J.J. Henry was a late addition to the field for this week’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, grabbing the spot vacated by South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel. However, Henry’s time in the event might be short-lived - he’ll go up against top-seeded Tiger Woods in the first round of the tournament at The Gallery at Dove Mountain in Tucson.
Woods and Henry are paired up in the Bobby Jones Division for the event, and their match will get underway just after 12:00pm local time on Wednesday. In all there will be 32 matches on Wednesday, with 16 more matches on Thursday, eight on Friday, and six on Saturday. Then on Sunday the winners of Saturday’s two semi-final matches will compete for the trophy, while the two losers will also play a round to decide third place.
And who do the oddsmakers except to be competing in that 36-hole title match on Sunday afternoon? Woods is currently sitting as the +300 favorite to win the tourney, while Jim Furyk is next on the odds list at +1200. And since Furyk is sitting on the other side of the bracket from Woods (in the Gary Player Division), it’s possible that those two could meet on Sunday. Furyk, the No. 1 seed in his division, first takes on Brett Quigley.
The top seeds in the other two divisions are Phil Mickelson (Ben Hogan Division) and Adam Scott (Sam Snead Division). Mickelson, who is sitting at +1400 odds to win the championship, meets Richard Green in the first round. Scott, who is back at +1800 odds to win the final match on Sunday, is up against Shaun Micheel on Wednesday afternoon.
Other golfers with top odds to win the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship this week include Ernie Els (+1400), Retief Goosen (+1600), Vijay Singh (+2000), and Padraig Harrington (+2800). 2006 champion Geoff Ogilvy is currently sitting at +3500 odds, while 2005 winner David Toms is just ahead of him at +3200 odds. Ogilvy is the No. 3 seed in the Snead Division, while Toms is the No. 5 seed in the Player Division.
Woods has won this event twice in his career - in both 2004 and 2003. Two other past champions are in the field at The Gallery at Dove Mountain this week - Steve Stricker and Darren Clarke. Stricker, who won this tournament in 2001, is well back on the odds list at +10000. Clarke, the 2000 champion, is sitting at +9000 odds. Stricker is the No. 14 seed in the Snead Division, and will be up against Ogilvy on Wednesday. Clarke is the No. 13 seed in the Hogan Division, and his first match will be against Sergio Garcia.
None of those golfers, though, would have to face Woods until the tournament’s semi-final round. The high seeds in the Jones Division along with Woods are No. 2 Luke Donald, No. 3 Henrik Stenson, and No. 4 Nick O’Hern. Predictably, those three golfers aren’t very high on the tournament’s odds list right now - Donald is sitting at +4000 odds, Stenson is a bit ahead of him at +3200, and O’Hern is back at a longshot +7000.
Here are the 30 golfers given the best odds to win the 2007 Match Play Championship:
- Tiger Woods +300
- Jim Furyk +1200
- Ernie Els +1400
- Phil Mickelson +1400
- Retief Goosen +1600
- Adam Scott +1800
- Vijay Singh +2000
- Padraig Harrington +2800
- Sergio Garcia +3000
- Davis Love +3000
- Henrik Stenson +3200
- David Toms +3200
- Geoff Ogilvy +3500
- Robert Allenby +4000
- Paul Casey +4000
- Luke Donald +4000
- Charles Howell +4000
- Stewart Cink +4500
- Trevor Immelman +4500
- Chris DiMarco +5500
- Jose Maria Olazabal +5500
- Aaron Baddeley +6500
- Stuart Appleby +7000
- David Howell +7000
- Nick O'Hern +7000
- John Rollins +7000
- Justin Rose +7000
- Mike Weir +7000
- Rory Sabbatini +7500
- K.J. Choi +8000
After teeing it up in Tucson this week, the golfers of the PGA Tour will head east for The Honda Classic at the PGA National Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Meanwhile, the next stop for the European Tour will be the Johnnie Walker Classic, which will be held at the Blue Canyon Golf and Country Club over in Phuket, Thailand.
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