Great Golf Betting at Colonial, Volvo Matchplay

Frank Doyle looks at two big tournaments on either side of the Atlantic Ocean.

This week is one of those weeks when there are tournaments of equal interest to people who like to bet on golf. The Colonial Invitational tees off in Texas, while the Volvo Matchplay Championship is on in the Finda Cortesin Course in Andalucía, in the south of Spain.

The Volvo Matchplay has the stronger field, with six of the top ten players in the world competing. It’s a small but high quality field – twenty-four players divided into eight groups. Each group member plays the others in his group on a round robin basis, and the top two go on to the play off against each other in a sweet sixteen –there’s even a nice bracket to download that makes it very clear.

Matchplay golf is played with a different part of the head to strokeplay, and it offers great matchup betting during the course of the event. You have to consider the draw too when you’re making your picks, and that matchplay skills are different to strokeplay.

On the US side of the ocean, it’s 20/1 the field for the Colonial outside Fort Worth, Texas. The Colonial is a beautiful tree-lined course – so many trees that they nicknamed it Hogan’s Alley, in honour of Ben Hogan’s many wins there after World War II.

As the name suggests the key at the Colonial is to hit the ball straight and true off the tee, and that will bring its own reward. The Colonial is a course that suits straight driving and attacking play, with 264, -15, the average winning score over the past ten years.

So, summoning our courage and looking to both sides of the Atlantic, here are Sports Interaction’s

Fore! to Follow

Graeme McDowell. (+1500, Volvo Matchplay). McDowell hit a rich seam of form at Sawgrass last weekend, before blowing up on the last day. Matchplay will suit him, and a likely elite eight matchup between himself and his countryman, Rory McIlroy, could be one of the highlights of the weekend.

Matt Kuchar (+2300, Colonial). Kuchar hasn’t missed a cut all year. Mr Consistent.

Miguel Angel Jimenez. (+3400, Volvo Matchplay). The veteran Spaniard has the game and the home field advantage to make him worth a look.

David Toms. (+3400, Colonial). Toms is second in the PGA Tour driving accuracy stats – a good pointer for Hogan’s Alley. He was second at Sawgrass, and joint third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this year. The former major winner is value at the price.

World Golf Rankings, May 16th, 2011.

Rank	Change	Last Week	Player	Nationality	Average Points
1	-	1	Lee Westwood	England	8.1
2	+1	3	Luke Donald	England	7.52
3	-1	2	Martin Kaymer	Germany	7.25
4	-	4	Phil Mickelson	USA	6.41
5	-	5	Graeme McDowell	Northern Ireland	5.62
6	-	6	Rory McIlroy	Northern Ireland	5.44
7	+2	9	Steve Stricker	USA	5.27
8	-	8	Tiger Woods	USA	5.2
9	-2	7	Paul Casey	England	5.18
10	-	10	Matt Kuchar	USA	5.12
11	-	11	Bubba Watson	USA	5.09
12	-	12	Charl Schwartzel	South Africa	5.03
13	-	13	Dustin Johnson	USA	4.95
14	+1	15	Nick Watney	USA	4.84
15	+19	34	K.J. Choi	South Korea	4.66
16	-2	14	Jim Furyk	USA	4.55
17	-1	16	Ernie Els	South Africa	4.16
18	+2	20	Hunter Mahan	USA	4.16
19	-2	17	Adam Scott	Australia	4.1
20	+4	24	Jason Day	Australia	4.07
21	-2	19	Francesco Molinari	Italy	4.01
22	-4	18	Ian Poulter	England	3.97
23	-1	22	Robert Karlsson	Sweden	3.85
24	-3	21	Martin Laird	Scotland	3.83
25	-2	23	Miguel A. Jimenez	Spain	3.8