Masters in Augusta: detailed overview of Ben Coley's bets and tips

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3pts e.w. Justin Thomas at 16 (1/5 1-10)

3pts e.w. Rickie Fowler at 20/1 (1/5 1-6)

1.5pts e.w. Hideki Matsuyama at 33/1 (1/5 1-7)

1 pt e.w. Louis Oosthuizen at 40/1 (1/5 1-7)

1 pt e.w. Marc Leishman at 55 (1/5 1-6)

Rory McIlroy is a champion in the making since he sent balls into a washing machine on live television at the age of eight, dressed in Tiger Nike, Player Black.

Twenty-one years later, he was offered a golden opportunity to win the Green Jacket, which would complete a career Grand Slam, just weeks before his thirtieth birthday.

The golden opportunities in golf are always lacking, and it's acceptance of this fact that makes McIlroy all the more dangerous, not just here, but in the months and years ahead. He has done everything to get well prepared, since conquering his biggest title in five years until reading what one might call self help books, but if that is not enough no, be it.

In full flight, McIlroy does not have quite the same vision and it would be a pity that he does not come to conquer this resplendent golf course. It would also be a surprise. McIlroy and Augusta National are a perfect match in the sky and it is terribly difficult to do without any plans, especially with so many places to play.

I can not give you any negative, not even the putter. Working with Brad Faxon, even more mental than physical, seems to have helped him a lot and he does not have to do everything to win. As always, the challenge to Augusta is more geared towards the approaching game: to make a major champion more iron than anything that goes into the head of this TaylorMade Spider with which he became so comfortable .

All other departments in the game McIlroy are shooting. His shots won: the ball's comeback in 2019 is 2.1 strokes a lap, enough to lead the 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia by almost half a shot. There is no gap between the other players, it is simply isolated.

In terms of approach play, he is ranked ninth among players, a balanced attack starting on the tee and heading to the green. It goes without saying that McIlroy has been playing golf outstandingly so far this year, but the numbers suggest something more – the idea that it is actually at its peak.

And he is, in all respects, the most likely winner of The Masters. I just do not think it's a bet, not with eight or ten places in each direction. The chances of 7/1 are about as short as the ones you will see for a major championship and require the kind of total confidence that this ruthless tournament does not allow.

Instead, my vote title goes to Rickie Fowlerwho can extend the run of the major winners for the first time up to half a decade by finally breaking his duck.

Fowler is the ultimate near-man in the eyes of some, but it's a coat that Garcia has left, and he's not alone: ​​Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, and even Phil Mickelson have been named in the role. It is not always as simple as McIlroy, Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth made it appear; there are not two identical career paths.

I certainly believe that Fowler has the potential to become a great champion and he did everything to win this event last year. Indeed, his under-14 total would have won 75 of the previous 81 editions, and even from the point of view of winning strokes – that is, using the average score as an adjuster – he had the goodness to win 41.

Quite simply, he came across an opponent who lives up to his abilities, who also happens to be a fearless runner while reveling in the role of villain. Of all the players who hit Patrick Reed at the Masters tournament last year, only Fowler really threatened to knock him off in a green jacket.

It could be really important a year later. Finally, Fowler left Augusta knowing that he had done everything he could have done, including a world-class birdie at the 72nd hole to prove to ourselves and ourselves a great deal.

He did the same thing in Phoenix earlier this year, defying bad weather, bad luck and, indeed, the bad game to hold after a tiresome final, in cool and windy conditions that some expect this week. There is a parallel between this event and Fowler's major heartbreaks and while in Augusta, it was the performance that seemed important, here it was the result.

Since then, Fowler's eyes have turned to The Masters. He again jumped the match play and, as he wishes, participated in the event immediately preceding the first major tournament of the season. The fact that it's Texas Open rather than Houston is not a bright spot, but it does mean that Fowler's impressive performance is by no means negative.

In fact, it is encouraging. Playing with new heats in his irons, Fowler had approach shots for the fourth consecutive event and as we saw with this victory in Phoenix, as well as in the Honda Classic two years ago, any positive element of this department makes one of the most powerful putter sports pose a real threat.

Here in Augusta, there is simply no one on the ground that I would prefer to have for me. It's about creating opportunities. His two best driver performances this year being at the Phoenix Open and last week, there is good reason to be positive from a global point of view.

Fowler has almost won the Honda Classic too, and with its shape throughout the first few months of the year, essential to find a Masters champion, it is his profile that seduces the most. I like a lot his schedule, his flow and his performances.

If his plan was to make bags and win and then get ready for that, it's a case from afar, everything is fine. Now, it's about whether he can run the finals and I do not think he has ever been better equipped.

Last year, Justin Thomas got my title vote at 10/1 and I can not let him out at almost twice the price now.

Thomas has the perfect match for Augusta, mainly because he is one of the best iron players (the top four or five iron players, rather than the top 20 or 30) on the planet, who also has a tight game tight and the kind of self-confidence that separates big from the good.

His Augusta record is somewhat criticized, but the numbers of 39-22-17 should actually be an encouragement, especially when he climbed the regattas in green at all three appearances.

Last year, he shot 67 in the second round and climbed to sixth position. Although the weekend did not go as planned, this is part of what one might call a fairly typical learning curve for Augusta. I expect it to continue to progress and that there is really no need to go from the 17th to the first.

"Yes, I played well this week, let me fall to the ground," he said. "I played pretty well to have a great chance of winning the tournament, I just did not manage to putts."

A year later, Thomas ranks fourth on the PGA Tour for his very important approach and there is no one who scores better on the par-five, so with his game going green, there are not many holes in the match. profile.

The only concern is that his iron game, which is generally excellent, was a little missed in March, but that too could play in his favor. Thomas has had time to work on it and has already operated the switch before. He won remarkable victories when he was slightly blurred, as evidenced by the odds of 50/1 for the US PGA and 33/1 for the Bridgestone. By invitation.

Since he has already said that his problem with Augusta was the pressure he's put on playing, it might well be that poor preparation will benefit him on a course for which he will be close to winning a day. soon.

"It has been four years now that I am very comfortable," he told Sawgrass, asking him what to do with his Augusta record. "I do not think there are always a lot of courses that would fit my game better."

Thomas played here with Tiger, Fred Couples, Jeff Knox … all of whom he thinks he can learn something, and all he needs is that his forces be exposed to a serious challenge at title. I'm ready to count on him to have things perfectly synchronized.

There is a good chance for all those who find themselves in front of the bet. Justin Rose is surely the one who owes to someone, it's just Justin Rose, while Dustin Johnson is quoted at 10/1 and that it costs half the price over two months as productive as that. Two years ago, when his hopes ended with the fall of the stairs.

It's hard to give up and Jon Rahm does, while Tiger Woods, a troubled Jordan Spieth, Francesco Molinari and even Brooks Koepka were easier to forget. And while he's on the rise and rightly so, Paul Casey seems just short enough for a player who still has not felt comfortable getting the Valspar Championship.

On the other hand, I thought the 50/1 quoted about Marc Leishman was generous and the Australian should go very well in his candidacy for a first major championship.

Although of course we have a real elite winner here, it's clear that the Masters champions tend to be from this second wave – those who are perhaps a little more experienced, a little less explosive than their peers who dominate the world. market.

Danny Willett, Charl Schwartzel, Adam Scott, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia and even Bubba Watson for the first time – all this was away from the bet but gave Augusta the appropriate type of game and a level of confidence reinforced by solid recent piece.

Leishman fits this description perfectly, after being ranked three of the top five in seven strokes in 2019, before qualifying for the last 16 of the Match Play, where Bryson DeChambeau was among his victims.

The Australian is not a full-fledged player, but he has a profusion of high-class forms, notably alongside Adam Scott, while his compatriot won the title in a playoff game six years. This experience could still be significant, and this is an example to which Leishman referred after having quarreled that year.

"I saw first-hand what it takes to win here," he said. "I think I played well enough to win that day and I felt like I was winning the right shots to win." I just did not grasp my chances when I got them.

"I feel that I learned a lot that day and I hope it will put me in a good position for this week and that I will be able to sit here Sunday night, but otherwise I will give the best of myself." -even."

These comments came after Leishman added 67 in the second round to 70 in the first round, enough for a spot in the last group of Saturday alongside Reed. He is largely a forgotten man from the Masters last year and his performance during the first two rounds deserves to be highlighted, since he was bundled with a Tiger Woods back.

Although finally forced to settle for ninth place, Leishman has been playing for The Masters twice and is about to win the Open Championship, including at St Andrews. This is not a step that would worry him.

In 15th place in bogey avoidance and 19th in approach winning shots, its shape is deep enough, which suits him particularly well. It simply looks like a solid bet.

Louis Oosthuizen is the man who stopped Leishman in his paces at Match Play and he too deserves to be supported.

Although undeniably frustrating and that remains to be won in the United States, Oosthuizen is a major champion with four other finalists. It's a resume that only a handful of players in this field can match.

His preparation was perfect, with a second-place finish at Valspar followed by a race in the Match Play quarterfinals, where avoiding two more rounds could prove a blessing in disguise given his annoying back.

Granted, his iron play there was not good enough to win at Augusta, but he found solace in the past, ranking among the top 20 for the greens hit on each of the seven occasions that he did. he won this weekend.

Even before finishing an unfortunate second at Bubba in 2012, he had missed the cup despite having hit more than 80% of the greens a year earlier. Augusta National is therefore a course that suits one of the sweetest golf swingers.

In recent years, he has really found a good level of consistency here, ranking in the top 25 in four of his last five visits, and with the recently launched putter, all indications are that he can do the same thing.

Oosthuizen's victory at the South African Open last December gave the impression of being able to anticipate a huge 2019 and, with a form similar to that of Reed's year-round last, he looks like a great player.

Finally, although really trying to add Viktor Hovland to 1000/1, it's Hideki Matsuyama which completes my list.

The Japanese strike the ball so well that he is expected to meet again soon Sunday afternoon, and it may be that a return to Augusta facilitates the necessary progress.

Having been 27th here as an amateur, The Masters has always looked for an ideal event for his major breakthrough and he has actually done well right here without his tee-to-green draw, as in complaining about his long match of two years. since.

The numbers from 5-7-11-19 in the last four renewals tell you how much Matsuyama loves Augusta and, as he explained in 2017, the more he wins the rounds, the better his chances.

"Every year, I play the class, you learn a little more, especially where you do not have to tap it, that's one of the keys, playing five times before, that I've been able to learn and understand. if I do not hit it well, I can always do it right. "

As a leader in this area in terms of winning strokes: approach, the way he hits the ball is no problem, with solid bogey statistics and a game made to defeat the par-five, Matsuyama should go very well.

It remains to be seen whether or not he can cross the finish line, but expectations have dropped since he's favorite for the 2017 US PGA, where the pressure he was undergoing was obvious , which is another positive element for the future. Another exciting renewal of the Masters.

Published 2000 BST 08/04/19.