World Golf Championship: Dell Technologies Match Play Expert Picks

This tournament has a different format. The field starts with the top 16 players, then a blind draw occurs with seeds from 17-32 and 33-48 into each group. One player from each “pool” below will be randomly selected to make a foursome that will play round-robin matches Wednesday through Friday.The Pools and Groups are listed at the bottom. Winners from each group advance to single elimination bracket into the weekend (16 players will emerge going into the weekend).

Tournament Information:

World Golf Championship – Dell Technologies Match Play

Date: March 21^st – 25^th

Course: Austin Country Club

Purse: $10MM ($1.8MM to winner)

FedEx points: 550 to winner

2017 Winner: Dustin Johnson (def Jon Rahm)

Course: Austin Country Club. Resting along the Colorado River, the Davenport Ranch which hosts this course after two previous moves under the name Austin Country Club. At 7,100 yards, this par 71 was originally opened in 1899 and is believed to be the oldest course in Texas, this course was redesigned by Pete Dye in 1984. It is a Jekyll and Hyde course that requires golfers to adjust to different altitudes and topographies on front nine vs. back.

In lieu of 6 picks I’ll let you know who I think is advancing from each Group.

Group 1

Dustin Johnson – The only player on tour to have won all four World Golf Championships is the favorite to walk away from this group.

Kevin Kisner

Adam Hadwin

Bernd Wiesberger

Group 2

Justin Thomas

Francesco Molinari

Patton Kizzire

Luke List – My sleeper pick.

Group 3

Jon Rahm

Kiradech Aphibarnrat

Chez Reavie – I’m much more optimistic on Chez play this season than the others here. He hit a rough patch the last three tournaments but prior to that he had top 20 finishes in 7 of 9 tournaments.

Keegan Bradley

Group 4

Jordan Spieth – He finished 14^th at the last World Golf Championship, outside of his two missed cuts this season he’s been a top 20 golfer in the other tournaments.

Patrick Reed

Li Haotong

Charl Schwartzel

Group 5

Hideki Matsuyama

Patrick Cantlay – Noone in this group really shines in world golf championships so I’ll go with Patrick who had a 30^th place finish earlier this year.

Cameron Smith

Yūsaku Miyazato

Group 6

Rory McIlroy – top ten finishes in 3 out of 4 WGC last year (30^th here) but off a win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, I’m excited to see what he brings this week.

Brian Harman

Jhonattan Vegas

Peter Uihlein

Group 7

Sergio García

Xander Schauffele – Three consecutive top 20 finishes and he has shown some success at WGC matches.

Dylan Frittelli

Shubhankar Sharma

Group 8

Jason Day

Louis Oosthuizen – 17^th here last year and prior to his missed cut at Arnold Palmer he had three straight top 30 finishes.

Jason Dufner

James Hahn

Group 9

Tommy Fleetwood

Daniel Berger

Kevin Chappell – He went 1-2 last year in a tough division of Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia and Shane Lowry. I’m bullish on a bounce back finish.

Ian Poulter

Group 10

Paul Casey – Paul Casey has top 20 finishes in 6 out of the 7 tournaments he’s played this year.

Matthew Fitzpatrick

Kyle Stanley

Russell Henley

Group 11

Marc Leishman

Branden Grace

Bubba Watson – My initial take was Leishman in (what seems to me) a softer group but Bubba tends to thrive under pressure.

Julian Suri

Group 12

Tyrrell Hatton

Charley Hoffman – I feel like I need to scream it from the mountain tops but Charley Hoffman does NOT get the respect he deserves!

Brendan Steele

Alexander Lévy

Group 13

Alexander Norén – He advanced past last year as the top seed and even beat Brooks Koepka in round 1 before facing Dustin in round 2 of the bracket of 16.

Tony Finau

Thomas Pieters

Kevin Na

Group 14

Phil Mickelson – his competitive spirit is strong. He went 3-0 against Kim Si-woo, Daniel Berger and JB Holmes last year and lost in round 2 to Bill Haas.

Rafael Cabrera-Bello

Satoshi Kodaira

Charles Howell III

Group 15

Pat Perez

Gary Woodland

Webb Simpson

Kim Si-woo – Last year he went 1-1-1 amidst a very similar ‘rough patch of high 50s and MC finishes that he’s showing right now.

Group 16

Matt Kuchar

Ross Fisher

Yuta Ikeda

Zach Johnson – Zach and Matt were in the same bracket last year and Zach edged it out 2 up before facing Dustin Johnson in round 1

Final Four Selections:

Phil Mickelson

Alexander Noren

Paul Casey

Dustin Johnson

Winner:

Phil Mickelson

Pool A (top 16 seeds)

Dustin Johnson

Justin Thomas

Jon Rahm

Jordan Spieth

Hideki Matsuyama

Rory McIlroy

Sergio García

Jason Day

Tommy Fleetwood

Paul Casey

Marc Leishman

Tyrrell Hatton

Alexander Norén

Phil Mickelson

Pat Perez

Matt Kuchar

Pool B

Rafael Cabrera-Bello

Brian Harman

Patrick Reed

Xander Schauffele

Francesco Molinari

Charley Hoffman

Branden Grace

Gary Woodland

Louis Oosthuizen

Daniel Berger

Ross Fisher

Kiradech Aphibarnrat

Tony Finau

Patrick Cantlay

Matthew Fitzpatrick

Kevin Kisner

Pool C

Kevin Chappell

Li Haotong

Bubba Watson

Brendan Steele

Webb Simpson

Adam Hadwin

Thomas Pieters

Satoshi Kodaira

Dylan Frittelli

Jason Dufner

Chez Reavie

Jhonattan Vegas

Kyle Stanley

Cameron Smith

Yuta Ikeda

Patton Kizzire

Pool D

Charl Schwartzel

Kim Si-woo

Russell Henley

Bernd Wiesberger

Yūsaku Miyazato

Zach Johnson

Alexander Lévy

James Hahn

Peter Uihlein

Ian Poulter

Charles Howell III

Luke List

Kevin Na

Shubhankar Sharma

Keegan Bradley

Julian Suri