We have had a look at the outright market for the WGC Dell Match Play which gets underway at the Austin Country Club on Wednesday afternoon but before the opening tee shot is hit in Texas there is just enough time to take a peek at the betting for each of the 16 group matches.
Each group contains four players with the number one seed in each playing the lowest seed in the opening day, the third seed on Thursday and the second seed in the section on Friday, the day which is expected to be the day the big guns meet in winner takes all combat to progress, although it never works out that way.
There are a few groups which I had on the shortlist for bets, five in total, but only two of them have a price I’m happy with committing to. I was close to taking Keith Mitchell, Russell Henley and Alex Noren to win their sections but in the end I’ve settled with two others.
Group 2
The headline attraction and top seed in Group 2 is Collin Morikawa, The Open and Race to Dubai champion but I think on this track he is a little vulnerable. He isn’t a particularly long hitter which means he will need to standout in the short game and I don’t think that is the case, certainly not recently given that he lost more than six shots to the field around the green at the Valspar last week and holed nothing on the greens. He wasn’t much better at Sawgrass the week before either.
That makes me think he is worth taking on and the likes of Robert MacIntyre, who kind of broke through here last year when he downed Dustin Johnson, and Jason Kokrak will fancy their chances of going well. Kokrak has gone a little too quiet for my liking and only has one top 25 finish in 2022 with his long game letting him down. MacIntyre has shown signs of life recently and has an excellent short game which should be respected here but I like the man who now calls Austin his home in Sergio Garcia. He’ll be extremely familiar with conditions here, will be able to sleep in his own bed which in a hectic week is a godsend and is likely to have friends and family supporting him. Garcia is a match play machine who has a decent record here which reads 12-7-1. He has won his group in the last two years and among his victims at Austin CC are Tyrrell Hatton, Lee Westwood, Branden Grace, Shane Lowry, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele and Marc Leishman. At 11/4 he looks the value alternative to Morikawa in Group 2.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account to get up to £25 in free bets! Perfect offer for this tournament! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Group 7
The other group where I’m happy to take a bet is Group 7 where I’m happy to take Xander Schauffele on. He has a case to argue that he has been unlucky in this tournament because he has a winning record in it yet has never come out of the group stage. He has four wins to two losses and three halves which have hurt him. His four wins though have been against Dylan Frittelli, Shubhankar Sharma, Lee Westwood and Jason Day. The middle two of those lack firepower around here and the latter came last year when Day was in a slump with his game.
I think the American is there to be taken on which gives us Tony Finau, Lucas Herbert and Takumi Kanaya. The latter has a great short game but I’m not convinced he’s at this level just yet while Finau has gone missing on and around the greens which has meant his only top 20 finish in the last five months was at the Tournament of Champions. I think this group could be in the hands of Herbert, especially if the Australian gets the better of Finau in his opening match as I would expect him to do. The Bermuda Championship winner has the tools to go well here. He can smack it a long way, is very good in the wind and has a wonderful short game. He sits third on tour for putting inside 10 feet and in two of his last five registered events has finished first and second in strokes gained around the greens. He is on debut which is a negative but Herbert might soon find he doesn’t have much to beat in this group.
Tips
Back S.Garcia to win Group 2 for a 2/10 stake at 3.75 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back LHerbert to win Group 7 for a 2/10 stake at 5.00 with Betway
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2022
