2012 WGC-Accenture Match Play Las Vegas Golf Betting Odds: Rory McIlroy Heads Wide Open Field

Las Vegas, Nevada (February 20, 2012)--According to the Las Vegas PGA Tour golf betting experts, the WGC-Accenture Match Play event is more wide open than an everyday stroke play tournament. For this week's event, Las Vegas' GolfOdds.com opened Rory McIlroy as a 10/1 favorite to win while Tiger Woods was second at 12/1. --By Brian Hurlburt, odds by Jeff Sherman.

"The odds to win a match play event are usually reflective of the odds on a normal tournament, except at the extremes," says Jeff Sherman, founder of Las Vegas' GolfOdds.com. "The favorites are usually a little higher, and the longshots are usually a little less than they would be in a stroke play event, due to the nature of the tournament. In one round of match play, anyone in the field is capable of winning their match, thus making the tournament much more wide open than a normal stroke play event where over four days there is time for a golfer to recover from a few bad shots or holes."

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Other notables in the field include Luke Donald and Lee Westwood at 15/1, Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer at 20/1, and Adam Scott and Dustin Johnson at 25/1. Two of the three golfers (Bill Haas and Keegan Bradley) involved in the 3-way playoff at the Northern Trust Open are in this event. They opened at 40/1.

As always, we scan the official PGATour.com Power Rankings to see how they compare with the official Vegas betting odds. Power Rankings Writer Rob Bolton also favors Rory Mc but follows with Donald, Matt Kuchar and Nick Watney. Kuchar and Watney are 40/1 in the betting odds, tied for 15th favorites. Woods is not listed among the top 15 in the Power Rankings.

Bolton writes the following about Donald: "Jones bracket. The defending champ is 16-6 in seven appearances. While off to a rough start in 2012, he missed the cut on the eve of his win here a year ago. Bracket wins: Ernie Els, Peter Hanson, Brandt Snedeker, Thomas Bjorn, Matt Kuchar."