2023 World Golf Championships-Match Play: PGA Tour Betting Odds

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is favoured on the golf odds.

Unfortunately for those who like the match play format, this will be it for the tournament as it will not be on the 2024 schedule or going forward. This has been the only regular match play event on the PGA Tour since its creation back in 1999 and since last season was also the only remaining WGC event on the PGA Tour slate. There’s really no use for WGC events any longer with the PGA Tour adding a handful of “elevated” tournaments with bigger purses – this is one of those this year. The WGC tournaments were created for the same reason.

“I think for right now, for next season’s schedule, it didn’t work,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said recently. “But match play has been a staple out here. It’s been a staple on the DP World Tour. I think that will certainly be a consideration as we go forward.”

The tournament has been played at Austin Country Club since 2016 (par 71 at 7,110 yards) and that course may pick up another Tour event at some point in the future. The Houston Open is expected to replace the Match Play on the 2024 schedule, moving back to the spring where it used to be from the fall, where it currently sits.

Like the NCAA Tournament, this is a bracket-style event with 64 golfers who qualify via world ranking – although some will skip it (Justin Thomas and Justin Rose are this year). Anyone who does is replaced by the next highest-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking. The players are split into 16 groups of four players, and each group has a player seeded 1-16 (Pool A), 17-32 (Pool B), 33-48 (Pool C) and 49-64 (Pool D). The Top 16 in the rankings each are assigned to one pool, and then the other three spots in each are by draw from B, C and D.

Round-robin play is contested in each group Wednesday-Friday with one point for a match win and a half-point for a tie/halve. If two or more players are tied at the top of the group, there is a sudden-death playoff. Each group’s winner advances to the Round of 16 on Saturday, which is also when the quarterfinals are. The semifinals (and third-place match) and final are Sunday.

The top overall seed (via world ranking) has won this tournament five times and three were by Tiger Woods. He’s not playing this week and wouldn’t have qualified even if he wanted to. The defending champion is Scottie Scheffler. He never trailed in his semifinal match against Dustin Johnson or in the final against Kevin Kisner, whom he beat 4 and 3. Kisner didn’t even win a hole.

WGC-Match Play Golf Odds

Last year, Scottie Scheffler (+900) joined Kevin Kisner as the only players to win the Match Play the year after losing in the championship match as Scheffler lost the 2020 final 2 and 1 to Billy Horschel. Scheffler, the only native Texas to win this event, comes off a win at the Players Championship. The last No. 1 overall seed to win the Match Play was Dustin Johnson, who defeated another No. 1 in Jon Rahm in 2017. The worst seed to win was No. 62 Kevin Sutherland in 2002.

Rahm is +1100 with Rory McIlroy +1200. Rahm had that runner-up to Johnson in 2017 and was ninth last year. McIlroy won in 2015, was runner-up in 2012 and didn’t play last year. Patrick Cantlay and Collin Morikawa are both +2000. Cantlay has advanced out of group play all four times here but not come close to winning. Morikawa was T9 last year.

No Canadian has won here and not many have played in it. Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes did in 2022. Conners won his group and then two more matches to reach the semifinals but lost to Kevin Kisner 2 up. Hughes didn’t get out of his group. Conners is +6000 this week with Adam Hadwin +8000 and Hughes +15000.

WGC-Match Play Golf Predictions

We’ll simply pick an American to win here for a sixth year in a row at -143