WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Thursday matches, tee times, how to watch

From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for Thursday’s matches at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

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If you enjoyed the first day of matches at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, wait until you see who’s set to square off on Thursday.

The top-12 players in the Golfweek/Sagarin men’s ranking are all at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas, competing for a grand total of $10.25 million, with the winner taking home a cool $1.82 million. With 32 matches on, a few stand out from the rest.

Check out the Thursday matches and tee times below, as well as the full broadcast, streaming and radio schedule for the week in Austin. All times listed are Eastern Standard Time.

WGC Match Play: Photos

Thursday matches, tee times

Time Players
10:30 a.m. Patrick Cantlay vs. Carlos Ortiz
10:41 a.m. Hideki Matsuyama vs. Brian Harman
10:52 a.m. Patrick Reed vs. Christiaan Bezuidenhout
11:03 a.m. Joaquin Niemann vs. Bubba Watson
11:14 a.m. Matt Fitzpatrick vs. Corey Conners
11:25 a.m. Matthew Wolff vs. Jordan Spieth
11:36 a.m. Justin Thomas vs. Kevin Kisner
11:47 a.m. Louis Oosthuizen vs. Matt Kuchar
11:58 a.m. Tony Finau vs. Will Zalatoris
12:09 p.m. Jason Kokrak vs. Dylan Frittelli
12:20 p.m. Bryson DeChambeau vs. Si Woo Kim
12:31 p.m. Tommy Fleetwood vs. Antoine Rozner
12:42 p.m. Viktor Hovland vs. Bernd Wiesberger
12:53 p.m. Abraham Ancer vs. Kevin Streelman
1:04 p.m. Collin Morikawa vs. Max Homa
1:15 p.m. Billy Horschel vs. J.T. Poston
1:26 p.m. Webb Simpson vs. Mackenzie Hughes
1:37 p.m. Paul Casey vs. Talor Gooch
1:48 p.m. Tyrrell Hatton vs. Sergio Garcia
1:59 p.m. Lee Westwood vs. Matt Wallace
2:10 p.m. Sungjae Im vs. Marc Leishman
2:21 p.m. Victor Perez vs. Russell Henley
2:32 p.m. Dustin Johnson vs. Robert MacIntyre
2:43 p.m. Kevin Na vs. Adam Long
2:54 p.m. Rory McIlroy vs. Lanto Griffin
3:05 p.m. Cameron Smith vs. Ian Poulter
3:16 p.m. Xander Schauffele vs. Jason Day
3:27 p.m. Scottie Scheffler vs. Andy Sullivan
3:38 p.m. Daniel Berger vs. Brendon Todd
3:49 p.m. Harris English vs. Erik van Rooyen
4 p.m. Jon Rahm vs. Shane Lowry
4:11 p.m. Ryan Palmer vs. Sebastián Muñoz

Format

The field of 64 players has been split into 16 groups of four players. Players play everyone within their group in match play Wednesday-Friday and earn one point for a win and half of a point for a tie. The player with the most points in each group moves on to the knockout rounds. The group tiebreaker is sudden death stroke play.

The round of 16 and quarterfinal matches are then played on Saturday, followed by the semifinal, third-place and final matches on Sunday.

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How to watch

Thursday, March 25

TV

Golf Channel (Watch for free on fuboTV): 2-8 p.m.

STREAMING

PGA Tour Live: 10:15 a.m.-8 p.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 2-8 p.m.

Friday, March 26

TV

Golf Channel (Watch for free on fuboTV): 2-8 p.m.

STREAMING

PGA Tour Live: 10:15 a.m.-8 p.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 2-8 p.m.

Saturday, March 27

TV

Golf Channel (Watch for free on fuboTV): 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
NBC: 2-6 p.m.

STREAMING

PGA Tour Live: 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Sunday, March 28

TV

Golf Channel (Watch for free on fuboTV): 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
NBC: 3-7 p.m.

STREAMING

PGA Tour Live: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

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Former Longhorns Jordan Spieth, Dylan Frittelli, Scottie Scheffler shine at Dell Match Play

Jordan Spieth, Dylan Frittelli and Scottie Scheffler each pick up first-round wins as event gets into full swing at Austin Country Club.

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Not surprisingly, the three former Longhorns competing at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play felt right at home in the first round of play.

Former Texas stars Jordan Spieth, Dylan Frittelli and Scottie Scheffler all won their opening match at Austin Country Club on Wednesday. The victories set them up for a strong run at this weekend’s elimination rounds, and they also served as some welcomed home cooking on a course just about a long drive from the Longhorns’ home course in Steiner Ranch.

A 2 up victory over Jason Day was especially gratifying for Scheffler, who’s in his third year as a pro and missed debuting at Dell Match Play last year when the coronavirus pandemic canceled the event.

“I was obviously very bummed last year,” said Scheffler, the No. 30 seed in a group that also includes No. 44 Day, No. 57 Andy Sullivan and group favorite and sixth-seeded Xander Schauffele. “I was really looking forward to coming out here and playing in front of all the fans.

“So this year to at least have a few people out here is great, and it’s nice that things are starting to get back to normal.”

Match Play: Photos

There was something very normal about Scheffler’s clutch play on the final few holes against the veteran Day, a former top-ranked player on the PGA Tour. Scheffler won three state titles during his prep career at Highland Park High School in Dallas, and he helped Texas win three Big 12 Conference titles from 2015-18. The experience in match play gained at Texas helped him pull away from Day after the two entered the 17th hole tied, he said.

“(I) haven’t played match play in a while,” he said. “In college, it was always nice getting that experience. And as far as nerves go, I would probably say I was more nervous in college coming out and playing match play with four guys depending on me.”

So donning the burnt orange and trying to light the Tower caused more butterflies than playing for a possible $1.82 million?

“Well, I mean, yeah, I guess,” said Scheffler, who helped the 2016 Texas team finish second at the NCAA national tournament. “National championship on the line. Sure.”

Spieth and Frittelli know something about national championships, leading Texas to its third and most recent title in 2012. Frittelli, a senior on that squad, had the winning putt against a talented Alabama team led by Justin Thomas. The South African native, who now lives about 15 minutes away from Austin Country Club, also remembered that ACC wasn’t too keen on Frittelli and his Longhorn teammates teeing off on its course — at least until Texas began to vault up the national rankings.

Dylan Frittelli lines up a putt on the 14th green during the third round of THE PLAYERS Championship on THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 13, 2021 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

“The first few years I didn’t play (ACC) too much,” he said. “We were probably the 20th- or 30th-ranked team in the country, and I guess the members didn’t really think fondly of us, but then as we moved up the rankings, my senior year, we were ranked No. 1 and seemed to get a lot more invitations.”

Frittelli can still relate to that lack of respect; he entered the tournament seeded as the 64th and final player but topped No. 12 Tony Finau 6 and 5 Wednesday.

“If you had checked the betting odds, if those guys were doing their homework, I would figure they would put me in the top half, just having that sort of experience, home town, sleeping in my own bed,” he said. “I think that counts a lot. I’m not going to spout too much, but I definitely think it’s a huge advantage that at least puts me in the top half of the field.”

And his ability to utilize all the tricks of a hometown driver should also count for something, Frittelli said.

“It’s just nice to have those routines with falling out of bed, riding in the car,” he said. “It’s perfect. I can cut in and out of traffic and get to the course really quickly because I know the roads. It just feels really familiar right now.”

Spieth, seeded No. 49 in a challenging group, also looked plenty comfortable in the opening round. He cruised past former U.S. Amateur champion and 15th-seeded Matt Fitzpatrick 3 and 1 while flashing a steady putter, which he will need against No. 20 Matthew Wolff and No. 37 Corey Conners later in the week.

“I found myself having more putts to win the hole than Matt did, and what a tough opponent he is in match play, somebody who’s been playing some really good golf,” Spieth said. “So (a) big match to get kind of a victory early on, still in control of my own destiny.”

Spieth, who won three state championships during his high school days at Dallas Jesuit High School, currently resides in his hometown. That leaves Frittelli as the host if he gets a chance to have dinner with his former collegiate teammate.

Frittelli says he’d make the drive down to Driftwood and treat Spieth to The Salt Lick BBQ, Frittelli’s preferred barbecue in his adopted hometown that takes smoked meat as serious as its match play.

“Ribs, brisket, burnt ends, the whole deal,” Frittelli said.

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Watch: Errant Jordan Spieth tee shot lands on wrong hole, doesn’t even phase Patrick Cantlay

An errant Jordan Spieth tee shot landed on the wrong green. It didn’t even phase Patrick Cantlay at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

Jordan Spieth is the gift that keeps on giving all season long so far this year.

The 27-year-old is looking more like his old, three-time major champion self these days, with three top-five finishes in his last five PGA Tour starts.

During his opening match against Matt Fitzpatrick on Wednesday at the World Golf Championship-Dell Technologies Match Play, the Spieth content factory delivered another gem, this one courtesy of the cart path, the wrong green and a dialed-in Patrick Cantlay.

Spieth’s drive on the par-4 13th hole bounced off the cart path and landed on the green of the 15th hole, where Cantlay was putting. He didn’t even notice.

WGC Match Play: Photos

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1374782830455226369

The video is good enough on its own, but imagine if Cantlay would’ve made the putt?

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Struggling Rory McIlroy hit an errant tee shot into someone’s pool during Match Play

Rory McIlroy made a splash at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play when an errant tee shot landed in a pool.

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Rory McIlroy has not been himself as of late.

Yes, there have been the top-13 finishes at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the Workday Championship and the Arnold Palmer. But there were the missed cuts at the Genesis Invitational and the Players, and in the latter, he hit some really bad shots that he attributed to issues with his swing that he’s tinkered with as he tries to chase speeds like Bryson DeChambeau.

While facing Ian Poulter in this week’s Match Play at Austin Country Club, he struggled on No. 4. Then, he hit a tee shot on No. 5 that hooked all the way … into someone’s swimming pool.

Yikes. Not good.

UPDATE: It got worse:

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Watch: Rory McIlroy drubbed by Ian Poulter at WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

Just days after a report surfaced that he’d added coach Pete Cowen to his team, McIlroy looked out of sorts again at Austin Country Club.

AUSTIN, Texas — Standing on the 12th tee with a picturesque view of the iconic Pennybacker Bridge, Ian Poulter watched his drive safely hit the fairway, flipped his driver, grinned and let out a giggle.

Why wouldn’t the typically jovial Poulter be beaming? He stood 3 up in his opening match of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event, in firm control despite coming into Wednesday as a decided underdog.

His opponent, World No. 11 Rory McIlroy, wasn’t sharing Poulter’s chipper disposition.

Just days after a report that he’d added coach Pete Cowen to his team in an effort to right a struggling ship, McIlroy looked out of sorts again at Austin Country Club.

Despite booming drives that consistently rolled well past Poulter’s, McIlroy fell 6 and 5 in an uninspiring showing that put him in a tough spot with two round-robin matches remaining.

For McIlroy, it’s been a roller coaster of sorts through the past few months. The former World No. 1 isn’t in a slump, per se, but he certainly isn’t in complete control of his game like he once was. McIlroy has four top 20 finishes in six starts this season, but he’s missed a pair of cuts, the most recent at the Players Championship. He also posted a final-round 76 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational while firmly in the hunt.

And he continued his erratic play through the early portion of Wednesday’s round, first three-putting from inside 20 feet on the fourth hole, then finding water in the most unconventional way on the following hole — by bouncing a tee shot off a cart path and into a swimming pool.

Poulter said he expects McIlroy to improve under Cowen’s eye, but he was happy to apply some pressure to his friend and earn the victory.

“Obviously, Pete’s going to be working exclusively with Rory on his game. I think there’s a couple of areas of his game which I’m sure he wants to kind of firm up a little bit and obviously, he missed a couple of tee shots left. From that point, he was trying to hit a kind of a bit of a hold-up cut,” Poulter said of his friend. “But it’s Rory, it doesn’t take a lot for Rory to spark up pretty quickly and I wasn’t surprised with anything, I just felt that I kind of, I had done a pretty decent job of putting him under pressure, I made it difficult for him.”

Meanwhile, Poulter arrived in Austin fresh off missing two straight cuts and without a top 25 finish this season. The 60th seed looked confident, however, as he took advantage of all McIlroy’s early mistakes.

“I played well and obviously the score line’s pretty flattering, to be honest with you. But I kept Rory under pressure and I made it difficult for him,” Poulter said. “Yeah, he hit a couple of loose shots, but putting the ball in pretty tight and taking control of a match, I had to do that against Rory.”

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Viktor Hovland excited for debut, feels like a newcomer at WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play

Viktor Hovland is excited for his debut but still feels like a newcomer at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas.

AUSTIN, Texas — When Viktor Hovland steps on the tee box Wednesday morning at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, it will mark the first time that the burgeoning PGA Tour star from Norway has ever taken a swing on a course in Austin.

But he’s certainly no stranger to area golf fans, especially those that follow collegiate golf.

Hovland enjoyed an All-American career at Oklahoma State, where he helped lead the Cowboys to the Big 12 Conference championship as a junior in 2019. He earned the coveted Ben Hogan Award later that year, which is given annually to the top men’s college golfer.

Since then, it’s been a fast rise up the rankings for the fresh-faced 23-year-old, the No. 13 seed at the tournament who is ranked No. 31 in the world and will be part of a challenging but winnable group that includes steady American Kevin Streelman, native Texan Abraham Ancer and Austrian Bernd Weisberger, a star in Europe who has yet to match that success in the States. Hovland, the first Norwegian man to win a PGA Tour event, is a sneaky dark horse to win the event with 28-1 odds.

WGC Match Play: Odds | Fantasy rankings

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But the Match Play offers a unique challenge for Hovland, who hasn’t competed in match play since his amateur days.

“I do feel like I’m a newcomer still,” Hovland said Tuesday after a practice round at sun-splashed Austin Country Club. “I haven’t played that many WGCs out here, and it’s the first time teeing it up here in Austin, so there’s still a lot of things that are new. (But) I’m going into the event thinking I can do pretty well, even though I am a first-timer here.”

Even though Hovland spent three years at Oklahoma State and seriously considered joining the golf programs at Texas Tech and TCU, he has never played a competitive round in Austin. The Hill Country terrain immediately caught his eye, as did some of the opportunities for those daring enough to flirt with disaster while navigating around the course’s deep pot bunkers.

“It’s pretty quirky with the rolling terrain, and it’s a great match-play course,” he said. “I feel like you can really get it going and you can take a couple of risks where you probably wouldn’t have taken them in stroke play, so I think it will be an interesting tournament this week.”

And how does such risk arise in match play compared to stroke play?

“One example is just like if you’re four (strokes) down with six to play, you don’t really have a choice but to maybe squeeze an iron shot a little bit closer than you would have if it was a stroke play event,” Hovland said. “So it just kind of changes the dynamic a little bit, depending upon what, if you’re up or down or, yeah, what the match is.”

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Forward Press podcast: WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play preview

The WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play is previewed by Golfweek’s David Dusek and Adam Woodard on this week’s edition of Foward Press.

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Welcome to episode 90 of Forward Press, a weekly podcast from Golfweek.

In this edition of Forward Press, Golfweek’s David Dusek and Adam Woodard preview the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club.

As always, you can download the Forward Press podcast and listen on all of your favorite platforms, including: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | Castbox | Radio Public.

Did you like what you heard? You can catch up on previous episodes of the Forward Press podcast here.

Defending champ Kevin Kisner gets tough challenge in WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play draw

Defending champion Kevin Kisner returns to the World Golf Championship-Dell Match Play this week only to receive a Group of Death draw.

Defending champion and two-time consecutive finalist Kevin Kisner returns to the World Golf Championship-Dell Match Play this week and is immediately greeted with, well, a Group of Death draw.

Welcome back to Austin, Kevin.

Kisnser won the 2019 event, the last time it was played after last year’s tournament was canceled because of the pandemic, and finished as runner-up to Bubba Watson in 2018.

But the random draw for 64 of the top 69 golfers in the world did him no favors Monday when he was placed in a foursome alongside reigning Players Champion Justin Thomas (second seed), 2019 Dell runner-up Matt Kuchar (52) and 2016 Dell runner-up and always tough Louis Oosthuizen (22).

Kisner said he looks forward to the challenge and added that he and Thomas are great buddies and Thomas’ caddie, Jimmie Johnson, is one of Kisner’s longtime friends.

Asked how much fun he figures to have with that group, Kisner said, “I would have way more fun if all three of them just forfeited the match, to be honest. But, no, it’s fun. If you want to be the best, you got to beat the best, and JT’s playing arguably the best in the world right now, so it will be a lot of fun. Obviously the other two players are all longtime Tour stalwarts that have been out here and played great, had a lot of success, so I’m looking forward to seeing how my game steps up against all of them.”

Of course, Kisner is used to the disrespect card, if you will. He was seeded only 48th in 2019 when he made his way through seven rounds to win and is ranked just 34th this week. So he should have plenty of motivation.

His grouping drew the most attention Monday and signaled a difficult path to Sunday’s championship of the Dell event, which is being hosted by the Austin Country Club for the fifth time. Group play begins on Wednesday morning and runs three days before the playoffs start on Saturday with two rounds each of the two weekend days.

But he’s got company when it comes to steep challenges, as one would expect from a field that boasts 13 major champions who have 20 such titles.

As good as Thomas is, the former PGA Champion has advanced out of group play just once in four previous tries at Austin CC but reached the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Bubba Watson in 2018. He was also winless in three matches and eliminated in 2016 when he was in the same group as Jordan Spieth.

Jordan Spieth, who has had a major resurgence this season with three top-five finishes in his last four starts, finds himself in Group 15 with Matt Fitzpatrick (15), former Oklahoma State product Matthew Wolff (20) and Canadian and Valero Open champion Corey Conners (37). In four career starts in the event at Austin Country Club, the former Texas star advanced out of his group in 2016 and was defeated by Oosthuizen, 4 and 2, in the round of 16.

“There’s just a deep, tremendous amount of talent in golf right now,” Spieth said. “You’ve got guys in their 40s who are winning the biggest tournaments in the world and guys in their 20s playing well. It’s cool. New guys come in every year and want to sustain their careers for 20 years. That’s what we all want to do.”

No. 1 seed Dustin Johnson has accomplished that better than most. He’s won 26 tournaments worldwide and, at age 36, begins play Wednesday as the top seed, but what else is new?

He holds that status for the fourth consecutive year and is shooting for his seventh WGC title, second all time behind only Tiger Woods, who unfortunately won’t be back after his serious car accident in Los Angeles. Johnson’s group includes Kevin Na (28), Robert MacIntyre (41) and Adam Long (61).

Besides Spieth, two other Longhorns find themselves in the field. Both have extensive experience on the tight Austin CC track.

Scottie Scheffler, in his second year on the Tour and seeded 30th, received a treacherous draw himself. He’s joined by Xander Schauffele (6), 2016 Dell champion Jason Day (44), who won in the tournament’s initial start in Austin, and Andy Sullivan (57).

“It’s a good group,” Scheffler said Monday. “I’ve actually never played golf with Andy, but I’ve seen the other two play. It’ll be a fun group. My caddie is good buddies with Jason, and Xander is a friend of mine, so it’ll be a good group to compete in.”

Scheffler has two top 10s in his last four events, but hasn’t been happy with his play until lately.

“I got off to a really slow start to the season in the fall,” he said. “I was playing terrible, not swinging it well. I feel like the last month, month and a half, my swing is starting to come around and felt like the swing has really turned the corner.

Dylan Frittelli hasn’t played well of late and, despite his 69th world ranking, qualified as the final entry in the Dell field after Brooks Koepka withdrew and had right knee surgery. He’s locked in with Tony Finau (12), Jason Kokrak (29) and Will Zalatoris (40).

Frittelli has added eight pounds of weight, reduced his body fat by 5 percent, gotten stronger and more focused. The native South African has shown glimpses of his game with a top-five finish at the Masters and a top-25 start at TPC Sawgrass.

He is almost as excited about the new roof over his head.

“Three years ago was the last time I played, so super excited for some match play golf in front of a home crowd and familiar surroundings,” said Frittelli, a former teammate of Spieth’s and the Longhorn who sank the winning putt for Texas’ last national championship in 2012 to beat Justin Thomas and Alabama. “The last time I played here (in the Dell), I actually had just bought a house here, but I was staying with friends. It’s pretty cool to sleep in my own bed.”

Play begins early Wednesday morning, and no one will be more excited than Kisner.

The 37-year-old South Carolinian has three PGA victories, but none since the 2019 Dell. He became the father of a third child recently and reduced his schedule to just five tournaments in the last 15 weeks, but he plans to play five of the next six events.

“It’s not been up to the level that I want it to be,” Kisner said of his game. “I’ve spent a lot of time with the family, kind of more important at this stage in life. But this is my stretch right here. So hopefully this is another turning point for me to get the game rolling.”

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WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play: 5 matches worth watching on Wednesday

Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed are playing some must-watch matches at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play on Wednesday.

The world’s best players are bound for Austin, Texas, for a unique stop on the men’s professional golf schedule.

Austin Country Club plays host to the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play once again this week. With the top-12 players in the Golfweek/Sagarin men’s ranking, as well as 64 of the top 69 in the Official World Golf Ranking set to compete, there are some matches that stand out among the rest.

On Wednesday alone a handful of European-dominated matches to watch include a couple pairs of Ryder Cup stalwarts squaring off, as well as two of the European Tour’s Angry Golfers.

Check out the top five opening day matches in Austin.

Match Play: Weather | Odds, picks
More: How to make improve the WGC Match Play format

WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play odds, predictions and PGA Tour picks

We take a look at the 2021 WGC Match Play odds and make our PGA Tour picks and predictions to win.

This week’s World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play will be the final event for most of the PGA Tour’s biggest names ahead of the 2021 Masters Tournament (April 8-11). Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas, hosts the bracket of 64 for the first time since 2019. Below, we look at the 2021 WGC Match Play odds and make our PGA Tour picks and predictions to win.

The 2020 Match Play was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was not made up upon the Tour’s mid-June restart. As such, Kevin Kisner, who enters this week at 49th in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings, is the defending champion.

The Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic hosts a field of 132 as this week’s alternate event.

2021 WGC Match Play picks – Favorite

Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Monday at 1:45 p.m. ET.

Bryson DeChambeau (+1400)

DeChambeau comes into this week in top form following victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and a semi-disappointing T-3 finish at the Players Championship. He played this event only in 2019 when he was knocked out by group champion Marc Leishman in pool play.

DeChambeau leads the PGA Tour with 1.22 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and 2.29 SG: Tee-to-Green through 30 measured rounds on the 2020-21 season. He averaged 0.69 and 0.94 SG: Putting at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, respectively.

The biggest threat on this side of the bracket is world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, but he’s likely to be looking ahead to defending his green jacket at Augusta National Golf Club in two weeks.

Place your legal, online 2021 WGC Match Play bets in CO, IA, IN, MI, NJ, PA, TN, VA and WV at BetMGM. Risk-free first bet! Terms and conditions apply. Bet now!

2021 WGC Match Play picks – Contender

Viktor Hovland (+3300)

Hovland is likely to be tasked with a match against DeChambeau in Round 2 of the bracket format, but he has a very manageable pool in the group stage against Abraham Ancer, Bernd Wiesberger and Kevin Streelman.

The 23-year-old Norwegian is already a two-time PGA Tour champion and will play in his first match-play event. He tied for second at the WGC-Workday Championship last month before a T-49 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and missed cut at the Players.

He’s averaging 1.79 SG: Tee-to-Green per round through 41 measured rounds this season. He has broken 70 in 11 of his 22 rounds in 2021.

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2021 WGC Match Play picks – Long shot

Carlos Ortiz (+10000)

Ortiz, 81st in the Golfweek rankings, is worth a long-shot bet from the right side of the bracket. He’ll play his group stage against Patrick Cantlay, Hideki Matsuyama and Brian Harman. Cantlay has the best odds of the four to win this event at +2800.

The 29-year-old makes his WGC-Match Play debut after winning November’s Vivint Houston Open by two strokes over Matsuyama and Johnson. It was his first PGA Tour victory and gained him entry to his first Masters.

Ortiz missed the cut at the Players, but he previously tied for 15th at the WGC-Workday Championship and has a top finish of T-4 this year in a strong field at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

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