And you were expecting expert picks. Self proclaimed expert that is. Now it's time to handicap the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Be there or be square.
You should begin by printing your own brackets, available here in pdf. form. Now give this a little thought. Resist the temptation to pencil in Tiger Woods as the winner and working your brackets backwards. Consult the current odds at Ladbrokes, one of the world's foremost bookmakers. Tiger Woods going off at 1/5 should tell you something about how he's been missed in the arena. Use every available tool at your disposal.
Here's Average Golfer's accurate take on the Jones and Hogan divisions. Snead and Player divisions to follow tomorrow. I will reveal the winner.......
JONES DIVISION
Tiger Woods, 1 vs Brendan Jones, 16 - No brainer, Woods.
Tim Clark, 8 vs Retief Goosen, 9 - Close, but it's Goosen.
Rory McIlvoy, 4 vs Louis Oosthuizen, 13 - McIlroy because I don't want to type Louis' name again.
Mike Weir, 5 vs Hunter Mahan, 12 - Weir, steady in match play.
Geoff Ogilvy, 2 vs Kevin Sutherland, 15 - Ogilvy of course.
Trevor Immelman, 7 vs Shingo Katayama, 10 - Shingo in mild upset.
Camilo Villegas, 3 vs Rod Pampling, 14 - Pampling in a major upset.
Miguel Angel Jimenez, 6 vs Rory Sabbatini, 11 - The Mechanic in a close one.
HOGAN DIVISION
Vijay Singh, 1 vs Soren Kielsen, 16 - Singh here, but he's still hurt.
Ben Curtis, 8 vs Luke Donald, 9 - Tough one. Donald.
Ernie Els, 4 vs Soren Hansen, 13 - Els naturally.
Steve Stricker, 5 vs Dustin Johnson, 12 - Johnson in an upset. Big hitter, lotsa birdies.
Phil Mickelson, 2 vs Angel Cabrera, 15 - Phil, I think.....
Zach Johnson, 7 vs Graeme McDowell, 10 - Zach, but iffy.
Lee Westwood, 3 vs Pravad Marksaeng, 14 - Westwood. Must admit, never heard of Marksaeng.
Stewart Cink, 6 vs Richard Sterne, 11 - Cink. 2nd last year.
Thank me in advance, and remember....only bet with money you can't afford to lose, otherwise it's meaningless!
Til' next,
Monday, February 23, 2009
WGC-Accenture World Match Play - Odds and Expert Picks, Part I
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The format of the tournament is such that it becomes very difficult to predict a winner. One must always remember, in matchplay, unlike in strokeplay where you are up against the course, here you take on another player. The one who prevails over six players, that includes a 36-hole playoff in the finals emerges as the champion in this important tournament that is co-sanctioned with the European Tour.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the only reason the tournament is creating more than the normal amount of headlines is for Tiger. But, there are quite a few interesting ties in the first round. The most fascinating of the lot in my opinion, is the on between Rory Mcilroy and Louis Oosthuizen. Mcilroy finally came through and won his first title in Dubai and the young man is surely poised for far greater deeds. But at the same time, Oosthuizen has strung together a number of incredible tournament finishes and I wouldn’t be surprised if this match goes all the way to the end. Both are young but I think they will try and play conservative, not wanting to give an inch to the other guy.
Tiger’s match, like you rightly pointed out, seems to be a no-brainer but it will still be the most keenly followed to gauge the quality of Tiger’s game on his comeback trail. A few upsets may be in the offing. Can’t wait for this one to begin!
Cheers
Andy
Andy,
ReplyDeleteAh, the unpredictability of match play. Last year as I recall Tiger and Aaron Baddeley had over 20 combined birdies in their match. Either of them, on that given day, would have beaten anyone else in the field. The beauty is they played each other.