WGC Match Play
I posted pre tournament notes earlier this week about where I felt there might be some value and I hope that some of you took advantage.
Last 16 in draw order, with seeding alongside each player ......
41) MacIntyre -31) Perez
39) Garcia -48) Hughes
32) Horschel- 53) Streelman
21) Fleetwood - 64) Fritelli
52) Kuchar - 49) Spieth
55) Watson- 54) Harman
3) Rahm - 62) Van Rooyen
30) Sheffler -60) Poulter
On Wednesday I wrote ........
With no play last year and 22 debutants taking part this week, I feel we will be certain to see the usual number of shocks and star players eliminated early and over those four years played here in Austin, the make up of the quarter finals (32 players total) has been an awful lot like this ............
7 ranked 1-9
6 ranked 10-19
4 ranked 20-29
2 ranked 30-39
6 ranked 40-49
7 ranked 50-64
It is a very small sample size, but it is a format which lends itself to shocks and these are all players ranked inside the top 70 on the planet and over 18 holes, any of them can beat anyone else , at least on a going day.
As many ranked 40 + made the last eight as those ranked 1-19 and any value in the outright markets is probably amongst those at the wrong end of the rankings .
There are a few "names" amongst those and the ones who stand out in that regard as they have also done well in this event and in Austin are Jason Day who won here in 2016, Jordan Spieth (R16 in 2016), Matt Kuchar ( runner up 2019, R16 2018, R16 2016), Bubba Watson (winner 2018 , R16 in 2017) and Ian Poulter (QF 2018). Day (2014) and Poulter ( 2010) also won the WGC Matchplay at other courses, Spieth was born, raised and still lives in Dallas, about 300 km from Austin.
10 of the 16 remaining are ranked in the 40-64 ranked group that was highlighted, just one of the top 20, with only Jon Rahm making his allotted slot. Of the five players mentioned by name , four have made the last 16, three of those traded at 100-1 + on Wednesday !
Good luck !
