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After more than 40 years, the Volvo World Matchplay has a new home and a new format this year. Wentworth has been staging this popular end of season matchplay event since 1964 but in 2009, the 16 invited professionals will be swapping the damp, autumnal feel of leafy Surrey for the winter sunshine of the Costa Del Sol and the Finca Cortesin course near Marbella. Finca Cortesin, almost 7,000 metres in length, is one of the longest courses in Europe and will provide a very different challenge to Wentworth in that the valley in which it has been built remains relatively remote (well as remote as you can get on the Costa Del Sol nowadays) and not the easiest place to get to for spectators. I mentioned the tournament also has a new format and that entails four groups of four competing in a round-robin league format to decide the semi-finalists, who will play off over 36 holes next Saturday. Top seed for the event is Paul Casey but he’s been out of action since early August with a rib injury (hence the general 12-1) and may struggle to get the better of enigmatic South African Retief Goosen (also a general 12-1 to win the event) in Group A. totesport are offering 2-1 about Goosen winning the group which looks on the generous side. The favourite to emerge triumphant on the last day, however, is Lee Westwood. The Nottinghamshire-born golfer has certainly had a profitable year, ending a string of near misses in some of the circuit’s most valuable tournaments with victory in the Portugal Masters earlier this month. Marvellously consistent, the general 13-2 about Westwood is sure to be snapped up. But there is a real danger that the world number three might not even make the knockout stages as I think the way this tournament is set up is going to suit fellow Englishman Ross Fisher. Drawn alongside Westwood in Group D, it would certainly be ironic if Fisher (16-1 with Ladbrokes), who learned his trade at Wentworth and is actually sponsored by the club, were to win the £675,000 first prize in the first year it wasn’t staged in Surrey, But it shouldn’t be forgotten how close he came to causing an upset in the Open during the summer when under the public gaze (his wife was due to give birth at the time) and he will have a lot less pressure on him this week.