Fore Please! Your Friday Masters Betting Preview Is Here
AWESOME awesome day 1 at the Masters. I'm just giddy thinking about it. Big time names came to play and this leaderboard is STACKED. We're fittin for a nice little weekend here I'd say.
Rahm's torrid final 17 holes have catapulted him back to the top of the betting board where he spent most of the spring. He's +335 at the Barstool Sportsbook, with Scottie Scheffler lurking at +500 three shots back.
It's well regarded that you gotta get off to a strong start at Augusta to win the Masters. It's just not a golf course that lends itself to chasing from far behind. Each of the last 17 winners shot under par on Thursday on their way to win AND were in the top 11. Only one of those 17 was not within 4 strokes of the lead. So if you're taking that as gospel, you can write off anyone at -2 or worse… meaning guys like Cantlay, Cam Smith, Rory, Homa, Hideki, and JT are in too deep a hole to dig out.
I do like Rahm at +335. The gap between him and Scheffler would likely be larger given the 3 stroke head start if it weren't for their tee times (more on that shortly). And each of them should probably have shorter odds if we're being honest.
But if I'm looking a little further down for a value, I'm throwing more on Jason Day +1400. He's out nice and early at 9:06 this morning, which will help him to avoid the nasty weather that may affect guys like Rahm and Young. Speaking of…
Weather
Today is where things start to go sideways. They moved tee times up a half hour to try to get a move on, and it feels unlikely they get it all in today. What's sucks is that it only gets worse on Saturday. It's looking like it's going to be a pretty busy Sunday and whether they can even get it all in before having to push to Monday seems ambitious. Sub-air systems are gonna be earning time and a half this weekend…
TV Coverage
Early and often. Tiger goes off at 12:54 in an uphill battle to make the weekend.
Tee Times
NOTE: Tweak these times backwards by a half hour. They're starting earlier to try to beat the weather.
NOTE: Tweak these times backwards by a half hour. They're starting earlier to try to beat the weather.
Hole Locations
Plays
As I mentioned (and have continued to mention for weeks), I love Jason Day's value to pull off something special this weekend. But if I'm looking to sprinkle in a bomb, it might be on Gary Woodland +10000. He's off at 8:18 am this morning and has the type of low ball flight game that will serve him well in blustery and wet conditions this weekend. I don't hate Morikawa at +2800 either.
Head-To-Heads
Jason Kokrak (+110) over Talor Gooch - A little LIV on LIV action here eh? I think length will be a a benefit today and Kokrak has the advantage here.
Tony Finau (-120) over Jordan Spieth - Same here. Tony bombs.
Viktor Hovland (-230) over Tiger Woods - As much as I'd love to see Tiger do something special today, there are a million reasons to believe he won't. The weather and him just don't jive.