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The second day of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play saw many big names stake their claim on this championship. Improving their match play records to 2-0-0 for the week, Alex Noren, Billy Horschel, Brooks Koepka, Corey Conners, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Kevin Kisner, Lucas Herbert, Matt Fitzpatrick, Seamus Power, Tyrrell Hatton, and Viktor Hovland are firmly in the driver seat of their respective groups.
Perhaps the most surprising of this bunch is Power who was narrowly inside the top-50 in the official world golf rankings to begin the week. Needing to maintain his position in order to qualify for The Masters, the Irishman’s performance has all but secured his place at Augusta National in two weeks.
Dismantling Sungjae Im yesterday and Patrick Cantlay today, Power harped on the task at hand tomorrow. The 35-year-old said, “Yeah, I mean, nothing changes. Obviously, you’re going to start every day and your plan is going to be to win that match, and you’re going to do your best to do that. It’s going to be the same against Keith tomorrow. Keith is a good player. I’ve known him a long time, and it’s going to be a tough battle so hopefully I can come out on the good side of it.”
With his counterparts echoing his thoughts, it will be interesting to see the level of competition those players already eliminated will provide. Reveling in the possibility of raining on their opponent’s parade, we just have to look back to last season when Hovland spoiled an undefeated Abraham Ancer’s tournament on the back-nine of Day 3.
Perhaps overextending ourselves on Thursday, our Day 2 selections went a measly 0-2-2. Slowing our roll, we will only look to a couple more matchups as we will be enjoying the weekend off much like Bryson DeChambeau, Louis Oosthuizen, and Tony Finau.
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Updated Odds to Win (Odds Via PointsBet Sportsbook):
+600: Jon Rahm
+800: Viktor Hovland
+900: Dustin Johnson
+1400: Brooks Koepka
+1600: Billy Horschel
+1800: Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick
+2000: Seamus Power, Tyrrell Hatton
+2200: Kevin Kisner
+2500: Alex Noren
+2800: Corey Conners, Justin Thomas
+3300: Abraham Ancer, Lucas Herbert, Scottie Scheffler, Sergio Garcia
+4000: Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Shane Lowry, Maverick McNealy
+5000: Kevin Na, Webb Simpson, Will Zalatoris
+6600: Joaquin Niemann, Lee Westwood, Richard Bland, Xander Schauffele
+8000: Daniel Berger, Justin Rose, Luke List, Talor Gooch, Thomas Pieters
+10000: Cameron Young, Sungjae Im, Jason Kokrak, Max Homa, Tommy Fleetwood
Day 3 Plays:
Sergio Garcia -125 over Robert MacIntyre at DraftKings (1.25 units):
The ball-striking was there for the most part for the Spaniard in his match versus Collin Morikawa. Battling back strong, Garcia clawed out a half point and kept his Round of 16 hopes alive heading into the final day of group play.
Missing a few opportunities, a victory will secure at minimum a sudden-death playoff with his Day 2 opponent. Willing to roll the rock with Garcia once again, his back-nine play has given me confidence to look in his direction against a struggling MacIntyre.
Keith Mitchell +105 over Seamus Power at DraftKings (1.00 unit):
Possibly getting in front of a runaway train, my pre-tournament infatuation with Mitchell will remain steady. Losing 5-and-3 to Im on Thursday, the 30-year-old missed six putts from inside 11-feet with five of those coming within 7-feet.
Striking the ball adequately, we will look for Mitchell to right today’s wrong against Power. Arguably the most impressive player in the field at first glance, I reckon his opponents were every bit as helpful as his own game. If Mitchell is able to bring the game which has carried him the past three months, I like his chances to come through as an underdog.
2/3-Balls: -12.50 units, -31.63%
Total YTD: +53.24 units, +66.05%
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