WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Odds: Thomas, Rahm Are Co-Favorites

The PGA Tour wrapped up its Florida swing last week with a dramatic finish to the Valspar Championship. Sam Burns captured his third victory on the PGA Tour in 12 months as he successfully defended his first victory on golf’s biggest stage. The LSU product got the better of Davis Riley, a collegiate rival at Alabama, courtesy of a sudden-death playoff.

In addition to the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play best bets found below, you can also check out our WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play prop bets too.

Burns has since withdrawn from this week’s tournament, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, in order to prepare for the Masters in a few weeks’ time. Burns is not alone in this line of thinking as Rory McIlroy, Cameron Smith and Hideki Matsuyama are other big names taking time away from the game before the year’s first major championship.

Still, 64 of the top players in the world are expected to take to Austin Country Club for the sixth playing of the WGC Match Play on this Pete Dye design. Not your standard week on the PGA Tour, players will give up their traditional stroke-play format for the daunting match play instead.

Amid March Madness, it makes perfect sense for the PGA Tour to stick this tournament on this spot on the calendar. There are some differences compared to the NCAA Tournament that we will get into, but it is not surprising to see Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas listed as co-favorites at +1200 at [Sportsbook not available for your region].

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Our odds calculator gives the two players at the top a 7.69 percent chance to enter the Sportsbook’s circle and run the table in Austin. With Thomas winless in over a year and Rahm without a victory since his U.S. Open triumph, the duo will look to peak this week before the Masters next month.

Who Is Favored To Win The WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play?

Odds as of March 22 at [Sportsbook not available for your region]

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What Happened In Last Year’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play?

Billy Horschel will look to defend his WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play title as the former Florida Gator came through for one of the biggest victories of his career. He got the better of Scottie Scheffler in the championship match of last year’s tournament, which could be described as “volatile.”

With numerous long shots and underdogs emerging from group play, the sudden-death playoffs that featured eight groups did not treat the premier players all too well. Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Daniel Berger, Joaquin Niemann and Max Homa were among those who were on the short end of the stick in extra holes, unable to play their way through to the bracket portion of the event.

Horschel and Scheffler were two players who took to the extra holes and took full advantage of the opportunity. This should be something to keep in mind as while favorites appear to be the easy picks at first glance, Austin CC allows plus-money wagers to come through with some regularity.

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Course And Analysis

The PGA Tour released the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play bracket Monday afternoon, and the draw should be heavily analyzed. Player pools from A to D were created, with players broken up based on their official World Golf Ranking.

With a player from each pool selected for a pod, a group of four is created. From there, players will be guaranteed three matches as the group stage is the round-robin format. The initial draw has the potential to make or break one’s tournaments as a player like Alex Noren is paired with Louis Oosthuizen, Paul Casey and Corey Conners. On the other end of the spectrum, Xander Schauffele appears to have received an easy Sportsbook test with Tony Finau, Lucas Herbert and Takumi Kanaya.

From group play, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play will look a lot like the NCAA Tournament. With single-elimination match play, it matters not only where you are on the bracket, but who is near you.

This should be kept in mind as Austin CC is a par 71 measuring about 7,200 yards. A fantastic match-play course, the venue along the Colorado River is perfectly suited for any type of player to find success. A nice blend of bombers and short-game wizards have raised the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play trophy, with past champions reading Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Kevin Kisner and Billy Horschel.

2022 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

Jordan Spieth +2800 To Win

Spieth was the 49th seed just a year ago as he arrives this season as No. 11. Gifted a favorable draw in 2021, some may consider this year’s similar despite the lengthy playing resumes of his counterparts. In the only group to feature four major champions, Spieth will initially face off against Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott and Justin Rose.

With each of those players presenting problems of their own, I do envision Spieth being able to at least play himself out of this quartet, just as he did last year when he was trending toward a victory before an exit in the Sweet 16 at the hands of Matt Kuchar. He has lagged a bit in form since then, but let us not forget we are only a month removed from his near-victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

He has taken a liking to Austin CC in the past and I expect the same love affair to unfold this week. Once past his group, it is a possibility someone else takes out his biggest threat in Justin Thomas. If this proves to be the case, he has an easy path to the semifinals where we all know anything can happen.

Max Homa +5500 To Win

The man Billy Horschel beat in a three-hole playoff to emerge from the group sessions last season was in fact Max Homa. Garnering a record of 2-1-0 in his tournament debut in 2021, it is conceivable Homa could have mirrored Horschel’s run to the championship as the path to the finals was more than desirable.

Arriving this season off four consecutive top-20 finishes, Homa has improved from tee to green in each start during this span. Posting +4.3, +4.4, +7.9 and +8.7 Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green in each of these performances, this aspect of his game should hold to the sternest of tests.

This will be needed as a date with world No. 1 Rahm may be waiting for him in the Elite Eight. If he does in fact make it that far, I expect Homa’s putter to be in a cooperative state whereas Rahm’s has been quite poor. A competitor who is trending toward being a top-20 player in the official World Golf Ranking, Homa could add a World Golf Championship to his incredible winning resume.

Brian Harman +6500 To Win

A quarterfinalist last season, Brian Harman is once again trending in the right direction at the perfect time. After a top-five finish last week at the Valspar Championship, he comes to yet another venue tailor-made for his game. Consistently hitting fairways and capable with wedges in hand, Harman’s biggest weapon is his putter.

Harman fits the same mold as previous Sportsbooks Kisner and Horschel, as he is known to connect from distance on the greens. Never out of a match no matter how big the deficit, it is reassuring to see Harman start to strike the ball adequately.

In a group with an injured Webb Simpson and questionable Abraham Ancer and Bubba Watson, Harman should be licking his chops. If he is successful, it is likely he will not face Collin Morikawa, who has been struggling, thus Sportsbook the door for another late push in the WGC-Dell Technologies Championship.

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Keith Mitchell +8000 To Win

Once again, we will be looking in the direction of Keith Mitchell, who is set for his second WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play appearance. The Georgia Bulldog collected only one point in his debut, getting the better of Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter before a couple more near wins.

Returning this year in the best form of his career, Mitchell last played at the Players Championship where he captured a top-15 result on another Pete Dye design. Seeing the 30-year-old play well on a similar course gives me enough confidence to go to him in this spot.

In a group with Patrick Cantlay, it will be a difficult order to advance. However, if he does, the path to the semifinals is wide open for an outsider. A fantastic driver of the golf ball, Mitchell could follow in the footsteps of previous Sportsbooks like Johnson, Day and Watson.

Kevin Na +11000 To Win

Most remembered for his scuffle with then world No. 1 Dustin Johnson in last year’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, Kevin Na is a player worthy of consideration. Catching a discount on his price due to a couple of poor results, this is a venue and event where the American should find some reasonable success.

Na, 8-8-2 in his career at Austin CC, has received a favorable draw in Joaquin Niemann, Russell Henley and Maverick McNealy. While Henley and Niemann have been ball-striking it with the best of them in 2022, Na’s competitiveness will most certainly come out and may pose some problems.

While he may lose ground from a ball-striking perspective, his short game has the potential to overcome this deficiency in his game. In a perfect world we will be seeing a Jordan Spieth vs Kevin Na matchup in the Elite Eight, thus securing us an outright selection in the semifinals.

Props

Golf is unique for many reasons, but one of them is the significant number of betting props available at weekly tournaments. The WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play is no different.

Sportsbooks are offering odds on things like whether there will be a hole-in-one, OVER/UNDERs on the winning score for the eventual champion and odds on which players from specific countries will have the lowest score, to name a few.

Like other sports, betting on props is a fun and unique way to enhance your golf gambling experience.

Live Betting

Live Betting is arguably one of the most exciting ways to bet on golf. If the player you placed a pre-tournament bet on is out of the running at any point during the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, you can bet on another golfer as the days go by and have another stake in the game.

If there are only a few men in the hunt on the final day, the odds likely won’t be significantly high, but your chances of winning are. We saw this happen multiple times in the PGA Tour’s Return to Golf, as multiple tournaments went to a playoff.

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