Golf Bets / Paul Krishnamurty / 28 October 2009 / Leave a Comment

There's a revised format to the 'new' World Match Play and it won't benefit any players carrying injuries. With that in mind, Paul Krishnamurty has a view on two players who could oblige at attractive odds

As part of the new Race to Dubai schedule that is transforming the European Tour scene, this long standing autumn fixture takes on a very different look. Wentworth, scene of so many classic matches down the years, is replaced as host by a new Spanish venue, Finca Cortesin, and we also have a radically altered format.

Rather than the old 16-runner knockout event, played over four rounds, the same number of players are now placed in groups of four to be decided on a round-robin basis. The winner of each group will then progress to the semi-finals. In a slightly bizarre twist, rather than matches reaching their natural conclusion when the leader is ahead by more holes than there are remaining, each match must be played over the full 18 holes.

So basically, every player must complete a full 54 holes over Thursday and Friday, ahead of 36-hole matches for the semi-finals and final.

Needless to say, this is a gruelling schedule, and anything but ideal for players returning from, or carrying an injury. Three players spring to mind in this regard. Paul Casey, who hasn't played since the beginning of August; Martin Kaymer, who only returned from a broken foot last week; plus Jeev Milkha-Singh, who is carrying a foot injury.

It will take a herculean effort for any of them to win via this schedule, and it should pay to oppose them at some stage. Indeed, the best opening value in the outright market could lie in effectively opposing Casey with a combined trade on his two main Group A opponents, Retief Goosen and Anthony Kim.

The fourth member of their group is rank outsider Scott Strange, who looks out of his depth. Unless Strange pulls off a shock, or Casey produces a heroic comeback, (the latter isn't completely impossible, even if unlikely), one of Goosen and Kim will reach the semi-finals. A combined bet on both pays around [7.4], and if one of them does win the group and progresses, they will trade considerably shorter than that, perhaps below [4.0] depending who else is in the semi-final line-up.

Selections: Back Retief Goosen @ [13.5]; Back Anthony Kim @ [16.5]

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