As always, the Masters is the most anticipated of the 4 Majors and it creates a whole new level of excitement far exceeding that of the often touted "5th Major", The Players Championship what was concluded only last month. This is the big one and Rory McIlroy gets another go to join the illustrious club of claiming a Grand Slam should he complete the set by donning the Green Jacket come Sunday. And he has a huge chance this week where soft conditions are likely ahead of the weekend play. From a betting perspective though, I'm only siding with 3 players and should they all fail to deliver, my hopes are that Rory can achieve this milestone and it's more a story for me than Tiger competing this week. Tiger should he play all 4 rounds will achieve something spectacular and should be admired for this determination to compete. Tiger isn't just making up the numbers and honouring his right to be able to play, if he pegs it up on Thursday, he's here to win. I just hope that Rory and my 3 players are not grouped with him on the first two days.
My preview will be short this week, reasoning being I've written long previews in previous years on the blog explaining what I look for at Augusta and secondly, for the first time in approximately 40 years, I will miss the Sunday play as I go on a family vacation to Disneyland Paris, knowing that any possibility of catching some action on a TV screen will be minimal. The phone will be fully charged and I'll probably be "visiting the bathroom" quite a bit to check the updates
I've been backing JT quite a bit over the past 2 months to win this week from 22s down to 18s so I'm happy to have him onboard early. He's now best price of 14/1 and I'll add him at that price for the blog's P&L tracking. Augusta really suits his tee to green game and if he has those irons dialled in all week he will be the one I think can add a second major. He was looking ominous last year until the weather delay kicked in and Hideki produced a scintillating 3rd round score to scupper his chances.
I've also gone with Jordan Spieth @ 20/1 - 8 places. There's no denying he has Augusta form and really could be looking for his third green jacket here. 2nd on debut was followed with a win then 2-11-3-21-46-3 and the low finishes came when his game was under regress, but Jordan is simmering and I'm happy to ignore his putting performances of late because there is no player better equipped (well, maybe Tiger) to arrive this week with a gameplan, adapt and go in to the week without any concerns of recent form etc. That said, recent form isn't all that bad, and we have seen many times, well over my 40 years of viewing the Masters, we see course specialists producing a result at Augusta and if the last 4 outings were disappointing, we can take encouragement that he was second at Pebble Beach.
Sam Burns is a debutant this week and we'll hear that not since Fuzzy Zoeller won in 1979 has a player won first time out. Jordan almost did and recently Will Zalatoris almost did so it's quite possible that the streak will end soon and I think he has the game to play here as well as the mentality. Perhaps, along with most of the field, there is not much value to be had, given the plethora of place offers across the board, but I'm more than happy to get him on the staking plan @ 40/1 - 8 places. Burns defended at The Valspar last time out to add to his win at The Sandersons last autumn. Two wins from his 12 starts this season along with 2 other T-5s (Hero World & CJ Cup), another 2 T-10s (Bay Hill & Jacksons CC) augurs well for his confidence and he could be worth taking in the TOP Debutant market too.
I really wanted to get Russell Henley onboard having backed him for this a number of times in previous years but his price is awful at best 55/1.
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