The most exciting singles tournament in golf returns this weekend and with the added excitement of the LIV players returning, it promises to be an absolutely fantastic 4 days of golf.
The market is unsurprisingly dominated by the ‘big 3’ again as McIlroy, Scheffler and Rahm come into the tournament as the big favourites. Scheffler is in supreme form yet again, making the semi finals of the Matchplay on his most recent outing, but the trends are all against him. No defending champion has retained the crown since Tiger Woods in 2002, and without Spieth in 2016, no defending champion has even made the top 10 since 2007.
As for McIlroy, he was disappointing at The Players, when he missed the cut, but he came 2nd at the Arnold Palmer prior to that and 3rd at the Matchplay, beating Scheffler in the 3/4th playoff. The world number 2 has long been chasing the green jacket to become the 6th player ever to complete the career grand slam and this could well be Rory’s year.
As for Rahm, he set the golfing world alight at the start of 2023, with 2 wins in January and then victory in the Genesis in February. Since then, his form has dipped somewhat however, and doesn’t look to be going into The Masters with the same level of form as Rory and Scheffler.
The LIV factor makes the tournament so much more interesting with returning champions Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson, as well as the reigning Open champion Cam Smith and course expert Louis Ousthuizen. Cam Smith has admitted this week that the LIV fields are far less competitive and that is a big worry for those players heading into the tournament, they haven’t been playing against players in the same form as Scheffler, Rory and co, so it seems unlikely one of these will be wearing the green jacket come Sunday night.
With that view on the LIV players it means with the extra places on offer, there is some excellent value down the field. Jason Day has been in excellent form this year, making 11 cuts and recording 6 t10 finishes in 13 events. Day hasn’t finished outside the top 20 in an event since the RSM Classic in late November, and at around 25/1 on offer, the 2011 runner up could have a real run at this years title.
Another real course expert is Corey Connors, who has finished in the top 10 in the last 3 Masters tournaments and comes here in supreme form after winning the Valero at the weekend. That win meant he now has 9 top 25 finishes in his last 12 events, so he is showing real consistency and if he can carry his weekend form into this event, he should go very close.
Sungjae Im is another player with a super record at Augusta, recording 2nd and 8th placed finishes in just 3 starts at The Masters. He ranks 10th in the field for shots gained putting on Bentgrass greens over the last 2 years, and has good form coming into the tournament with 4 top 10’s and 12 cuts made from the 13 events he has featured in.
Chris Kirk is another down the field on our radar, he comes into this event with 3 top 3 finishes in his last 8 starts, a number that would have been 4 but for a poor last round at the Valero which saw him slip to 10th. Kirk hasn’t played at The Masters for 7 years, but did finish 34th and 20th in 2015 and 2014. Kirk is in much better form this year, and his overall game is clear of where he was in those efforts so he could run into a place if things go right for him.
The last outside poke at a big price from us is Tom Kim at around 80/1. Kim has burst onto the scene in the last couple of years with 2 wins on the PGA tour already at just 20 years of age. He’s made the cut in 10/11 events he’s played this season, including 3 top 10’s and a win at the Shriners. His form has dipped since the start of February admittedly but if he can find the sort of form he showed earlier in the season he can massively outrun his odds this weekend.
Best Bets
Rory McIlroy to win - 9/1 BINKBET BOOST
Jason Day EW - 25/1
Corey Connors EW - 50/1
Sungjae Im EW - 40/1
Tom Kim EW - 80/1
Chris Kirk EW - 175/1
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