Accenture WGC Matchplay 2011

The top 64 players in the world compete in this weeks WGC Matchplay where Ian Poulter defends. This event will always throw up some surprises so when making selections its best to ascertain who has the game to excel over his opponent in 18 holes and gather momentum once he progresses. Looking at the 4 brackets its looking like on paper that the Sam Snead bracket is by far the most difficult to prevail from. Tiger Woods heads the all star cast in this and the matchplay may come as a welcome bonus for the former World No.1 but if he is to win this title he needs to take some notable scalps.He should beat Thomas Bjorn to most likely meet Geoff Ogilvy before matching up with D.Johnson/B.Haas/B.Watson, the key match for Tiger in my opinion would be the Ogilvy/Harrington 2nd rd match.(Ogilvy surely will beat Padraig in this one).The other brackets that look appealing are the Gary Player & Ben Hogan where Rory McIlroy appears to have a great chance to make it all the way from the Player draw and the outside bet of the tournament could come from the Hogan in the shape of Peter Hanson, especially if he can defeat Phil Mickelson in his opening match. The Bobby Jones bracket looks to be a 3 horse field in Westwood, Donald & Stricker, with the latter two fancied to go well.

So to narrow it down to just 3 selections causes a dilemma, who to leave out or who should I keep as a potential saver from the bracket. I have decided to leave out Donald, siding with Stricker to just edge this bracket.

TIP 1: 1 pt e/w R.McIlroy @ 16/1 (Paddypower); Can get through the first 2 matches and once done so can stamp his enthusiasm for matchplay by overpowering his opponents from there on in...good chance and he will be secretly looking forward to this.

TIP 2: 1 pt e/w S.Stricker @ 30/1 (Boylesports):Well fancied to make quarter finals and can grow from there, ill be better suited to desert conditions than the European players.

TIP 3: 1 pt e/w P.Hanson @ 100/1 (Betpack): If he can overcome Mickelson in his opening game there is no reason why he cant make semis at least for "place money"