Betfair Official Blog

Find Me A 100 Winner - WGC Special!

Click here to view market

With so much quality available Paul Krishnamurty makes four selections this week, one from each quarter of the draw

For those looking for big-priced outsiders, there are few events that whet the appetite more than the WGC Matchplay. The inaugural running in 1999 produced the unlikeliest final pairing imaginable in Jeff Maggert and Andrew Magee, and in the eight runnings since Steve Stricker, Kevin Sutherland and Geoff Ogilvy all won after trading at well above [100.0] pre-tournament.

So for this reason plus the fact that due to Tiger's dominance there are an unusually large number of quality players available in our odds range, instead of the usual one selection, I'm picking four players. The plan is to pick one from each quarter of the draw, in the hope of getting as many representatives in the semi-finals as possible.

Firstly in the top quarter, otherwise known as the Bobby Jones Bracket, I'm going for Colombian prodigy Camilo Villegas at [180.0]. Important requirements in this six-round marathon at the long Dove Mountain course include youth, fitness and length off the tee. Villegas, one of my biggest fancies to win in 2008, scores well in all three departments. Furthermore, matchplay often proves the ideal format for young, inexperienced players like Villegas. Because whereas in strokeplay their inexperience often results in a disproportionate number of costly disaster holes, in this format it would only count as losing one hole.

Next in the Ben Hogan bracket, I like another tournament debutant in Boo Weekley at [110.0]. Again he's young, fit and hits it a long way. Boo's draw is pretty reasonable too, with a number of weak 'stars' in his section. Adam Scott looks a strong contender, but the other big names in this quarter are Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Sergio Garcia. The latter pair are struggling badly at present, while Ernie's tournament record is dire.

The bottom two brackets could particularly offer value, as the 32 players involved can at least sleep safe in the knowledge that if they have to face Tiger at all this week it can only be in the final. In the Gary Player bracket, Niclas Fasth looks outstanding value at [130.0]. Fasth is a birdie machine when he gets going, and looks to have the ideal competitive temperament for head-to-head matchplay. He won two matches out of three on this course last year, and has nothing to fear from at least his first couple of matches. After a closely matched tie with Richard Green, Fasth would be scheduled to play Vijay Singh, another big name with a poor tournament record.

Finally, the Sam Snead bracket looks the most open of the lot, with nobody really standing out as much better than the rest. Step forward then one of the rank outsiders, Nick Dougherty at 200. I don't see any reason to make Nick a big outsider in an interesting first-round tie against his old mate Luke Donald, and if he can emerge from that there's nobody particularly to fear. Again Dougherty has all the right credentials. He's young, fit, and has the sort of attacking game that, on song, could blow anyone away over this short matchplay format.