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WGC Dell Technologies Match Play Preview & Picks - Best PGA Tour Picks For This Week
- WGC Dell Technologies Match Play takes place between March 23-27
- The tournament takes place at the Austin Country Club, Texas
- Preview, stats and predictions
Sixty-four of the world's elite golfers travel to Texas for the only match play tournament of the year for this week's WGC Dell Technologies Match Play.
A close competitive competition is predicted, with many players arriving in Texas in form. Who will be crowned the champion come Sunday?
Billy Horschel is back to defend his match play title after victory in 2021.
There are four past winners in the line-up, including Kevin Kisner, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson and Ian Poulter.
These are our four selections that could win this weekend.
Jon Rahm
Jon Rahm has been in good form since the start of 2022, being close to winning on a few occasions.
He was second at the Tournament of Champions, placed T14 finish at the American Express, T3 at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines and T10 at the Phoenix Open.
The Spaniard's next three starts have been decent, finishing T21 at the Genesis Invitational, T17 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and T55 at the Players Championship. That last result would have been disappointing for Rahm, and he will look to make amends this weekend in Texas.
Rahm has a good record on the greens of the Austin Country Club, reaching the 2017 WGC Match Play final when losing to Dustin Johnson, and the quarter-finals last year. Overall he has compiled a record of 10-5-3 at this tournament.
He scored the most points for the European Team at last year's Ryder Cup, with a record of 3-1-1.
World number one Rahm will be playing against Patrick Reed, Cameron Young and Sebastian Munoz in Group One at this year's WGC Dell Technologies Match Play tournament.
Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler is having a stellar 2022 including winning his maiden PGA Tour title at the Phoenix Open and following that up with another title at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The world number five golfer came close to winning the 2021 WGC Dell Technologies Match Play tournament on debut.
After tieing with Xander Schauffle on the same points in Group Six, Scheffler defeated his fellow compatriot in a sudden-death play-off to progress to the knockout rounds.
He then disposed of Ian Poulter 5&4 in the round of 16, beat Jon Rahm 3&1 in the quarter-finals, edged Matt Kuchar 1 up and narrowly lost to Bill Horschel 2&1 in the final.
The American put in a brilliant performance of 2-0-1 at last year's Ryder Cup to help the Americans defeat the Europeans resoundingly.
His overall record in the match play format for 2021 was 6-1-3, with his only loss being the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play final.
Scheffler is in Group Five for this year's tournament alongside Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood and Ian Poulter.
Patrick Cantlay
Patrick Cantlay went on a nine tournament run without missing the cut before a disappointing performance at the Players Championship saw the American not make the weekend rounds.
Before that, Cantlay had come close to winning a few times on the PGA Tour. He placed fourth at the Tournament of Champions, ninth at the American Express, T4 at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and runner-up at the Phoenix Open.
The world number four has never progressed past the group stages at the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play tournament on the three occasions he has competed. His record stands at 5-3-1.
Cantlay is drawn in the same group as Sungjae Im, Seamus Power and Keith Mitchell.
Alex Noren
Alex Noren has played consistently well in his last five PGA Tour starts, and his results show.
Noren placed T6 at the Phoenix Open, T48 at the Genesis Invitational, T5 at the Hona Classic, T26 at the Players Championship and T12 at the Valspar Championship last weekend.
The Swede has not played at the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play tournament for a few years, but he has an excellent record at this event.
He reached the quarter-finals in 2017 and placed third in 2018. His overall record is 11-3-0 at the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play tournament when played on the greens of the Austin Country Club.
Noren is Group Ten for this year's event, alongside Louis Oosthuizen, Paul Casey and Corey Connors.
The Format
The golfers are divided into 16 groups of four. They then play against one another in a round-robin format from Wednesday to Friday.
Scoring is straightforward. A player gets one point for a win, zero for a loss and 0.5 for a halved match.
If two or more players are on equal points at the end of the round-robin format, they will enter into a sudden-death playoff to determine the winner of the group.
The format turns to single match play elimination once each group winner has been finalised. The round of 16 begins on Saturday morning and the quarter-finals in the afternoon.
The semi-finals start on Sunday morning, and the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play final takes place on Sunday afternoon.
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