2023 WGC-Dell Match Play: DFS Strategy and Plays for Austin

The PGA Tour switches it up this week with the 2023 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

It is important to note that this tournament starts on Wednesday this week.

Match play is an interesting format with 64 golfers split up into a tournament bracket. They will be broken down into four-man groups.

Each golfer will play a round-robin of matches against the other three golfers in their group. Whoever has the most points after three matchups will advance from their group to the next round. Ties will be broken by a sudden death one-hole playoff.

The top 16 golfers make it to the weekend and will play twice on Saturday and twice on Sunday, cutting the field in half at each stage until only one golfer remains.

Last year Scottie Scheffler defeated Kevin Kisner in the final match. Corey Conners defeated a disinterested Dustin Johnson to come in 3rd place.

In 2021, Scottie also made it to the final match but was defeated by Billy Horschel. Matt Kuchar defeated Victor Perez in the 3rd place match.

Previous winners of the WGC-Dell Match Play

2022: Scottie Scheffler
2021: Billy Horschel
2020: Canceled
2019: Kevin Kisner
2018: Bubba Watson

Austin Country Club

The 2023 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play will be played at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas. The course was designed by Pete Dye and is a 7,100 yard par 71.

There are 110 bunkers and five water hazards on the course. The greens are on the smaller size when compared to the tour average.

There really isn’t a specific skill set that dominates here and matchup-style golf requires a different kind of strategy.

From a DraftKings standpoint, you will want to start your lineups with four golfers from different quadrants of the bracket with the lofty goal of getting all of them to the final four.

Obviously, the further your golfers advance the more points they’ll accrue.

2023 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play DraftKings Picks

Scottie Scheffler ($11,100)

Scheffler has 1st and 2nd place finishes in his last two appearances at match play. That will make him a popular play but I’m willing to eat that chalk. He’s just been too good here and this year. In his last four tournaments he’s won the PLAYERS, came 4th at API, 12th at the Genesis, and won the Waste Management. He’s gained strokes off the tee in every weighted event dating back to May of last year.

Max Homa ($10,100)

Homa has shown that he can go toe to toe with anyone on tour. He’s been great this year coming top 10 in four of his six tournaments. His combination of approach play and putting makes him hard to beat. He’s 2nd in strokes gained approach and 6th in strokes gained putting over the last 24 rounds.

Tyrrell Hatton ($9,000)

Hatton has been great this year. His worst finish was 40th place at the Genesis. He came 2nd at the PLAYERS, 4th at the API, and 6th at the Waste Management. He gained an average of 8.4 strokes tee to green in those three tournaments. He drew a pretty easy group as well. His pod consists of Russell Henley, Lucas Herbert, and Ben Griffin.

Matt Kuchar ($7,100)

Kuchar has been good at match play coming 2nd and 3rd in his two Match Play appearances. His match record is 11-2-1. His ability to scramble and make putts are a heavily relied upon skillset in Match Play. He’s 11th in strokes gained around the green over the last 24 rounds.

Denny McCarthy ($6,900)

It’s very simple. Denny can catch fire with his putter which is what you want in head-to-head matches. He comes in playing well. He finished 19th at the Valspar, 13th at the PLAYERS, missed the cut at the Honda, and came 14th at the Genesis.

He gained 4.3 strokes on approach last week at the Copperhead Course. I won’t play him in the same lineup as Hatton since they would have to play each other in the 2nd round if they both advance.