After an underwhelming finish at the PLAYERS Championship two weeks ago, the Valspar came down to the wire. Taylor Moore (70-1) captured his first PGA Tour victory and gave us our third outright of the season! Two of our other selections, Tommy Fleetwood and Wyndham Clark also finished inside the top 5.
The PGA Tour’s version of March Madness is here. We head to Austin Country Club for the WGC – Dell Technologies Match Play event. This is one of the most controversial events of the year as viewers either love or hate this tournament. Given the changes that the PGA Tour schedule will undergo next year, this will be the last time that this event will take place.
- Dates: March 22nd, 2023 – March 26th, 2023
- Location: Austin, Texas, United States
- Course: Austin Country Club
- Course Type: Parkland
- Par: 71 (4x 3’s / 11x 4’s / 3x 5’s)
- Length: 7,108 yards
- Format: Match Play – Bracket Style
- Greens: Poa Trivialis overseed .100” (all grass areas are on Bermuda base)
- Fairways: Perennial ryegrass / fescue blend overseed .400”
- Rough: Tifway 419 bermudagrass 2”
- Bunkers: 110
- Water Hazard(s): 5 (In-Play on 7 Holes)
- Average Green Size: 5,500 sq. ft.
- Stimpmeter: 12.0 ft.
- Purse/ Winner: $20,000,000 /$3,500,000
- FedEx Cup Points: 550
- Field/ Cut: 64 Players | Group Play – Match Play
Course Architect:
- Course Architect: Pete Dye (1984)
- Renovations: Rod Whitman (2015)
- There was a full course bunker renovation and regrass-ing of tees in 2019
Comparable Courses & Greens:
- Comparable Courses:
- Designer Link (Pete Dye):
- PGA WEST (Pete Dye Stadium Course) – The American Express
- TPC Sawgrass (Stadium Course) – THE PLAYERS Championship
- Harbour Town Golf Links – RBC Heritage
- TPC Louisiana – Zurich Classic
- TPC River Highlands – Travelers Championship
- Comparable Location (Austin, Texas):
- TPC San Antonio – San Antonio, Texas – Valero Texas Open
- TPC Craig Ranch – McKinney, Texas – AT&T Byron Nelson
- Colonial Country Club – Fort Worth, Texas – Charles Schwab Challenge
- Comparable Yardage (7,108 Yards):
- Silverado Resort and Spa (North Course) – 7,123 Yards – Fortinet Championship
- PGA National Resort (The Champion) – 7,125 Yards – The Honda Classic
- Comparable Greens (Poa Trivialis overseed .100”):
- TPC Sawgrass – TifEagle bermuda o/s w/ Poa Trivialis .100” – THE PLAYERS
- TPC Louisiana – TifEagle bermuda o/s w/ Poa Trivialis .100” – Zurich Classic
- Comparable Average Green Size (5,500 sq. ft.):
- Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club – 5,500 sq. ft. – ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP
- TPC Deere Run – 5,500 sq. ft. – John Deere Classic
TV Information:
- Round 1: Wednesday, March 22nd, 2023
- Golf Channel – 2:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Round 2: Thursday, March 23rd, 2023
- Golf Channel – 2:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Round 3: Friday, March 24th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 2:00 PM – 8:00 PM
- Round 4: Saturday, March 25th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
- NBC – 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM
- Round 5: Sunday, March 26th, 2023
- Golf Channel – 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
- NBC – 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM
- Wednesday: Mostly Cloudy 79 F, 10 mp/h SSE, 70% Humidity, 18% Chance of Rain
- Thursday: Mostly Cloudy 84 F, 11 mp/h S, 60% Humidity, 24% Chance of Rain
- Friday: Mostly Cloudy 79 F, 10 mp/h SE, 60% Humidity, 19% Chance of Rain
- Saturday: Mostly Cloud 78 F, 9 mp/h WNW, 46% Humidity, 24% Chance of Rain
- Sunday: Partly Cloudy 80 F, 9 mp/h ENE, 52% Humidity, 9% Chance of Rain
Format:
The field is divided into four groups ranking the players 1-64. Tier 1 is players ranked 1-16, Tier 2 is players ranked 17-32, Tier 3 is players ranked 33-48, and Tier 4 is players ranked 49-64. Sixteen different groups are randomly drawn and include one player from each tier.
Over the first three days (Wednesday through Friday), each player will play one 18-hole match against every person in their group. A match victory is worth 1 point, while a tied match is worth half a point. The winner of the group is the golfer with the most points who will then enter a 16-man single elimination bracket on the weekend. The round of 16 will take place on Saturday morning with the advancing eight golfers competing again later on that day. The semifinals are on Sunday morning with the finals and third-place match taking place on Sunday afternoon.
Bracket:
Nothing like making picks in March 📝
The @DellMatchPlay bracket is LIVE! pic.twitter.com/3TtTPlAaoe
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 20, 2023
If you would like to fill out an official bracket, you can do so here.
Course/ Tournament History:
The World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play event was established in 1999. For the first two editions, it was referred to as the WGC-Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship and was held at La Costa Resort and Spa in Southern California.
In 2001, the tournament changed sponsorship and was renamed the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Along with the name change, the event was also moved to the Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia. The event was regarded as a failure due to the number of invitations that were turned down and returned to La Costa the following year.
In 2007, the event was played at The Gallery Golf Club at Dove Mountain in Marana, Arizona, and from 2009 to 2014 at the nearby Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.
In 2015 the tournament underwent a revamp, along with a sponsorship change, moving to TPC Harding Park.
Finally, in 2016, the event was moved to Austin Country Club where it was been held every year since. Dell, which is headquartered in the area, also took over the title sponsorship.
Just this month, the PGA announced that this would be the last edition of this event.
- Most Tournament Wins:
- 3, Tiger Woods (2003, 2004, 2008)
- Largest Margin of Victory:
- 9 & 8, Tiger Woods def. Stephen Ames (1st round, 2006 at La Costa Resort & Spa).
- Longest Match:
- 26 holes, Mike Weir def. Loren Roberts (1st round, 2003 at La Costa), Scott Verplank def. Lee Westwood (1st round, 2006 at La Costa)
Key Statistics:
- Strokes Gained: Tee to Green
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Strokes Gained: Putting (Bermuda)
- Par 3 Scoring: 175 – 200 Yards (x2)
- Par 4 Scoring: 350 – 400 Yards (x4)
- Par 5 Scoring: 550 – 600 Yards (x3)
- Match Play History (All Events)
The Field/ Odds:
There will be 64 players in the field at this year’s World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play event. Here are the current favorites in this week’s field:
- Scottie Scheffler (+800) is the defending champion of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play event. He’s coming off a win at the PLAYERS Championship where he captured his second victory of the year. In his ten starts this season, he has only finished outside the top 20 once.
- Jon Rahm (+1100) has finished inside the top 10 in both of his appearances at Austin Country Club. In his most recent start, he withdrew at the PLAYERS Championship after suffering an illness. Rahm has three victories in his nine starts on Tour this year.
- Rory McIlroy (+1100) struggled in his last start on Tour missing the cut at the PLAYERS Championship. Before that, he finished T2 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. McIlroy won this event back in 2015 before its move to Austin.
- Patrick Cantlay (+1800) has five top-20 finishes in his seven starts on Tour this year. He has yet to win an event since last year’s BMW Championship. His best finish in this event was back in 2018 when he finished 17th.
- Max Homa (+2000) has won twice this season, the Fortinet Championship and the Farmers Insurance Open. In his last three starts on Tour, he’s finished inside the top 20 each time. His best finish at this event was back in 2021 when he finished 18th.
- Previous Winners in the field:
- Scottie Scheffler (’22), Billy Horschel (’21), Kevin Kisner (’19), Jason Day (’16,’14) Rory McIlroy (’15), and Matt Kuchar (’13)
- Notable Withdraws:
- None
To see the most up-to-date odds, you can click the following link.
To see the full field for this event, you can click the following link.
Horses for Courses:
- Scottie Scheffler: 2/ 1
- Matt Kuchar: 17/ 3/ 5/ 1/ 9/ 34/ 9/ 30/ 9/ 2/ 3
- Kevin Kisner: 38/ 17/ 2/ 1/ 18/ 2
- Mackenzie Hughes: 9/ 18
- Brian Harman: 9/ 5/ 35
- Will Zalatoris: 28/ 5
Donkeys for Courses:
“Horses for Courses” is a phrase that is widely used and describes the best course/tournament fits. These are the players that have had success at the particular course/event. “Donkeys for Courses” is something I came up with that highlights the players who have struggled at a particular course/tournament.
- Sungjae Im: 42/ 35
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout: 56/ 60
- Keegan Bradley: 17/ 33/ 33/ 52/ 36/ 40/ 35
Previous Winners Scores & Prices:
- 2022: Scottie Scheffler
- Price: 18-1
- 2021: Billy Horschel
- Price: 90-1
- 2020: Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Price: N/A
- 2019: Kevin Kisner
- Price: 80-1
- 2018: Bubba Watson
- Price: 50-1
Picks (Outright):
Given the unpredictable nature of this event, I’m going with a small card this week.
- Jordan Spieth (+2500) – DraftKings
- Risk 0.32 to win 8.00 Units
- Xander Schauffele (+2500) – DraftKings
- Risk 0.32 to win 8.00 Units
- Will Zalatoris (+3300) – BetMGM
- Risk 0.25 to win 8.25 Units
- Jason Day (+3300) – BetMGM
- Risk 0.25 to win 8.25 Units
Total Risk on Outrights: 1.14 Units
Best of luck, and as always you can find me on Twitter @GatorBetting and Instagram @Gator_Sports_Betting. Any feedback whether positive or negative is always encouraged.
