It’s starting to feel like every sport is in the habit of breaking out a bracket-style tournament in March.
As the NCAA tournament continues on for both the men and women in college basketball, the World Baseball Classic is winding down with a championship game between Team USA and Team Japan on Tuesday night.
And on Wednesday morning, the best golfers in the world will attempt to run through a bracket of their own at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club in the capital city of Texas.
The tournament seeds the top 64 players in the world — excluding those in LIV Golf — into 16 groups with round-robin play from Wednesday-Friday determining who advances to the weekend playoff.
Which means there are plenty of opportunities to bet on outcomes and props this weekend. Here’s who we like in each group, the best bet to win the tournament and more.
All odds via BetMGM.
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(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Picks to win in bold
Group 1
- Scottie Scheffler (+100)
- Tom Kim (+320)
- Alex Noren (+400)
- Davis Riley (+550)
Group 2
- Jon Rahm (+125)
- Keith Mitchell (+333)
- Rickie Fowler (+333) — Rickie might be worth a sprinkle here as he needs a big weekend to qualify for The Masters in April
- Billy Horschel (+450)
Group 3
- Rory McIlroy (+115)
- Keegan Bradley (+300)
- Denny McCarthy (+333)
- Scott Stallings (+600)
Group 4
- Patrick Cantlay (+110)
- Brian Harman (+300)
- K.H. Lee (+450)
- Nick Taylor (+450)
Group 5
- Max Homa (+140)
- Hideki Matsuyama (+250)
- Justin Suh (+350)
- Kevin Kisner (+500)
Group 6
- Xander Schauffele (+130)
- Tom Hoge (+275)
- Aaron Wise (+375)
- Cam Davis (+450)
Group 7
- Will Zalatoris (+170)
- Harris English (+300)
- Ryan Fox (+300)
- Andrew Putnam (+350)
Group 8
- Viktor Hovland (+160)
- Si Woo Kim (+300)
- Chris Kirk (+333)
- Matt Kuchar (+350)
Group 9
- Collin Morikawa (+170)
- Jason Day (+210)
- Adam Svensson (+400)
- Victor Perez (+400)
Group 10
- Tony Finau (+150)
- Kurt Kitayama (+300)
- Adrian Meronk (+350)
- Christiaann Bezuidenhout (+350)
Group 11
- Matt Fitzpatrick (+188)
- Sahith Theegala (+250)
- Min Woo Lee (+300)
- J.J Spaun (+375)
Group 12
- Jordan Spieth (+160)
- Shane Lowry (+260)
- Taylor Montgomery (+300)
- Mackenzie Hughes (+450)
Group 13
- Sam Burns (+200)
- Adam Hadwin (+275)
- Seamus Power (+280)
- Adam Scott (+333)
Group 14
- Tyrrell Hatton (+125)
- Russell Henley (+260)
- Ben Griffin (+400)
- Lucas Herbert (+500)
Group 15
- Cameron Young (+150)
- Corey Conners (+225)
- Sepp Straka (+375)
- Davis Thompson (+475)
Group 16
- Sungjae Im (+160)
- Tommy Fleetwood (+220)
- J.T. Poston (+400)
- Maverick McNealy (+400)
AP Photo/Chris Carlson
Scottie Scheffler (+800)
If for no other reason than it’d be malpractice not to sprinkle on the No. 1 golfer in the world who won this tournament in 2022 and finished runner-up in 2021. Scheffler is as automatic as any player in the sport right now and should be considered a favorite to win any tournament he enters. That goes double for one featuring head-to-head matchups.
Jordan Spieth (+2500)
Spieth hasn’t won this tournament yet despite two Top 10 finishes, but knows the course well thanks to his college days at the University of Texas. He’s also on a bit of a roll lately with three Top 10s in his last six events. Should he advance out of pool play, Spieth will have to face the winner of Group 5, which should set up rather well for him to make a run through the weekend.
Jason Day (+3300)
Three of the last four winners in this tournament were seeded between 30 and 50. Day enters as the No. 32 seed and won this tournament in 2014 and 2016. Considering he’s played 12 events and made the Top 10 in five of those tournaments, this feels like a strong opportunity to grab someone with longer odds.
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Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
First-Round Matchups Winners
- Matt Fitzpatrick (-135) over J.J. Spaun
- Tom Hoge (-110) over Aaron Wise
- Taylor Montgomery (+115) over Shane Lowry
- Kevin Kisner (+150) over Hideki Matsuyama
Biggest Match Winning Margin
- 9 and 7 (+2800)
- 8 and 6 (+900)
- 10 and 8 (+12500)
Will There Be A Hole-In-One?
- No (-300)
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