Volvo World Matchplay Championship Preview

This week sees the European Tour's golfers head to Bulgaria for the first time ever to compete in the prestigious Volvo World Matchplay Championship. 

If the name sounds familiar to you, that's because it was the tournament that was played every year from 1972 until 2007 at Wentworth and saw dominant winners such as Ernie Els, Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman. In 2009 and over the last two years, it was played in Spain, but now the tournament will be taken around Europe each year.

According to the legendary Gary Player, the course he designed; Thracian Cliffs, "Is unlike any other golf course on the planet." With that in mind, the 24 players who will tee-it up from tomorrow onwards at "The Cliffs" will face a trip largely into the unknown. The format sees eight groups of three, with the top two in each group progressing to the last 16. From then on, it will be a straight knock-out competition, before a champion is crowned on Sunday.

Here are four men I fancy to do well this week:

Graeme McDowell (8/1): The Northern Irishman only just lost out last year when he was beaten by Nicolas Colsaerts in the final, but he could well go one better this year. He is in good form, having just won the RBC Heritage in America last month and his short game is a huge asset in this matchplay format. Memories of his winning putt at the 2010 Ryder Cup for Europe always come flooding back on weeks like this and if he can channel some of that spirit, McDowell could take some beating.

Nicolas Colsaerts (9/1): The Belgian may have suffered a hiccup in his preparation when his clubs didn't arrive in Bulgaria when they were supposed to, but that hasn't deterred me from looking at generous odds for this weeks defending champion. He is a huge hitter and seems to relish the matchplay format, having proven himself superbly as a debutant in last years Ryder Cup. He does have a tough opening game against South African Branden Grace, but Colsaerts is more than capable of seeing him off to kick-start a run in his quest to keep hold of the trophy.

Brett Rumford (25/1): No-one in the field is currently in better form than the Australian who has won the last two tournaments he has played in South Korea and China. His putting has been superb in both of those tournaments and these odds are simply too high to discard for a player who is full of confidence right now. If he can get through a tough group, where he has been drawn alongside Gonzalo Fernandez Castano and Jamie Donaldson, then Rumford could be picking up his third successive winners cheque on Sunday.

Stephen Gallacher (33/1): A surprising choice perhaps, but don't rule out the Scot picking up a second victory of the season this week. He was superb in winning the Dubai Desert Classic at the start of the season and was recently tied 6th in the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea. He seems to have been dismissed because he is in a group with McDowell and Chris Wood but he is more than capable of holding his own. His putting has improved greatly and he is one of the purest ball-strikers in this weeks field. Ignore Gallacher if you wish, but it might come back to haunt you.

Matchplay is my favourite format of golf and this weeks tournament promises to be four days of thrilling golf, with a number of the European Tour's hottest players teeing up in Bulgaria. And it will be fascinating to see who handles a brand new course to emerge as the latest winner of one of the best events on the European Tour.

*All odds supplied by William Hill.