Best bets for WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event

Las Vegas Review-Journal

4 years ago

Jon Rahm, of Spain, watches his tee shot on the second hole during the final round of The Playe ... — Jon Rahm, of Spain, watches his tee shot on the second hole during the final round of The Players Championship golf tournament Sunday, March 14, 2021, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Jon Rahm his a shot from the second fairway during the final round at The Players Championship golf tournament Sunday, March 14, 2021, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Bryson DeChambeau chips a shot during the third round at The Players Championship golf tournament Saturday, March 13, 2021, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Justin Thomas chips during the final round at The Players Championship golf tournament Sunday, March 14, 2021, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

The PGA Tour will play out its own version of March Madness in this week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play tournament in Austin, Texas.

The world’s top 64 players and alternates comprise the field, which is split into four groups and seeded based on ranking: 1-16, 17-32, 33-48 and 49-64.

The event starts with round-robin matches Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, followed by round of 16 knockout matches Saturday and Sunday.

Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm are the 12-1 co-favorites at the Westgate sportsbook to win the event.

Handicapper Wes Reynolds, co-host of VSiN’s “Long Shots” golf betting show, likes Rahm as one of his best bets.

“Of all the top seeds, Rahm looks to have the easiest draw to go deep in this bracket,” said Reynolds (@WesReynolds1). “His group consists of Ryan Palmer, Shane Lowry and Sebastian Munoz. In the round of 16, Daniel Berger would be the projected seed to meet him. However, Berger has a poor record in this event and had to withdraw last week from the Honda Classic with a rib injury.

“If the top seeds hold form, either Xander Schauffele or Rory McIlroy could await in the quarterfinals, and both are always formidable but also a bit out of form at the moment.”

Here are Reynolds’ other best bets (with comments):

Matthew Fitzpatrick, 40-1

“Fitzpatrick opens with a coin-flip match against Jordan Spieth on Wednesday. The winner is likely to advance from group play over event debutants Matthew Wolff and Corey Conners.”

Tommy Fleetwood, 50-1

“While Bryson DeChambeau looms in group play for Fleetwood, there are also seven of 16 players in this (bracket) making their respective event debuts.

“Fleetwood is still trying to find form, but he is historically an excellent putter on Bermudagrass greens.”

Russell Henley, 80-1

“Henley is in terrific recent form, but is currently ranked No. 55 and needs to get into the top 50 to qualify for the Masters.

“However, he was in this situation in 2017 and rose to the pressure by winning the Houston Open to qualify for Augusta.”

Group bets

There are odds on each of the 16 four-player groups. Here are Reynolds’ best bets to advance to the round of 16:

Group 2: Louis Oosthuizen (+275) over Thomas, Kevin Kisner and Matt Kuchar.

Group 4: Max Homa (+300) over Collin Morikawa, Billy Horschel and J.T. Poston.

Group 11: Cameron Smith (+225) over Rory McIlroy, Lanto Griffin and Ian Poulter.

Group 12: Jason Kokrak (+280) over Tony Finau, Will Zalatoris and Dylan Frittelli.

Group 16: Henley (+260) over Sungjae Im, Marc Leishman and Victor Perez.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.