It is ‘Moving Day’ in the group phase of the WGC Dell Match Play on Thursday as those who won their opening match will look to put one foot into the knockout stages and those who lost will need to win to stay alive in the event.
We saw plenty of good golf over the course of Wednesday and we saw some indifferent stuff as well but with everyone having had a taste of the course setup in competitive play you would expect the standard to rise across the board. I’ve looked through the Thursday card and I like three bets.
Sepp Straka vs Davis Thompson
Match tees off at 15.15 GMT
The first bet which catches my eye on Thursday comes from Group 15 where the two men who lost their opening match will meet in a winner stays alive battle as Sepp Straka takes on the debutant Davis Thompson.
Whoever loses this one will be off home after the Friday action so there is no shortage of things at stake here. If that isn’t to be Straka then the Austrian is going to need a serious upturn in his play because he was very ordinary in the opening round. He was done 6&5 by Corey Conners, made one birdie in 13 holes on a par 4 which played downwind and players were driving to the front of the green, and finished three over for his round. That doesn’t get it done at any level let alone this one. Thompson played in the tournament for the first time on Wednesday but you wouldn’t have thought it. He took a barrage of scoring from Cameron Young who went out in 27 yet still delivered five birdies and an eagle to finish six under in a 3&2 defeat. There was no shame in losing that match and against all but about three or four players Thompson would have won easily with the numbers he produced. Straka went 1-1-1 on debut here a year ago but his form hasn’t been the best and he looks very vulnerable should Thompson play anything like he did on Wednesday.
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Viktor Hovland vs Si Woo Kim
Match tees off at 17.38 GMT
The second bet I like on Thursday comes from Group 8 where Viktor Hovland will look to stay alive in the tournament when he takes on Si Woo Kim who will have one foot into the knockout stages should he come out on top here.
Hovland lost his opening match against Matt Kuchar and what was plainly evident about that defeat was his putting which let him down time and time again particularly on the back nine. Hovland made three birdies and played the 17 holes he played in level par. He birdied 5, 6 and 13 so two near enough drivable par fours and a par five which everyone reached. He needs that putter to cooperate because Kim was in fine form on Wednesday. He saw off the challenge of The Honda Classic winner Chris Kirk in pretty ruthless fashion. Kim won that match 4&3, didn’t make a single bogey and was seven under for the 15 holes he played. It is well known that Kim likes Pete Dye designs so it is a little strange that his record here heading into the week was only 5-8-3. If the Hovland putter doesn’t heat up Kim will be adding another win to his ledger if he strikes the ball as he did on Wednesday.
Matthew Fitzpatrick vs Min Woo Lee
Match tees off at 18.44 GMT
The last bet for me on Thursday comes from Group 11 where Matthew Fitzpatrick is fighting to stay alive in the tournament. He will need to beat Min Woo Lee in order to remain in the competition but that is no guarantee based on what we saw on Wednesday.
I mentioned when I covered this group in my group preview piece that there is growing talk that Fitzpatrick is playing through injury and the amount of iron shots he left out to the right on Wednesday will do nothing to silence that talk. We don’t expect that from the US Open champion and he was duly dispatched 5&3 by an admittedly very good J.J. Spaun on the day. Fitzpatrick made one birdie and one eagle on Wednesday, the eagle with a brilliant approach on six and the birdie on the gettable hole 13 and while he only made one bogey, I don’t think two under par holes gets it done around here. Min Woo Lee arrived here high on confidence after a top spin at The Players Championship and took everything Sahith Theegala had to offer and threw plenty more back at him on Wednesday. The Australian made two double bogeys and he has the aggressive style that when it goes wrong it will go very wrong but we also saw when he gets it right he can feast on this course. He delivered six birdies and two eagles in the win over Theegala. Min Woo has a huge length advantage over Fitzpatrick so if he stays with him over the front nine, if he needs to he can pull clear on the back nine. I think he’s a great price to beat a man whose record here now reads seven wins and nine defeats from 16 matches.
Tips
Back D.Thompson to beat S.Straka for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with BetVictor
Back S-W.Kim to beat V.Hovland for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with BetVictor
Back M. Woo Lee to beat M.Fitzpatrick for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with BetVictor
Back them here:
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