Rory to Complete the Career Grand Slam
Best Bets
1.5 Pts EW (1-8) Rory McIlroy (8/1 Sky Bet)
1 Pt EW (1-8) Bubba Watson (12/1 Sky Bet)
It’s time for the first major of the year, as the Masters gets underway on Thursday. This is the biggest tournament of the year for a lot of people and that can largely be attributed to the Masters venue. Augusta National is a picturesque golf course and there never seems to be a blade of grass out of place on this track. There are many likely candidates this week who will all be looking to get their hands on a green jacket come Sunday. There has been a lot of talk about the second tier of golf staking their claims prior to this Masters. Names such as Scott, Watson, Johnson and Fowler have featured heavily this year. Despite this the world top three all have reason to be optimistic this week. Jason Day has won on his last two starts and goes into the week as favourite due to his brilliant form. Jordan Spieth hasn’t been playing his best stuff, but as last year’s champion he will have nothing but fond memories of this tournament. Finally Rory McIlroy had a strong week at the WGC Match Play and will be looking to complete the career Grand Slam on a course that suits his game perfectly.
The Par 72 course doesn’t change much year to year and this year will measure out again at just over 7,400 yards. Given that the field only stands at 90 golfers this week Sky Bet's promotion of paying out on 8 places seems very generous. There are a number of golfers that simply can’t contend in the field this week so that makes the potential placing golfer pot even smaller. One of the key challenges of the Masters is the large undulating greens that are on show at Augusta National. These play fast, and there aren’t many routine putts on the course even from the shortest distance.
Looking at recent winners it’s clear to see that length off the tee is a huge advantage at Augusta. Bubba Watson has won twice since 2012, and with champions in the last ten years such as Scott, Schwartzel, Mickelson and Cabrera it’s clear to see the benefit of the long ball. Zach Johnson was an exception to the rule that length is key off the tee, but we will put that one down as an anomaly. Johnson managed to go on a birdie fest on the Par fives without hitting any of them in two and this will be difficult to repeat for anyone. Aside from length off the tee, what often proves key is greens in regulation and total putting statistics. You simply have to hit a lot of greens at Augusta National or you will eventually be left with some evil shots!
What often proves essential round Augusta is scoring well on the Par 5 holes. For the longest hitters these are all reachable in two and can often provide a mid-iron approach for your second shot. Finally obviously some big numbers are out there at Augusta, and course management is often a crucial factor. This comes with experience and that is why we are reluctant to go for anyone playing the Masters for the first time.
As we said above there aren’t a lot of golfers that completely fit the bill this week. Although it’s easy to make an argument for most of the guys at the top of the market. We are happy to take a stance on a couple of them this week. Given that 8 places are on offer at Sky Bet we are sticking to this site and are sticking with a couple of names that are up at the top of the market.
1.5 Pts EW (1-8) Rory McIlroy (8/1 Sky Bet)
Our headline tip this week is Rory McIlroy who we think will complete the career grand slam. Rory has had a bit of everything at Augusta after blowing a commanding lead early on in his career in what would have been his first major victory. Last year Rory came to the Masters with all the pressure in the world on him. He was clear favourite pre round 1, and all the attention was on whether he could complete the final leg of the career grand slam. He managed to finish a respectable fourth despite not having his best golf which we see as a massive positive.
This year Rory enters the Masters at third favourite with a lot of the bookies. A lot of the attention will be on whether Spieth can defend his title and surely Rory can only benefit from going a bit under the radar (relatively speaking) this week. McIlroy seemed to finally find his game at the WGC match play and actually outscored Jason Day in his semi-final loss. He has taken a week off at home in Florida building up to the tournament and this can only be a wise move given he played seven rounds in the week previous.
The question around Rory this week will be whether his new putting stroke can hold up under the rigours of the Augusta greens. From what we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks we think it can, but clearly this will be the worry going into Thursday. Aside from putting the course sets up ideally for Rory with a number of holes requiring a draw off the tee. His length with the driver should mean he can get to the par fives in two with relative ease. Finally his prowess with long irons should enable him to manage the longer par threes and long par fours better than most.
Some might see an each way play on a 8/1 shot as a bit strange but given the 8 places that are on offer we don’t want to miss this opportunity. Rory really should find himself in the top 8 come the end of Sunday and we would be very surprised to not see him place. Given that we are getting 2/1 on the place element of the bet we aren’t going to miss this chance.
1 Pt EW (1-8) Bubba Watson (12/1 Sky Bet)
Our second bet this week is on course specialist and two time Green Jacket winner Bubba Watson. Bubba has been playing some of his best golf in 2016 and he already boasts a win and a second place this year. The world number four will be relishing the prospect of having another crack at winning his third Masters. Bubba hasn’t missed the cut at Augusta and has one top 20 besides his two wins. What makes him so attractive to us this week is simply his strike rate on this course when he’s playing well. Assuming he can take his recent form to Augusta we can’t see him being far away and 12/1 does seem a bit generous, especially given we are getting 3/1 on our place element of the bet.
Bubba’s power is well known and he can muscle his way round Augusta with ease. He also is able to move the ball through the air massively whilst still somehow maintaining control of the golf ball. This is crucial for the many dog-leg holes at the Masters. Where perhaps he is underrated however is around the greens. He has a very tidy short game and has the imagination with his chip shots that can get him out of trouble at this venue. Given the way Watson has played this year we really wouldn’t be surprised to see him take his third Green Jacket on Sunday and put himself amongst the true elites to grace the Augusta fairways.