Tiger in Decline – Long Odds Available at WGC Accenture World Match Play Golf Championship

Frank Doyle makes his picks for the WCG Accenture World Match Play Championship, being held this week at Dove Mountain, Arizona.

There is no greater sign of the decline of Tiger Woods as a force in professional golf than the golf odds for this week’s WGC Match Play Championship.

It’s 14/1 the field when play begins tomorrow at the Ritz-Carlton golf club, thirty miles north of Tucson. In the past decade, those prices would typically be 3/1 Tiger, tens on Phil Mickelson or Ernie Els, maybe, and then the rest. Now competitiveness has returned to golf, and the titles are there for anyone that has the guts and the game to win them, with big payouts for those that can successfully pick winners.

The bracket is all when making your picks for the WCG Match Play – you can see the official bracket here. Tiger Woods, Martin Kaymer and Paul Casey are the joint ante-post favorites at 14/1, and they’re all No 1 seeds in their own separate brackets.

Tiger is in a tough bracket, with potential danger from the up and coming Dustin Johnson on Friday or Paul Casey on Saturday – if he even lasts that far. All is changed for the greatest player the game has known.

Lee Westwood is the fourth seed but he’s not getting much support at 20/1 and hasn’t been in great form lately (the heavy weight of being tipped here for the Dubai Desert Classic probably hasn’t done him much good in terms of karma either). Sports Interaction has bracket betting as well for the Match Play Championship, and Retief Goosen or one of the Molinari brothers might be a value bet in Westwood’s Bobby Jones bracket.

Ian Poulter is the defending Champion and a tempting outright ante-post price at 28/1, but he’s in the same bracket as US Open Champion Graeme McDowell, priced 22/1. The seeding would see them play each other on Friday, which would be a tremendous game.

Paul Casey is the best value bet at the Match Play Championship at that tempting price of 14/1. He’s come second the past two years so he’s certainly value to go deep.

The most value, of course, is in the range of bets. As well as the outright, you can bet the brackets, best region, best American, best European, and the individual matches themselves. Bet now on the WGC Accenture World Match Play Championship!