We have reached the knockout stages of the WGC Dell Matchplay and on Saturday the 16 remaining players will battle it out in the last 16 and the quarter finals as we play down to the final four at the Austin Country Club.
The group play has seen many of the stars of the game disappear. In fact only one of the top 16 seeds made it out of their group and only one of the top 20 in the world is still left in the tournament. We’re set up for a dramatic day on Saturday.
Time restrictions will deny us the chance to preview the four quarter finals but we have an outright bet remaining which will hopefully get to the last eight and give us some interest in the second set of matches. We can go through the last 16 and pick out the best bets though.
Saturday’s last 16 matches are as follows:
Tommy Fleetwood v Dylan Frittelli
Billy Horschel v Kevin Streelman
Sergio Garcia v Mackenzie Hughes
Robert MacIntyre v Victor Perez
Scottie Scheffler v Ian Poulter
Jon Rahm v Erik van Rooyen
Bubba Watson v Brian Harman
Matt Kuchar v Jordan Spieth
Saturday preview
Every player remaining in the draw knows they are four winning rounds from glory and with so few of the truly big names left in the tournament they will all feel they have a chance of a potentially career changing and defining victory. Of those left in we have three major champions, two former winners of this event and a bunch of rising stars who could be about to take a huge step in their career. The pick of the matches is the one between the former winner Matt Kuchar and a resurgent Jordan Spieth. From a European point of view all eyes will be on two men who could be on the Europe team in the Ryder Cup in Robert Macintyre and Victor Perez who meet in an intriguing clash. I like two bets for the last 16.
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Bubba Watson vs Brian Harman
Match tees off at 13.41 GMT
The first bet I like on Saturday comes in the penultimate match of the last 16 singles as two left-handed Americans battle it out when Bubba Watson takes on Brian Harman for the right to meet either Matt Kuchar or Jordan Spieth in the quarter finals.
Both these men have played some nice stuff this week and defied their ranking to see off a couple of fancied runners for the competition. Bubba Watson came through a group which had Patrick Reed and Joaquin Niemann in it and was unbeaten for his three matches while Harman overcame a group which had Patrick Cantlay and Hideki Matsuyama in it so both are going well but I believe this becomes a big hitters course now and that fits perfectly into the hands of Watson. Harman doesn’t do a lot wrong but he can’t go after the key holes in the back nine that Watson can. Watson can near enough drive it to the green on the first and the fifth on the front nine but more importantly his length is a huge advantage on 12, 13, 16 and 18 and that’s just too many holes to have an advantage on. Harman will need a flawless round if he is to win here but he’ll be playing under pressure the whole time. Bubba beat Harman in this round the year he won the title in 2018 and I’m backing the repeat here.
Matt Kuchar vs Jordan Spieth
Match tees off at 13.52 GMT
The other match I like a bet in on Saturday afternoon comes in the last match to tee off in the last 16 as the former champion Matt Kuchar meets a man whose singles play in knockout match play is not as strong as you would expect in the form of Jordan Spieth.
Spieth will tee off in this match having lost his last seven knockout matches in this tournament or singles matches in Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup and while there are some names in there than you would expect to beat him, others such as Thorbjorn Olesen and Jhonattan Vegas you wouldn’t. He seems questionable under knockout pressure and he’ll be under plenty of it here against a Matt Kuchar who has a stellar record on this golf course having made the final two years ago. Kuchar is a former winner of this tournament and only once since the event came here has he not come out of his group. What’s more, he is throwing loads of birdies at this course but not many bogeys. He’s averaging around six birdies per round so far and if he has that many in him here he has every chance of coming through against a Spieth who is only averaging around 3.5 birdies a round and making far more mistakes. I like the consistent Kuchar here.
Tips
Back B.Watson to beat B.Harman (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
Back him here:
WON – Back M.Kuchar to beat J.Spieth (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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