Golf Odds - WGC - Accenture Match Play

The PGA Tour's version of March Madness takes place beginning Wednesday in Tucson, Ariz., with the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play.

This 64-player field is bracketed, with the No. 1 seed playing the No. 64 seed, the No. 2 seed playing the No. 63 seed, etc.

And one would automatically assume that Tiger Woods would win this week, right? After all, the world No. 1 has won eight of his past nine tournaments, has won this event twice and is the overwhelming +125 favorite on WagerWeb.com.

However, Woods hasn't won the Match Play since taking it back-to-back in 2003-04. He has reached the finals only three times in nine years and lost in the first round to Peter O'Malley in 2002, was knocked out in second round by Nick O'Hern in 2005 and was eliminated by O'Hern in the third round a year ago.

"It's a totally different mindset," Woods revealed. "Right from the first tee it's a boat race for 18 holes."

If Tiger wins his opening match with FBR Open winner J.B. Holmes, Mike Weir could be next. And Weir beat Tiger in last year's President's Cup.

"Anytime you get a chance to play against the best player in any profession, you have to be doing pretty good to even have that opportunity," said Holmes, who beat Phil Mickelson in a playoff to win the FBR. "I'm just excited to be able to go out and play and see what I can do. I've never seen him up close and watched him play. I get to see and maybe compare a little bit, and see what I need to improve on." Last year, this event was played at the Gallery Golf Club in Arizona for the first time, and Henrik Stenson beat Geoff Ogilvy 2-and-1 in the final.

"I really enjoy match play," Stenson said. "It's such a clear task, really. You've got your opponent and you either do better or worse. The tough thing in a match-play tournament is you face elimination straightaway."

Ogilvy seems to do well in this event, as he won it in 2006 (he is +6000 this week on WagerWeb.com). He has the best overall winning percentage in the WGC Match Play, with nine wins and only one loss. Stenson is second (7-6-1, .857) and Tiger third (28-22-6, .786).

No. 2 overall seed Mickelson is coming off a win at the Northern Trust Open, but Lefty is only 11-9 at the tournament. He is +1000 at WagerWeb.com. Interestingly, Mickelson has never faced Tiger in this event.

"I think one of the coolest tournaments we have taking place is the match play," said Mickelson, who has never made it past the quarterfinals. "I think Wednesday, the first day, is the most exciting because [there are] so many matches and so many upsets.

Steve Stricker (+2500) is the No. 3 seed and gets a rematch of sorts with Daniel Chopra, who beat him in a playoff at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship.

Ernie Els (+1700), who changed his mind at the last minute and decided to enter, is the No. 4 seed.

Here are the Match Play pairings:

JONES BRACKET

Tiger Woods (1), United States, vs. J.B. Holmes (64), United States.

Mike Weir (32), Canada, vs. Arron Oberholser (33), United States.

Zach Johnson (16), United States, vs. David Toms (49), United States.

Aaron Baddeley (17), Australia, vs. Mark Calcavecchia (48), United States.

Rory Sabbatini (8), South Africa, vs. Bradley Dredge (57), Wales.Paul Casey (25), England, vs. Robert Karlsson (40), Sweden.

K.J. Choi (9), South Korea, vs. Camilo Villegas (56), Colombia.

Ian Poulter (24), England vs. Soren Hansen (41), Denmark.

HOGAN BRACKET

Ernie Els (4), South Africa, vs. Jonathan Byrd (61), United States.

Retief Goosen (29), South Africa, vs. Andres Romero (36), Argentina.

Henrik Stenson (13), Sweden, vs. Robert Allenby (52), Australia.

Trevor Immelman (20), South Africa, vs. Shingo Katayama (45), Japan.

Adam Scott (5), Australia, vs. Brendan Jones (60), Australia.

Toru Taniguchi (28), Japan, vs. Woody Austin (37), United States.

Sergio Garcia (12), Spain, vs. John Senden (53), Australia.

Martin Kaymer (21), Germany, vs. Boo Weekley (44), United States.

SNEAD BRACKET

Steve Stricker (3), United States, vs. Daniel Chopra (62), Sweden.

Richard Sterne (30), South Africa, vs. Hunter Mahan (35), United States.

Angel Cabrera (14), Argentina, vs. Anders Hansen (51), Denmark.

Luke Donald (19), England, vs. Nick Dougherty (46), England.

Jim Furyk (6), United States, vs. Colin Montgomerie (59), Scotland.

Stephen Ames (27), Trinidad & Tobago, vs. Charles Howell III (38), United States.

Padraig Harrington (11), Ireland, vs. Jerry Kelly (54), United States.

Stewart Cink (22), United States, vs. Miguel Angel Jimenez (43), Spain.

PLAYER BRACKET

Phil Mickelson (2), United States, vs. Pat Perez (63), United States.

Stuart Appleby (31), Australia, vs. Tim Clark (34), South Africa.

Geoff Ogilvy (15), Australia, vs. Justin Leonard (50), United States.

Lee Westwood (18), England, vs. Brandt Snedeker (47), United States.

Justin Rose (7), England, vs. Rod Pampling (58), Australia.

Scott Verplank (26), United States, vs. Nick O'Hern (39), Australia.

Vijay Singh (10), Fiji, vs. Peter Hanson (55), Sweden.

Niclas Fasth (23), Sweden, vs. Richard Green (42), Australia.