The draw for the group stage of the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play has been done and we are left with 16 competitive looking sections to entertain us over the first three days of the tournament.
Although we’ve already got stuck into four players outright all 16 groups have been priced up so it would be wrong of us not to attack some of them with some small value bets. Three of the groups have given up bets which I really like the look of so we’ll have a look at them here.
Before we look at them I should just mention that I was wanting to take Kevin Kisner to win Group 9 but he is the favourite for it and not Reed which is annoying while Bill Haas is a favourite in Group 11 so I’ll leave them alone.
Group 3
This group is headed by the defending champion Jason Day but whether it is a combination of injuries catching up with him, just a pure loss of form or something we are not aware of his form is nothing like we would expect from the former world number one and I think he could be there for the taking this week.
He is in a group alongside Marc Leishman, Lee Westwood and Pat Perez. Leishman and Perez have won on the PGA Tour this season, Leishman last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational with Perez winning the OHL Classic while Westwood has a good match play record. I like Leishman here though. I thought he was hitting the ball really well last week and his scrambling when it was needed was spot on. He looks the value in this group at 3/1.
Group 4
Generally in seeded draws the fourth seed ends up in a horrible looking part of the draw and Hideki Matsuyama has certainly done that. Not only is he in the same quarter as Jordan Spieth, Paul Casey and others but he has Louis Oosthuizen, Ross Fisher and Jim Furyk for company in his group.
I’m not sure about the Japanese star in this format of the game so I’m keen to take him on and the South African Oosthuizen is perfect to do that with. Before the draw Oosthuizen was on my outright shortlist but the draw has put me off so I’ll back him to win the group. He is an excellent match player and was runner up here 12 months ago. He looks to be sneaking back into form and on a course which is ideal for him I can’t ignore the 9/4 that he escapes from this section.
Group 8
In many ways the most open group of the lot is Group 8 where the classy Alex Noren heads the seedings but having not really ever cracked it in America he could be there for the taking too despite his run to the final of the Paul Lawrie Match Play showing that he can play this format.
Francesco Molinari, Bernd Wiesberger and Thongchai Jaidee are the men looking to come past him. The latter is a runner up of the Volvo Match Play and has generally got good form in this format of the game. I would imagine Jaidee would be comfortable in this group. He takes on these players on the European Tour all the time and won’t be out of his comfort zone. He has a game ideally suited to man on man combat and at 4/1 he looks overpriced to escape this section.
Tips
WON – Back M.Leishman to win Group 3 for a 2/10 stake at 4.00 with Titanbet
Back him here:
Back L.Oosthuizen to win Group 4 for a 3/10 stake at 3.25 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
Back T.Jaidee to win Group 8 for a 2/10 stake at 5.00 with Boylesports
Back him here:
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