The biggest match-play tournament in golf is coming up this week and I’m sure there is a lot of interest to find out which golfers are going to face each other in the first round of the WGC Accenture Golf match play.

If you are looking for a printable version of the all the brackets we suggest you head over to the PGATour.com website where you can download the brackets in .PDF format and print it.

For those of you just looking to find out what the draw looks like we have provided the full brackets here on PuntersHero.com together with our picks (in bold) for each match.

Bobby Jones Bracket

Luke Donald vs. Ernie Els

Jason Dufner vs. Peter Hanson

K.J. Choi  vs. Kyle Stanley

Brandt Snedeker vs. Retief Goosen

Adam Scott vs. Robert Rock

Bo Van Pelt vs. Mark Wilson

Dustin Johnson vs. Jim Furyk

Thomas Bjorn vs. Francesco Molinari

Ben Hogan Bracket

Martin Kaymer vs. Greg Chalmers

David Toms vs. Rickie Fowler

Matt Kuchar vs. Jonathan Byrd

Bubba Watson vs. Ben Crane

Steve Stricker vs. Kevin Na

Louis Oosthuizen vs. Aaron Baddeley

Graeme McDowell vs. Y.E. Yang

Hunter Mahan vs. Zach Johnson

Gary Player Bracket

Rory McIlroy vs. George Coetzee

Kyung-tae Kim vs. Anders Hansen

Sergio Garcia vs. M.A. Jimenez

Keegan Bradley vs. Geoff Ogilvy

Jason Day vs. R.C. Bello

Simon Dyson vs. John Senden

Charl Schwartzel vs. Gary Woodland

Ian Poulter vs. Sang-moon Bae

Sam Snead Bracket

Lee Westwood vs. Nicolas Colsaerts

Robert Karlsson vs. Fredrik Jacobsson

Nick Watney vs. Darren Clarke

Tiger Woods vs. Gonzalo Fernandez-Costano

Webb Simpson vs. Matteo Manassero

Alvaro Quiros vs. Martin Laird

Bill Haas vs. Ryo Ishikawa

Justin Rose vs. Paul Lawrie

The main headlines as we are heading closer to tee off in the 2011 Bridgestone Invitational are the ones about Tiger Woods’ comeback. I found it hard to believe myself when I first read it but it seems he will actually come through this time and at least tee off in a competition for the first time in months. According to Tiger the knee is now healed perfectly and it shouldn’t give him any problems. Personally I think the whole knee thing is a bit of a cover up to protect the billion dollar brand that is Tiger Woods during the worst down swing in his career. But that’s for another article and I’ll better get to my actual predictions before you all die of boredom.

The Favorite

Even though he’s been playing pretty poor golf lately (by his own standards) and not living up to the extreme hype we saw after his US Open victory. I just don’t see why Rory McIlroy should be made the favorite here. Sure he did win the US open this year in a very convincing fashion, but then what? He rested for a month, against Colin Montgomerie’s advice, and he got back to the British Open playing like a school boy. So with both the British Open and the Irish Open performances in mind I will choose not to place any money on a McIlroy victory in the Bridgestone Invitaional this year as the field is full of great players in better form than McIlroy at the moment.

The Comeback Kid Man

It’s been a while since Tiger Woods managed to mess up his “perfect” life in a pretty grand way. It seems he slept with just about anyone but the maid and his wife and once it came out his game suffered dearly. I don’t buy the whole injury thing, but then again I don’t think Oswald was the lone shooter when JFK was killed so I’m keen on conspiracies. Either way it’s obvious that Tiger was a far cry from his former self when he played earlier this year. I do think that he is back in shape now though because there is no way that Team Tiger would net him play if he wasn’t 100% ready and in decent shape.

It’s not every day that you are offered the odds of 20/1 on a Tiger Woods victory so I just can’t keep my hands of that and will definitely add him to my stable of players that I’m betting on.

The Underdogs

I know that you can’t really refer to Steve Stricker as an underdog but I didn’t find another section to put him under so here it goes. This man has been on fire in recent years and just lately he managed to win the John Deere Classic for the third year in a row. Now that’s pretty impressive. Stricker is probably one of the best clutch putters on tour but his major issue is always getting through the final day in with a decent score. He usually plays great golf the first three days but can’t seem to handle being in the lead come the final round. I am hoping that Stricker will be able to deal with his demons come the final round though and I’ll add him to my stable at the odds of 18/1.

Another guy that should not be referred to as an underdog is Rickie Fowler (even though the bookies have made him one). I don’t know if I like Rickie Fowler or not, but i sure don’t hate him. I have to be honest though and say that he looks like a real fool on the golf course (what self respecting golfer wears Puma?). but his choice of clothing aside he is a very solid golfer and one of the most solid putters on tour when it comes to judging the pace of the greens.  Since my online bookie is offering me the insane price of 40/1 there is no way I can stay away from adding young boy Fowler to my stable of players.

The huge favorite to win the 2011 British Open, Rory McIlroy, was really struggling out on the Royal St. Georges today during round 3. He started out with bogeys on the first and third hole and it all went downhill from there really. After hitting the tee shot out of bounds on the Par 5 14th he made a double bogey which meant he is definitely out of contention this year. The weather during round 3 was awful for the early starters but started to calm down around 16:00 which should give the late starters a huge advantage.

Rory McIlroy ended up carding a 74 for +4 in total over the tournament while the leader (Darren Clarke) is currently parked at -4. It seems to me that McIlroy performs ok when the weather is fine but the second it starts getting a bit windy and the rain is poring down he kid of loses interest and he doesn’t perform nearly as well.

It will be very interesting to follow the last round of The Open tomorrow and I’m actually hoping that the weather conditions will be even worse than today. There’s nothing better than seeing the best players in the world struggling to make par on every hole. It’s a nice contrast to the John Deere Classic where the winner is always 20 under par or more.

My prediction for the 2011 British Open winner at this point is Darren Clarke. He is so solid in these poor weather conditions and the only thing that I can see that could stop him is if it would be nice and sunny and no wind come tomorrow. But since this tournament is held in England the chances for that happening is close to none.

With less than 12 hours before the start of the 2011 British Open we have seen quite a lot of movement in the prices offered by various bookmakers. At the moment Bet365 are the ones offering the best odds for the favorite Rory McIlroy as he has gone from 6-1 in the early betting stages all the way up to 10-1 which is the current odds (even better than Betfair where the odds is currently 9-1).

We are guessing the reason behind the sudden movement in price for a McIlroy win is the recent results in the 2011 Scottish Open where Luke Donald won after some amazing display of golf while McIlroy decided to take a month off and not participate in any events leading up to the 2011 British Open. Something that has been wildly criticized by big names like Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington.

Below are the odds for the top 20 players in the 2011 British Open, all provided by Bet365.

• Rory McIlroy – 10-1
• Lee Westwood – 11-1
• Luke Donald – 12-1
• Martin Kaymer – 25-1
• Sergio Garcia – 30-1
• Graeme McDowell – 30-1
• Nick Watney – 35-1
• Steve Stricker – 35-1
• Jason Day – 40-1
• Padraig Harrington – 40-1
• Matt Kuchar  – 40-1
• Charl Scwartzel – 45-1
• Phil Mickelson – 45-1
• K.J. Choi – 50-1
• Justin Rose – 50-1
• Retief Goosen – 50-1
• Dustin Johnson – 60-1
• Adam Scott – 66-1
• Matteo Manassero – 66-1
• Ian Poulter – 70-1

If you have missed our predictions for the British Open you can find them in this article.

We are now less than a week away from the start of the 2011 British Open so it’s about time the crew here at PuntersHero.com gets their predictions up for the public to see.

The Favorite

When I started looking at the field for this years British Open I had the US Open fresh in mind where Rory McIlroy completely crushed the field. Since that was a very impressive performance I was thinking of placing a wager on McIlroy already a month ago but the best price I could come across was 7-1 at Betfair which is way too low when betting on a golfer to win a major. Now that we are closer to the start of round 1 McIlroy is being offered at 6-1 which is even more ridiculous. Sure, I think he will win the tournament but there is absolutely no value in betting a McIlroy win at 6-1 when there is such a big field of very good players.

The Potential Threats

Nick Watney impressed me a lot when he won the AT&T National on the PGA Tour last weekend and if he can manage to recharge his batteries and come in to The Open with his form intact he will definitely  be one of the top contenders this year. The online bookmaker Victor Chandler is offering 28-1 for a Nick Watney win and with his current form in mind I would say this is a good bet to place.

Lee Westwood was a disappointment during the first round of the US Open but managed to finish in style to snatch  a top 3 placement. I think we can all agree that Lee Westwood is the best player never to have won a major and if there is ever a major he would like to win it’s the 2011 British Open. Victor Chandler is offering the odds 10-1 which isn’t overly exciting but I would still advice to have Westwood in your stable once The Open starts.

If Sergio Garcia could manage to find a way to keep his game together for all four rounds of a tournament he would be one of the top contenders to win the 2011 Open. I have a feeling he will perform pretty well during the British Open and I am not comfortable with leaving him outside my stable of golfers that could win the British Open this year.

The Underdogs

Padraig Harrington will always be in the mix of things at the final day of any major but when that major is The British Open you can be sure that he is going to be at the top of his game. And when Harrington is at the top of his game he is very hard to beat. The odds of 40-1 at Victor Chandler is enough for me to place a small wager.

Matt Kuchar is probably the most solid golfer when it comes to finishing well in majors. More often than not he is ending up in the top 10 which is a pretty impressive feat. The course played during The British Open might not be so well suited for his game but his basic golf is still enough to make him a contender this year. At Victor Chandler you can get 50-1 for a Kuchar win at the moment.

Since my predictions for the 2011 Travelers Championship became pretty popular I thought I would provide you with some free golf predictions for the 2011 BMW International Open on the European Tour too. In my opinion it’s a bit harder to predict the European Tour than the PGA tour due to the huge differences in the courses and countries that are playing in. The PGA Tour is always being played in the states so you know what kind of courses you are going to be getting.

Below are my predictions for the BMW International Open 2011 and all the odds are taken from Victor Chandler.

Chris Wood
This might be a surprising first pick for most of you since Chris Wood seems to be unable to win a competition lately. He often starts out great and is often in the top 3 after day 3 but on the final day he just can’t seem to be getting it done. Well it can’t go on like that forever and I thing this might be the tournament where Chris Wood takes it all the way to the finish line. At Victor Chandler you can place this bet at 41-1 which is great in our opinion.

Dustin Johnson
Yes, we are fully aware that it’s boring to pick one of the favorites to win the tournament, we all want to find the underdogs. But it’s hard to deny that a player of Dustin Johnson’s caliber will have a great chance to win on the European Tour. At the moment Victor Chandler is offering 13-1 for a Johnson win.

Joel Sjoholm
This guy really impressed us in some competitions earlier this year and we are all convinced that he will be winning something on the European Tour either this year or the next. He is just too good of a golfer not to win something soon. Since Victor Chandler is offering us 151-1 we’ll place a small wager on this long shot and hope that this is his tournament.

After some great golf last weekend during the 2011 US Open it’s now back to normal with regular PGA Tour competitions leading up to the 2011 British Open in about a months time. US Open champion Rory McIlroy will be taking a break and is not playing at the PGA Tour or European Tour this week.

This week on the PGA Tour we have the 2011 Travelers Championship which features a pretty decent starting field and we will attempt to pick the winner amongst our expert predictions.

Zach Johnson
A Zach Johnson win is currently paying about 26-1  at most online bookmakers and at that price he is a pretty good bet. Johnson finished in 30th place in the US Open and it’s obvious that he is once again starting to find some of his old form. If he can get back to his old self he will be a force to be reckoned with in the Travelers Championship this year.

David Toms
This guy hardly ever misses a fairway and that will prove to be a very valuable asset at the TPC River Highlands golf course. Sure Toms didn’t make the cut in the 2011 US Open but this is a completely different story and we feel he is more in his right element at the regular PGA Tour events. Most online bookies are paying 26-1 for a David Toms win which is more than OK in our opinion.

Arjun Atwal
OK, so we don’t really think he is going to win this event but we need to have a high priced outsider on our list of predictions to try and get a decent payday.Arjun Atwal is currently paying 126-1 to win the Travelers Championship and even though he doesn’t stand much of a chance here we are still keen on placing a smaller wager at that juicy price.

Rory McIlroy is hoping lightning doesn’t strike twice, at least when it comes to blowing leads in major golf tournaments. The 22-year old from Northern Ireland infamously blew the Masters Tournament earlier in 2011 and has now built up a sizable lead at the US Open after the first round on opening day on June 16th. In fact, McIlroy’s three-shot lead after the first round is the biggest since way back in 1933 when Tommy Armour of Scotland was up by five.

McIlroy hit a six-under par, bogey-free round of 65 to give him a three-shot lead over YE Yang of Korea and Charl Schwartzel of South Africa at the Congressional in Maryland. McIlroy is very familiar with the South African, as it was Schwartzel who beat him for the Masters in April after blowing a four-shot lead and ending up 10 behind after a round of 80.

The Masters was just over two months ago, but McIlroy said it’s a thing of the past now and there’s no point crying about it, but he definitely learned something from his meltdown. He added that he’s focusing on this tournament and how to best prepare for it. He said he analysed aspects of the Masters, but stopped thinking about it about a week later, feeling that he tried to stay in front of the pack back in April instead of just playing his usual free-flowing golf game.

McIlroy was naturally happy with his first US Open round, but realizes things are going to get harder as the tournament progresses. He feels that anything between par and four under will give him a good chance at winning the event on June 19th.

He said it’s nice that everything fell into place for him in the opening round, but it was still tricky. He credits keeping the ball in the fairway and finding the greens as one of the main reasons for his success.

However, McIlroy has always been a fast starter. He had the same score after the opening round at the Masters and last year at St Andrews he hit a first-round 63 to tie a Major golfing record. However, he followed that up with an 80.

If he can find some consistency in his game McIlroy will be a favourite to take the US Open. He said his ego has been boosted by Jack Nicklaus who told him he was expecting McIlroy to perform well at the tournament. He said Nicklaus told him not to worry too much about making mistakes and make sure he doesn’t give the event away, make somebody else earn a victory.

After the first round, Martin Kaymer and Luke Donald were tied for 62nd after rounds of 74. Lee Westwood hit a 75 and was tied for 84th. Graeme McDowell, the defending US Open champion, hit a 70 and was tied for 10th spot.

With the 2011 US Open only hours away we thought we should share our predictions for this major golf competition. This years US Open is being held at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland and it’s a monster of a course stretching 7574 yards while being a par 71. This means that right from the start we will be able to remove most of the short hitters from our list as they will not be able to be in contention this weekend.

2011 US Open Outright Winner Predictions

When it comes to picked the outright winner of any golf tournament it is like finding a needle in a haystack, but once you find that needle you will be handsomely rewarded.

Steve Stricker at 25-1

Steve Stricker had been struggling for a long time leading up to the weeks before the US Open but now it seems he is back on track with his win in the Memorial this month. Stricker has never won a major but we think it might just be his time to shine this weekend.

Matt Kuchar at 25-1

Matt Kuchar is the kind of guy I love to bet to finish in the top 10 because more often than not he will end up doing just that. Kuchar is one of the most solid players on tour and he will definitely be up there in contention come Sunday afternoon. The 25-1 price is one of the best I have seen in a long time and I’m betting him to win without even blinking.

Nick Watney 38-1

I am putting Nick Watney on my list because of his length from the tee. If he can get that driver to work for him this weekend he will absolutely be one of the guy who could win this thing.

2011 US Open Head to Head Picks

When it comes to head to head bets it’s a whole lot easier to make a profit so I will give you a few good picks for that betting market too.

Retief Goosen vs. Sergio Garcia

In this matchup Retief Goosen is the slightest of favorites and we are getting about even money on a Goosen win. I think that is just great as I can’t see Sergio Garcia finish before Goosen with his current form.

My Pick: Retief Goosen

Lee Westwood vs. Luke Donald

The only reason I didn’t pick Westwood as one of the winners of the whole tournament is that the price had faded all the way down to 12-1 and at that price I will never back a player to win a major (unless it’s Tiger Woods pre-scandal). But I have a strong feeling Lee will be right up there at the top come Sunday and I think he will finish before Luke Donald.

My Pick: Lee Westwood

Martin Kaymer vs. Nick Watney

The previous world number 1, Martin Kaymer might be a good bet on the European Tour but when it comes to playing competitions in the States he is more often than not a huge disappointment and Nick Watney is a lot more stable as a player.

My Pick: Nick Watney

Colin Montgomerie Says He Has An Impossible Task

Ryder Cup skipper Colin Montgomerie labelled this year’s European team selection as an impossible task and claim that the European team is one of the most competitive ever.

Montgomerie said: “This isn’t difficult, it’s more or less impossible.

“It is most unfortunate that I am going to have to leave out world stars. I am going to have to leave out players that feel they can help the European Tour cause.

“It’s a bit like Fabio Capello having to leave out Theo Walcott, I suppose. He could only take 23, I can only take 12. I wish I could take 20, I do, I really do, because 20 deserve their spots this year, they really do. They’ve played great, the standard on tour has been the best it’s ever been.”

Montgomerie also claims he will speak to all of the team on Saturday even if they fail to make the cut.

He added: “This has been the hardest team to make of any Ryder Cup team I have been involved with. So unfortunately, yes, I can’t please everybody on Sunday night and I am going to speak to everybody.

“They understand that already. They understand my dilemma and their own. And it is up to them to try and prove to me – this last final chance to make it pay.”