The WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play has some work to do this week to live up to the last month of PGA Tour golf. After five weeks of Bubba Watson, Justin Thomas, Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey and Rory McIlroy raising trophies, the final test for most Masters golfers will go down this week in Austin, Texas. It will be a change from what we've seen so far this year, too, with golfers playing match play to determine the third WGC winner of the 2017-18 season.

Let's take a look at this week's contest.

Event information

What: WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play | Where: Austin, Texas | When: Mar. 21-25

Participants and odds

  • Rory McIlroy: 15-2
  • Dustin Johnson: 8-1
  • Justin Thomas: 12-1
  • Jason Day: 14-1
  • Jon Rahm: 14-1
  • Jordan Spieth: 14-1
  • Phil Mickelson: 22-1
  • Paul Casey: 22-1
  • Sergio Garcia: 25-1

Field strength: A

It's missing Tiger Woods, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson, Brooks Koepka, Adam Scott and Rickie Fowler, but most of the rest of the top players will be in attendance. 

A reminder on the format: The 16 pools of four all play one another over the first three days before the player with the best record advances to the round of 16 on Saturday morning. Here are the 16 pools.

  • Group 1: Dustin Johnson, Kevin Kisner, Adam Hadwin, Bernd Wiesberger
  • Group 2: Justin Thomas, Francesco Molinari, Patton Kizzire, Luke List
  • Group 3: Jon Rahm, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Chez Reavie, Keegan Bradley
  • Group 4: Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, Haotong Li, Charl Schwartzel
  • Group 5: Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Smith, Yusaku Miyazato
  • Group 6: Rory McIlroy, Brian Harman, Jhonattan Vegas, Peter Uihlein
  • Group 7: Sergio Garcia, Xander Schauffele, Dylan Frittelli, Shubankhar Sharma
  • Group 8: Jason Day, Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Dufner, James Hahn
  • Group 9: Tommy Fleetwood, Daniel Berger, Kevin Chappell, Ian Poulter
  • Group 10: Paul Casey, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Kyle Stanley, Russell Henley
  • Group 11: Marc Leishman, Branden Grace, Bubba Watson, Julian Suri
  • Group 12: Tyrrell Hatton, Charley Hoffman, Brendan Steele, Alexander Levy
  • Group 13: Alex Noren, Tony Finau, Thomas Pieters, Kevin Na
  • Group 14: Phil Mickelson, Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Sotashi Kodaira, Charles Howell III
  • Group 15: Pat Perez, Gary Woodland, Webb Simpson, Si Woo Kim
  • Group 16: Matt Kuchar, Ross Fisher, Yuta Ikeda, Zach Johnson

Here is the full bracket for the WGC-Match Play Championship, and my guy Adam Sarson has all-time match play records for everybody involved.

Three stories to watch

1. Spieth gets Reed, Reed gets Spieth: Ryder Cup compatriots or sworn enemies? After the semi-shade Reed tossed Spieth's way last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, it's at least a question, right? I'm sort of joking (I think), but it's going to be fun to listen to both of them talk about it and pretend like it's not really that big of a deal that Reed told rules official he would get a drop at Bay Hill if his name was Jordan Spieth when they square off later in the week (and it's probably not, but it's fun to wonder).

2. D.J. cruise control: Nobody is a bigger Rory McIlroy fan than me (like, maybe literally nobody), but Dustin Johnson should be the favorite this week. He has three top-two finishes in five events this year and absolutely killed at this course in 2017. Is it possible that he, like McIlroy last week, is flying well under the radar in the lead up to the Masters? It kind of feels like it is.

3. Group of death: Much like the World Cup, every WGC-Match Play event contains at least one group that looks too cutthroat to be real. This year's group is No. 13. Between Pieters and Finau hitting it many kilometers, the precision of Noren and the short game of Na, I would not want to be caught in the middle of that one. I could easily see the winner there getting to the final four.

Past winners

  • 2017: Dustin Johnson
  • 2016: Jason Day
  • 2015: Rory McIlroy
  • 2014: Jason Day
  • 2013: Matt Kuchar

That's quite a crew. WGC events are usually stacked, and this one has probably four hall-of-fame winners as its last five champions.

WGC-Match Play picks

Final Four -- Dustin Johnson vs. Tyrrell Hatton and Justin Thomas vs. Rafael Cabrera-Bello are the picks. I don't feel particularly great about this -- I never do for match play -- but two sneaky Europeans who could make the Ryder Cup team against two Americans who will make the Ryder Cup team is a fun little thought exercise. Hatton and Thomas actually has somewhat easy paths to the finals this time around, but they'll still have to get past guys like Jordan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama, Paul Casey and Sergio Garcia. Johnson and Cabrera-Bello have tougher roads, but both are stellar match-play golfers (Johnson is 18-10-1 in his career, Cabrera-Bello is 14-5-1).

Winner -- Dustin Johnson is the guy. It's simplistic to pick the No. 1 player in the world and defending champ, but as you start looking at the matchups, you start wondering who's going to beat him. I hope we get a little Johnson-Day showdown on Saturday to go to the semifinals. That would be fantastic. The fastest and slowest players in the world. Odds: 8-1

Sleeper -- Rafael Cabrera-Bello certainly qualifies at 66-1, but Louis Oosthuizen is another guy at 66-1 that I love. He's 18-10-2 in his career in match play and has three top 30s in four tournaments on the PGA Tour so far this season.