2014 US Masters Betting Preview
-
Ricky Rothstein
Ricky Rothstein previews the betting options for this weekend’s US Masters, where picking a winner isn’t as straightforward as it used to be.
There are two tried and trusted methods for picking the winner at Augusta since the tournament was founded in 1934. From 1996 on, you bet Tiger on Wednesday night and collected on Monday morning. Before that, you just picked someone from the top in the world – Faldo, Nicklaus, Palmer, Snead.
But that hasn’t been the case recently. Recent years have seen big ‘dogs barking beaming in the Butler Cabin on Sunday night – Charl Schwartzel, Angel Cabrera, Zach Johnson, even Scott himself. Nobody saw those guys coming in the years they won.
This year, in the absence of Tiger, Rory McIlroy is favorite at 9.00, which is a pretty short price. There’s no question that McIlroy has the game to win at Augusta – he’s the most talented golfer playing today, with or without Tiger. His US Open win at Congressional proved that. McIlroy can make any course look like his front garden when he wants to.
The thing is, he doesn’t always want to. “Mercurial” is a word that could have been invented for McIlroy. If he turns up, he can destroy all competition. If he doesn’t, your money is gone, never to return.
Phil Mickelson is a three-time winner of the Masters, most recently in 2010. He’s got the game for the course and Augusta can be kind to players who are no longer in the first bloom of youth. It wouldn’t be surprising if he won. It wouldn’t be surprising if he came nowhere either though.
After his girlfriend was a controversial choice as cover-girl on Golf Digest recently, maybe Dustin Johnson, Mr Paulina Gretzky, owes the game a big show but he’s hard to make a case for. There are a lot of guys like that – Rickie Fowler is overdue a Major, but that doesn’t mean he’ll win one, least of all win one this weekend. Same with the Englishmen Luke Donald, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood.
But there is one Englishman who is a good price to win the Masters. Who has two top-ten finishes to prove he can play the course, and has a Major under his belt to show he has the temperament for keeping his nerve coming down the 18th. US Open champion Justin Rose at 30.00 is a great bet to win this year’s US Masters.