Volvo World Match Play preview

Graeme McDowell: The defending champ

Five players from Europe's triumphant Ryder Cup team will be battling it out for the 2014 Volvo World Match Play Championship this week.

Defending champion Graeme McDowell, Henrik Stenson, Jamie Donaldson, Victor Dubuisson and Stephen Gallacher all make the trip to the London Golf Club in Kent where their 11 rivals include Patrick Reed - the top US points scorer at Gleneagles for the defeated US team.

This is the 50th anniversary of the tournament and the first time it's been played on English soil since Ernie Els won for an amazing seventh time at its traditional home on the West Course at Wentworth.

McDowell captured the title last year at the Thracian Cliffs Golf & Beach Resort in Bulgaria, that event taking place in May.

The London Club is familiar to golf fans as it staged the 2008 and 2009 European Open. Ross Fisher took the title with 20-under in 2008 while Frenchman Christian Cevaer triumphed in much harder conditions with 7-under in 2009.

Of the 16 players taking part this week, four have registered a top 20 on the London Course. McDowell was third in 2008, while that same year Gallacher was 8th, Donaldson 10th and Ilonen 14th.

Format

The 16-man field is split into four groups - Arnold Palmer, Mark McCormack (the founder of IMG), Gustaf Larson and Assar Gabrielsson (the two co-founders of Volvo).  Players are seeded according to their Official World Golf Ranking with the four highest ranked players spread across the four groups. The field play 18-hole round robin group matches over the first three days (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) with the knockout phase over the weekend (quarters on Saturday, semis and final on Sunday). In the group stage, it's 2pts for a win, 1 for a tie and 0 for a loss. The top two in each group win through to the last eight. If all four players are tied in their respective groups, all four players contest a hole-by-hole play-off.

Arnold Palmer group: Stenson, Jaidee, Molinari, Coetzee
Mark McCormack group: Donaldson, Reed, Blixt, Casey
Assar Gabrielsson group: Dubuisson, Gallacher, Lowry, Larrazabal
Gustaf Larson group: McDowell, Luiten, Ilonen, Levy

Tee-times/draw

Wednesday

1145 Graeme McDowell v Alexander Levy
1157 Joost Luiten v Mikko Ilonen (Fin)
1209 Henrik Stenson v George Coetzee
1221 Thongchai Jaidee v Francesco Molinari
1233 Jamie Donaldson v Paul Casey
1245 Patrick Reed v Jonas Blixt
1257 Victor Dubuisson v Pablo Larrazabal
1309 Stephen Gallacher, Shane Lowry

Thursday

1115 Jamie Donaldson v Patrick Reed
1127 Jonas Blixt v Paul Casey
1139 Victor Dubuisson v Stephen Gallacher
1151 Shane Lowry v Pablo Larrazabal
1203 Graeme McDowell v Joost Luiten
1215 Mikko Ilonen v Alexander Levy
1227 Henrik Stenson v Thongchai Jaidee
1239 Francesco Molinari v George Coetzee

Friday

1115 Victor Dubuisson v Shane Lowry
1127 Stephen Gallacher, Pablo Larrazabal
1139 Graeme McDowell, Mikko Ilonen
1151 Joost Luiten v Alexander Levy
1203 Henrik Stenson v Francesco Molinari
1215 Thongchai Jaidee v George Coetzee
1227 Jamie Donaldson v Jonas Blixt
1239 Patrick Reed v Paul Casey

Saturday

Quarter-finals

1140 QF1 - McCormack winner v Palmer runner-up
1155 QF2 - Gabrielsson winner v Larson runner-up
1210 QF3 - Larson winner v Gabrielsson runner-up
1225 QF4 - Palmer winner v McCormack runner-up

Sunday

Semi-finals

0805 SF1 - QF2 winner v QF3 winner
0820 SF2 - QF1 winner v QF4 winner

Third-place play-off

1215 SF1 loser v SF2 loser

Final

1235 SF1 winner v SF2 winner

Conclusion

Paul Casey was probably watching the recent Ryder Cup with mixed emotions. On the one hand he would have loved seeing his European colleagues turn the Americans over again but on the other he will have felt a little sanguine that he wasn't involved himself.

Paul Casey: Strong record in this format

Casey is the beneficiary of the sole sponsor’s invite and, having won this title in 2006 and starred in previous Ryder Cups he deserves his reputation as an excellent exponent of this type of golf.

Speaking after his invite, Casey said: "I love the match play format and am very grateful to receive this invite for the 2014 Volvo World Match Play Championship.

"After missing out on being a part of such an exciting European Ryder Cup team performance, this opportunity will give me the chance to get my match play fix for the year as well as the chance to play in front of my home fans for only the second time this season.

"I’ve had a great couple of months having become a dad and winning my first title of the year in Holland and I’m feeling healthy, good about my game, and really looking forward to a great week!”

He'll have to play well to come through a group featuring Jamie Donaldson (on a high after scoring the winning point for Europe), Patrick Reed (top US scorer) and Jonas Blixt (great short game despite being the 40/1 rag) but Casey has the game to dominate them all.

At double figure odds, he's worth a play.

It's hard to make a solid case for any of the outsiders (Mikko Ilonen and Pablo Larrazabal have, between them, lost seven out of seven in matchplay singles while Jonas Blixt is out of form (missed eight of his last 11 cuts).

George Coetzee could go well after top 25s on his last two starts but by far the safest bet is McDowell at 11/2.

He boasts a fantastic win rate of over 70% in all matchplay singles - higher than anyone else in the field - and he even has some course form at the London Club.

Best bets

3pts win Paul Casey at 10/1

4pts win Graeme McDowell at 11/2