I like to have a few bets at this stage on the US Masters as it's only a few weeks away now. I was impressed with ZACH JOHNSON's play at the weekend in the Arnold Palmer tournament. He won the AT&T the month after winning the 2007 Masters. He then finished 20th at Augusta last year which was a very good effort but he struggled for most of the season until winning the Texas Open at the tail-end of last season. He has started this year well with a win in the Sony Open and a 3rd at the weekend and appears to be peaking at exactly the right time. Given he has been there and done it before at Augusta but won't have the tag of 'defending champion' this time, he rates a decent value each-way bet at 40/1 with Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and a few others.
The 2nd guy I like is GEOFF OGILVY. Ogilvy has won 3 WGC events (2 in the last year), is a US Open winner and his confidence is sky-high following his win in the Australian PGA event and opening US tour event, the Mercedes at the start of the year. He also ranks 1st on tour for putts per gir and putting will be essential at Augusta so at 25/1 he is the 2nd one on the list.
The 3rd selection is PADRAIG HARRINGTON. He won the Open and the US PGA last year. He also has a 5th and 7th in the last 2 US Masters and is clearly getting to grips with the place. At 18/1 he again looks like decent each-way value for the first Major of the year.
Finally, I always like to throw one guy in for fun, regardless of their form. My only criteria is that they fit a few of the stats for the US Masters…
- 64 of the last 104 top-3 finishers and 18 of the last 28 winners had a previous top-5 in the Masters
- Only 13 players have made the top-3 having missed the cut the previous year and only 1 winner (Woods)
- In the last 28 years only 3 players have not broken 70 in a previous Masters
The final guy is a local guy who went to Georgia Tech and has always been very consistent in the Masters. Last year he had his best finish when 3rd and it’s STEWART CINK at 80/1. After that he won just one PGA event but his positive associations with the area and the course make him an e/w bet.
ZACH JOHNSON @ 40/1
GEOFF OGILVY @ 25/1
PADRAIG HARRINGTON @ 18/1
STEWART CINK @ 80/1
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