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The Masters tips: Expert Picks for Augusta National golf major
Dave Tindall and Matt Cooper join Ben Coley to select their best bets for the Masters, which gets under way at Augusta National on Thursday.
Watch the video for more Masters picks
Jordan Spieth without McIlroy, Scheffler and Rahm
Former Sky Sports Golf editor Dave Tindall is a regular contributor to betting.betfair.com and various other publications.
Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy finished first and second in last year’s Masters. Jon Rahm has a fourth, a fifth, a seventh and a ninth in the last five editions.
It’s fair to say that there’s every chance one of the three market leaders, who have shared the world number one spot between them since July 2021, will be wearing the green jacket on Sunday night.
In which case, betting 'without McIlroy, Scheffler and Rahm' could be a decent strategy for the 2023 Masters.
The candidate best equipped to finish right up there and win the market despite being pipped for ultimate glory by at least one of the Big Three is JORDAN SPIETH.
He has a win, two seconds and two thirds at Augusta National so is more used to standing on the podium than landing the win. It’s a nice way of getting a full payout on a player whose current form suggests he’ll go very close again and, in theory, Spieth could finish solo ninth on the final leaderboard and still bag the each-way money.
Justin Rose first-round leader
Matt Cooper is a long-time Sporting Life contributor who previews the women's majors for the website and provides tips for multiple tours for betting.betfair.com and others.
A big part of me feels this is too obvious, that I've enjoyed success with it in the past and should not risk diminishing returns. Another part of me feels JUSTIN ROSE isn't quite done with the majors or the Masters.
Take what he said after winning at Pebble Beach in January. "I don’t have to achieve anything else," he said, "but I want to. This result has re-energised that kind of thinking." He also said two years ago that he was now concentrating on the majors. The win might have tweaked that notion and here's the nub of the matter: he's good at bursting from the blocks.
I don't just mean here at Augusta, although two outright first-round leads, two shared ones and another four placed finishes in 17 starts will do. I mean that in the last five years he's often made fast starts in the four events that define a career.
Rose led the US Open in 2019 and was two shots back in 2018 and 2022; he was fifth in the 2018 PGA Championship and third in 2020; he hasn't placed in this market at the Open but was only three shots back of the lead in his last two starts. In the same period he's led and been sixth after 18 holes at Augusta.
Sometimes obvious isn't necessarily bad.
Sahith Theegala to be the top debutant
Ben Coley is Sporting Life's deputy head of editorial and long-serving golf columnist and tipster.
There's no denying that the specials markets for the Masters look and feel a little odd, and don't necessarily make as much appeal as usual.
Top Englishman for instance is a five-runner race when we might've had double-figures in the past. Top South African features only three and one of those is an amateur. The same goes for top South American.
As for top debutant, over a third of the runners are amateurs and no such player has so much has made the cut in either of the last two editions. Gordon Sargent will have to be very good indeed to make an impact even in this limited field.
But that at least means we can both narrow down a shortlist and still be betting at nice prices so I'll back up my long-held view that SAHITH THEEGALA will love this by making him the pick.
Theegala's form corresponds really well with that of two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson and, like Watson, he is an occasionally wild driver who loves to work his golf ball both ways.
With a good short-game and runs of high-class approach play, the Californian looks an ideal fit for the course and can show it with something like a top-20 finish, which this year might be enough to land us an 11/2 winner.
