WGC Accenture Matchplay Round One [B]Jeff Overton +115 vs Ernie Els[/B]
"Boom Baby" gets to show his matchplay form from the Ryder Cup here and I have no problem fading the "Big Easy" who has dumped in the 1st round 4x in his L7 tries. Overton sneaky long, streaky putter and love his attitude. Els WD'd LW before the Northern Trust Open with a sore neck issue.
[B]Hunter Mahan -160 vs Sean O'Hair[/B]
Mahan slowly putting together a decent season, while O'Hair who got out on Tour late this year has struggled, his best finish a T31 at Pebble. My contacts at the Ritz Carlton GC say he is working with his swing instructor Sean Foley trying to hit a straight shot, but has the Army golf swing going..."left-right-left." O'Hair ranks 182nd in Greens in Regulation and 171st in Putting Average.
[B]Thomas Bjorn +245 vs Tiger Woods [/B]
Bjorn won the Qatar Masters earlier this month on a desert track and perhaps can make a few more putts than Tiger has shown lately. I'll say it again, now is the time to bet against Tiger, who will get away with spraying the driver here with the large Nicklaus fairways to help him, but overall game, lack of consistency, swing changes, balky putter, not playing enough tournaments (Mickelson is playing his 6th consecutive week!) this is only his 2nd PGA Tour event. He won't be sharp enough to win this event. Bjorn at +245 has a shot. This line should be +160 and Tiger -180.
[B]Bill Haas -135 vs Bubba Watson[/B]
Both are in this event for the first time. Bubba WD LW after a 76 in Round One at Riviera saying he was tight, couldn't swing and now it is a rib injury of some sort. But the real reason we are on Haas here is, because Bubba can be an easy out in matchplay. He's too wild, too inconsistent and all you have to do is play fairways and greens and let your opponent make the mistakes. At the Ryder Cup Bubba was drilled 4&3 by Miguel Angel Jimenez, not Lee Westwood, not Rory McIlroy or Graeme McDowell, it was Jimenez who is here this week and the oldest player in the field! Haas has three Top 10's and a T12 LW.
[B]Charl Schwartzel -165 vs Ryo Ishikawa[/B]
CS knocked off Hunter Mahan and then Jim Furyk LY here in matchplay and narrowly lost a 20 hole battle to Stewart Cink in Round Three. He has one of the more reliable swings in the game and a solid putter. Ishikawa still a kid at 19, is very inconsistent, goes at it full throttle all the time, swings too hard for his size and last week missed the cut by four shots at the Northern Trust Open while CS has a win and three Top 10's in three starts abroad.
[B]Nick Watney -130 vs Anthony Kim[/B]
Watney leads the Tour in stroke average and while that may not mean much in matchplay it does tells us he is in excellent current form. Matt Kuchar led the Tour last year in stroke average and look what kind of year he had. AK WD'd LW at Riviera after 3 rounds! He was sick in bed all weekend with an illness. Sure, we've lost in this spot many times vs. the wounded/sick player, but we have the advantage off the tee, around the greens and recall Watney making it to round 3 LY after beating Lee Westwood.
...more possible Round One plays later
