This week we have the first WGC event for the season. It will be the Sixteenth edition of the Accenture Match Play Championship which is being held at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain, Marana, Arizona. This will be the 6th year that the event will be played here.
The course is a Par 72, with Bentgrass greens, it has 89 sand bunkers and measures 7833 yards making it the longest course on the PGA tour. This however is a little misleading as it is played at a 3,500 foot elevation. The course was designed by Jack Nicklaus and was opened in 2008.
The toughest hole is the 3rd hole which is a par 3 and has a water hazard to the right of the hole. It is surrounded by bunkers and the green slopes from left to right and down towards the water, so look for the hole to claim a few scalps this week.
The Championship is a single elimination match play event. The Top 64 players on the World golf rankings are invited to play. The first round commences on the Wednesday with the 32 winners then playing on the Thursday. The last 16 then play on the Friday. This leaves 8 players in the Quarter Finals on the Saturday morning with the Semi Finals in the afternoon. The Championship is then decided on the Sunday along with the play off for 3rd place.
The players are placed into 4 bracketed groups. These are named after 4 of the legends of golf. Bobby Jones, Gary Player, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan. It is very much like the set up for a tennis tournament with the winner going through to the next round.
When trying to look for the winner of this type of event you need to look at the players form when it comes to match play along with singles records in Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. Match Play is a lot different to the normal PGA Tour event. Some guys love it, others not so much.
There is no Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Adam Scott this week, so the top seed goes to Rory McIlroy who will face Boo Weekley in the first round.
The Top 5 in betting this week are- 12/1 Rory McIlroy, 18/1 Dustin Johnson, 20/1 Jason Day, 22/1 Hunter Mahan and 22/1 Henrik Stenson.
When it comes to match play there are a few guys who love the format and should be looked at closely when doing your form this week.
Looking at the field I have decided to take a player from each side of the draw to give us a good run for our money and a chance of getting two guys into the final match up without meeting each other in the early rounds.
$250 WGC Accenture Match Play FREE BET
Matt Kuchar 28/1 www.sportsbet.com.au
Kuchar was my selection last year and he won at 35/1. There is no reason not to take him again this year. I said it before and I will say it again. It takes a cool head to win Match Play golf. You need to roll with the punches and take the good with the bad. Matt has the right temperament as nothing seems to faze him.
When it comes to this event he has a 15-3 record which speaks volumes for his liking of both the course and the match play format. In the last three years he has had a win, a T5th and a 3rd place. Pretty impressive numbers.
Leading into this week he brings a solid game that has seen him finish T6th at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, T8th at the Sony Open and a missed cut last week in the Northern Trust Open. That could be a blessing in disguise at has given him an extra two days to prepare for the defence of his title.
Stats wide he is also spot on to perform well. Leading into this tournament last year he was ranked 11th in scoring average, this year he is 9th. He was also ranked 32nd in scrambling compared to 10th in 2014. Kuchar is also hitting 70% of greens in regulation and his driving accuracy is sitting at 64%. All in all he should be bang on for a great weekend of compelling golf.
Jason Day 20/1 www.sportsbet.com.au
Jason is in the Bobby Jones bracket and is on the other side of the draw to Matt Kuchar which suits us just fine.
Last year in this tournament he beat Zach Johnson 6&5 in the first round, he then saw off Russell Henley after 19 holes, it was the same score against Bubba Watson in the following round. In the quarter finals he beat Graeme McDowell 1up before losing in the semi finals to eventual winner Matt Kuchar 4&3. In the consolation match he beat match play specialist Ian Poulter 1up.
The Aussie has had two starts in 2014 with a T2nd at the Farmers Insurance and T64th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am. After last years good run Jason should feel very confident of producing a similar run.
At the moment he is hitting 73% of Greens in Regulation so his game is in a good place. Expect to see him playing over the weekend.
Good luck and good punting
