The World Golf Championships is one of the most unique and exciting tournaments professional golfers compete in all season and the March Madness-like event has a multitude of betting options.
The format is three days of match play in a round-robin format with four golfers. A point is earned for a win and half a point for a draw. The one with the most points advances to the round of 16, which is single elimination all the way to the finals on Sunday.
The four pools are determined by World Golf Rankings. Top seed Dustin Johnson is in Pool A, along with the next 15-ranked golfers. Pools B, C, and D have the 17-64th ranked golfers. One from each category is placed in a group.
Not all the golfers are fans of the format. Four of the top 64, Rickie Fowler Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson, and Adam Scott decided not to enter. Brooks Koepka isn’t playing, but is nursing a wrist injury.
Pat Perez is not one of those who shy away from match play. He told reporters on Monday that he is a fan of the format.
“To win the whole thing, you’ve got beat some great players,” he said. “You just have to, because everybody in this field is a great player. To actually have a chance to beat some great players is pretty cool, especially the fact they’re friends and this and that. But it’s such a cool idea, just the whole tournament, it’s awesome.”
Handicapping Individual Matches
Perez is facing Si Woo Kim in one of the 32 matches on Wednesday. Betting lines for all of them are available. Perez is 5/6 favorite to defeat the South Korean golfer, who is an 8/5 pick for the upset. A draw is at 6/1.
Johnson is taking on Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger and is a 4/9 pick to win the match. Because of his length and overall game, Perez said he is someone you don’t ever want to go up against.
“I’ve played with Dustin so many times now, I’ve never beat him,” he said. “I finally had a chance in Mexico on Saturday and I choked. I bogeyed 16, doubled 17. And I tied him. I was so pissed because I finally had a chance to beat him in one round and I didn’t beat him. He played terrible and I still didn’t beat him.”
Johnson Not Favorite to Win
Despite Perez’s praise and Johnson winning this event last year, it is another former match play champion that is the top pick. Rory McIlroy, who won last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and here in 2015, is the 6/1 favorite to win this year’s tournament. Johnson is next at 7/1.
Justin Thomas is third at 9/1. The No. 2 player in the world opens with Luke List and is an 8/13 pick to win.
One golfer that traditionally does well in match play is Ian Poulter. He won the event in 2010 and is a player no one wants to face. He is a 110/1 longshot to win, but has odds of 7/4 to defeat Tommy Fleetwood in their first-round match.
