WGC Dell Matchplay: Rahm the favourite for wide-open Texas round-robin event

Change of format

A bit of a twist to this week’s big golf event as we change format and go head-to-head for the WGC Dell Matchplay being held in Austin, Texas. 

It’s an earlier Wednesday start at Austin Country Club, which plays host to the event for a sixth time, as the world’s top 64 players fight it out over five days and 112 matches to find the new Matchplay champion. 

Sixteen groups of four will play in an 18-hole round-robin format over the first three days, with the 16 winners of each group then going through to the knockout stages over the weekend. 

It’s an intense slog around what can be a testing risk-and-reward course on the banks of the Colorado River, which comes into play on numerous holes, with the eventual winner having to battle through seven matches in all. 

Rory McIlroy is a notable absentee from the field alongside recent Players champion Cameron Smith, Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama and last week’s Valspar winner Sam Burns. Harris English and Phil Mickelson are also missing.  

Rahm and Hovland lead the betting 

World number one Jon Rahm is favourite again at 17 and he’s finished as a runner-up here in 2017 and made the quarter-finals last year so has obvious matchplay ability. He has American Ryder Cup star Patrick Reed in his group this year.

Justin Thomas is available to back at 20 but has come through his group just once in five attempts at this event and has tough opposition in 2019 champion Kevin Kisner and Australian Marc Leishman. Kisner may take some each-way money here at 60 as he's made two matchplay finals and lost just three of his last 17 matches in the event. 

Scottie Scheffler has as good a claim as any having finished runner-up to Billy Horschel last year around this track, which he knows better than most having attended the University of Texas based in Austin.  

Scheffler, a 25 chance here, took out Rahm in the Ryder Cup and now has three more Europeans to tackle as he’s been drawn alongside Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood and the postman himself Ian Poulter. 

Collin Morikawa is a 27 shot but went 0-2-1 in his debut last year, and has a tough draw when facing Jason Kokrak, Spanish Ryder Cup veteran Sergio Garcia and Scotsman Robert MacIntyre.  

Dustin Johnson is 27 and in no real form, but won here in 2017 and won five out of five at the Ryder Cup so has to be respected, while Viktor Hovland is the other leading fancy at 18 and has a winnable group. 

Jordan Spieth is in a tough group with Justin Rose, Adam Scott and Keegan Bradley

Bigger prices worth a look 

Bryson DeChambeau will have plenty of attention in his first PGA Tour event since January, and the 65 shot has an interesting group including Lee Westwood and fellow English veteran Richard Bland.  

Eighteen-hole matchplay is a sprint for these players and can throw up some surprising results at big prices that are worth targeting – including the 85 on offer for Garcia and 150 on MacIntyre who are both in Morikawa’s group. 

As mentioned, Morikawa didn’t have a great debut here and Garcia has back-to-back quarter-finals while MacIntyre made the last 16 on his first appearance 12 months ago – it's not hard to imagine one of those winning this group and going deep. 

Shane Lowry (44) has only reached the last 16 once in six attempts but you wonder if his Ryder Cup debut will boost his matchplay form, and he’ll relish facing Brooks Koepka in his group. 

Another University of Texas graduate Jordan Spieth always has to be respected at this course and in this format, and his 38 price is more about facing Justin Rose, Adam Scott and Keegan Bradley – but it’s still a group he can win. 

Similarly, Paul Casey and Louis Oosthuizen may not be 38 and 50 chances respectively had they not been drawn together in the same group, and whoever wins their battle could go a long way. 

It looks like anyone’s game and in this format it often is – Rahm is a worthy favourite again after quarter-final and runner-up finish in the last four years, but he’s worth taking on with some bigger-priced players with course, format and current form on this side.  

Recommended bets 

Scottie Scheffler @ 25 

Paul Casey @ 38 

Jordan Spieth @ 38 

Kevin Kisner @ 60