• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Betting Offers UK

Best Free Bets & Casino Sign Up Offers For 2022

  • Betting Offers
  • Free Bets
  • Casino Bonuses
  • Home
  • New Sites
  • Free Spins
  • Free Bet Clubs
  • Loyalty
  • Football
    • Premier League
  • Horse Racing
    • Cheltenham Festival
      • Disruptions & Cancellations
      • Old Course v New Course
      • Prestbury Cup
      • Top Trainers
      • Top Jockeys
      • Amateur Races
    • Grand National
      • Picking a Winner
      • Grand National Winners
      • Grand National Fences
      • Disruptions & Cancellations
      • Back to Back Winners
      • How Often Does the Favourite Win?
      • Prize Money
      • Virtual Grand National
      • Grand National Sponsors
      • Reserve Horses
      • How Many Finish
      • How Many Run
      • Grey Horses
      • Popularity
      • Amateur Jockeys
  • Irish Lottery
  • Blog

Can Rory Roar Again? A Look at the WGC Dell Match Play 2018

20 March, 2018

Golfer Rory McIlroy on Golf Course
Credit: By Lisa Suender via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)

With the first major of the year, the Masters, around a fortnight away, pundits and punters alike are sticking pins in the names of the players they believe can contend for the green jacket at Augusta National from April 5th-8th.

The usual candidates will of course be touted, but one name that would have been absent from the list – until the weekend, anyway – would have been Rory McIlroy.

The Irishman’s recent form has been pretty poor by his own high standards, and a formline of MC-59-MC-20 hardly gets the juices flowing. McIlroy was being swerved by all and sundry on the betting floor.

But then something crucial happened: Rory lightened up. Instead of worrying about his errant putting stroke, he just went with the flow. “I freed up with my putting this week. I didn’t worry too much about mechanics,” he said in the immediate aftermath of his three-stroke victory at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. McIlroy is back to his best, and the trophy was the icing on the cake….the cream in the middle is the fact he ranked first in the field for Strokes Gained: Putting.

So the four-time major winner is in fine fettle at the moment, and he will be looking to complete the career grand slam at Augusta. The bookmakers have him pegged as the 9/1 favourite to do just that.

There is a more pressing concern in the interim, and that is the WGC Dell Match Play from Austin, Texas. Ironically, McIlroy is the favourite to win this one too, although the unique match play format will make his task rather tricky.

Match Play Format

Matchplay Golf
kzenon / bigstock

So matchplay golf is different to strokeplay in that only one hole is ever up for grabs: you can win it, lose it or halve it. It doesn’t matter whether you make a hole-in-one or shank your drive into the lake, only one hole is on the table at any point.

You win the match when you have an insurmountable lead; so, if you are four up with just three holes to play then the spoils are yours. If you are still level after 18 holes then the match is halved (or, as is the case in the knockout phase of the Match Play, a play-off commences).

The world’s top 64 players will compete for the $1.8 million prize; well, in theory anyway. The likes of Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson have withdrawn, while US Open champion Brooks Koepka is still nursing a wrist injury. Otherwise, the great and the good are in town.

Those 64 players are split into 16 groups of four, and they each play each other in a round robin format. After those sets of matches the group winner proceeds to the knockout stage of the event, which starts at that last 16 stage.

Players to Watch

Naturally McIlroy is of interest to punters, and why not: he’s won this tournament before, and has been drawn in an agreeable bracket against Brian Harman, Jhonattan Vegas and Peter Uihlein. His pre-event odds of 8/1 could look generous come Sunday.

But competition is fierce, and remember that the semis and final are both played on Sunday – that means a possible 36 holes for the winner.

For those reasons, backing tried and tested sorts like Dustin Johnson (10/1) and Jon Rahm (14/1). They met in the final here 12 months ago – DJ winning on the eighteenth – and both have the physical and mental strength to succeed in this format.

Indeed, the aggressive approach of Rahm really does lend itself to match play success, and another who gets uber competitive is Patrick Reed (30/1), who boasts an exceptional Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup record. His group features Haotong Li, Charl Schwartzel and Jordan Spieth, who surprisingly has a pretty poor CV when it comes to match play singles encounters.

Branden Grace
Credit: Hanson K Joseph Wiki Commons

Branden Grace (60/1) broke all sorts of records when he earned five points for the Rest of the World team in the Presidents Cup of 2015, and he also has form in the windy conditions of Texas to call upon. The match play format calls upon players with a bit of an X Factor to thrive, and the South African showed he has that in spades when carding a record low of 62 in The Open last summer.

And if you are looking at the groups you would argue that Zach Johnson has had a good time of it, having been paired with Matt Kuchar, Ross Fisher and Yuta Ikeda. A two-time winner in Texas, Johnson’s odds were slashed from 100/1 to 70s after the draw was made!

Previous Post: « Vlad the Impaler: Why Russia’s Unstoppable Main Man is a Punter’s Nightmare
Next Post: Mission to Moscow: Who Is In England’s World Cup 2018 Squad….And Who Must Impress This Week? »

Primary Sidebar

Blog

Brazil Flag Against Blue Sky
Project Libra: Could Brazil’s Club-Led Revolution Be the Blueprint for a New Order in World Football?
Microphone Against Colourful Lights
What is the Best Eurovision Performance of All Time?
Money Exchanged Against Football Stadium
Footballers with Family Members as Agents - How Much Do They Earn?
Football Video Game on TV
The History of EA Sports’ FIFA Video Game Series with the Franchise Set to End from 2023
Champions League Ball on Plinth
Champions League 2024: All the Changes Confirmed as UEFA Reveals Revamp
More Blog Posts | Full Archives

Archives

Betting Sign Up Offers

  • Free Bets
    • Bet £5 Get £20/£30+
  • Casino Bonuses
  • Free Spins

Loyalty Offers

  • Acca Bonuses
  • Acca Insurance
  • Best Odds Guaranteed
  • Free Bet Clubs
  • Loyalty Points

Major Events

  • Grand National
    • How to Pick the Grand National Winner
    • Grand National Winners
    • Grand National Fences
    • Prize Money
    • Disruptions & Cancellations
    • Back to Back Winners
    • How Often Does the Favourite Win?
    • What is the Virtual Grand National?
    • Grand National Sponsors
    • Reserve Horses
    • How Many Horses Finish?
    • How Many Horses Run?
    • Most Successful Owners
    • Changes Over Time
    • Female Jockeys
    • Grey Horses in the Grand National
    • Amateur Jockeys
    • Popularity
  • Cheltenham Festival
    • Festival Disruptions & Cancellations
    • Old Course v New Course
    • The Prestbury Cup
    • Top Trainers
    • Top Jockeys
    • Amateur Races
  • Premier League
    • Without the Big Six?
  • Irish Lottery

Related Posts

  • The Saudi Golf League: What Is It and Will It Happen?
  • Golf Major Winners on Debut: Collin Morikawa Joins Select List Twice
  • Why The Open Championship Remains the Hardest Tournament to Win in Golf
  • The Brooks Koepka vs Bryson DeChambeau Rivalry: Is This What Golf Needs to Keep It Relevant?
  • Could Double Payout on the 2021 Memorial Tournament Set a Precedent for Bookmakers on Void Bets?
  • Who are the Oldest Major Winners in Golf History? Phil Mickelson Becomes a Record Breaker at 50
  • Donald Trump and Golf: The Courses Owned by the Former US President & Why He Was Dropped by the PGA Championship
  • Premier League Golf vs European & PGA Tour ‘Strategic Alliance’: Who Will the War for the Heart of Golf?
  • Why Does the Masters Champion Wear a Green Jacket? That and Other Golfing Traditions Explained
  • How Often is There a Hole-in-One in Golf?

Betting Blog

  • American Football
  • Athletics
  • Betting Industry
  • Boxing
  • Cricket
  • Darts
  • Football
  • General
  • Golf
  • Horse Racing
  • Motor Racing
  • Politics
  • Rugby
  • Snooker
  • Tennis
betting-sites.co.uk
gambling-sites.co.uk

Copyright © 2022 Betting-Offers.com | BeGambleAware.org 18+