAR
Selected Second Round Match Odds
4/6 Graeme McDowell v Ross Fisher 6/5
8/15 Paul Casey v Jason Day 6/4
8/15 Rory McIlroy v Ben Crane 6/4
8/13 Phil Mickelson v Rickie Fowler 5/4
4/7 Martin Kaymer v Justin Rose 11/8
4/5 Lee Westwood v Nick Watney Evens
Odds supplied by Bet365.com, with live betting in-running throughout the tournament.
Posted: Thursday, 24th February 2011
Author: Chris James
Tags: wgc accenture matchplay, paul casey, martin kaymer, bet365,
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