The WGC-Accenture Matchplay Championship began today at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Arizona. The world’s top 64 golfers duel in match play. The final plays Sunday over 36 holes. Ian Poulter got the best of Paul Casey in last year’s final. But it’s Casey that currently leads the odds this year with a bevy of Englishmen at the top.

The 64 players competing are split into four brackets. Each bracket is named after a famous golfer from the past. The seeding for the tournament is based on world ranking. There were plenty of upsets last year, even in the early rounds so don’t be surprised if all top eight players don’t reach the quarterfinals.

Casey has been the runner up in each of the past two years. He has a good record in the desert with the Volvo Golf Champions win already to his name in Bahrain this season. He also played well in the Ryder Cup and won the HSBC World Matchplay at Wentworth in 2006. He won twice in Abu Dhabi and has a somewhat easy road ahead of him in the Sam Snead bracket after getting past Richard Green in the first round.

Lee Westwood and Steve Stricker are the top two seeds in the Bobby Jones bracket. This isn’t Westwood’s best event but he beat out Henrik Stenson in the first round. Stricker lost his first round matchup last year against Ross Magowan and did the same this year against Matteo Manassero. Ryder Cup star Luke Donald is the one to watch in this bracket. He beat Charley Hoffman in the first round and meets an ill-performing Edoardo Molinari next.

A good longshot bet for the Matchplay Championship is Robert Karlsson. The Swede does well in the desert, winning the Qatar Masters and Dubai World Championship last year. He has two top six finishes in his two events for this year’s desert swing. He outplayed Hiroyuki Fujita in the first round and has good each-way value for the tournament outright.

There are a few other golfers with decent each-way value. Mark Wilson already has a PGA win this season and beat out the seasoned, big-hitting Dustin Johnson in round one. Stewart Cink has made it to the final day of this event in each of the last three years and was runner up in 2008. He had no easy feat with Poulter in the first round but squeezed by in 19 holes.

Accenture Matchplay Championship Outright Odds (provided by William Hill)

Paul Casey: 10/1

Rory McIlroy: 10/1

Geoff Ogilvy: 10/1

Martin Kaymer: 10/1

Graeme McDowell: 12/1

Phil Mickelson: 14/1

Lee Westwood: 14/1

Luke Donald: 16/1

Nick Watney: 16/1

Hunter Mahan: 20/1

Bubba Watson: 25/1

Stewart Cink: 25/1

JB Holmes: 33/1

Charl Schwartzel: 33/1

Rickie Fowler: 33/1

Ernie Els: 33/1

Justin Rose: 33/1

Ross Fisher: 33/1

Ben Crane: 33/1

Ryan Moore: 33/1

Edoardo Molinari: 40/1

Robert Karlsson: 40/1

Miguel Angel Jimenez: 50/1

Y.E. Yang: 50/1

Jason Day: 50/1

Matteo Manassero: 50/1