It's that time of year again folks. The azaleas are in bloom and the world's best golfers are busy honing their A games for what promises to be an enthralling week of golf.
I plan to do a full preview on the tournament on Thursday. How they will set up the course, what the weather promises, what this year means for LIV players, what Tigers chances are and much more.
This post is slightly different though, and what I will concentrate on is which players I feel will have a right good go this week and what odds they are available at. Without further ado, let's crack on shall we. I will try my best to limit myself to 5,6 or 7 players and I will do another post Masters post to see how my picks fair, how many make the cut, how many compete, how many finish in the top ten and maybe I'll even have the winner in my stable.
Scottie Scheffler is 26 years old folks, 26 years old folks. For me he seems to carry himself and speak like somebody twice that age. He is the model pro golfer in terms of temperament and is the anthesis of guys like John Rahm, Shane Lowry and Tyrell Hatton who allow the red mist to descend, and believe me folks that costs you golf shots, I have absolutely zero doubt about it. Scottie personifies this for me, especially with his spectacular rise to recent dominance.
As with all golfers, throughout 72 holes of a golf tournament, there will be bad bounces, mishits and bad fortune. The card will have pars, birdies and hopefully an eagle or two, but over 72 holes, there will be bogeys. The thing that must be avoided is double bogeys and worse, those are what absolutely ruin your chances of being the winner at the end of the week, because more times than not, the winner will have a clean copy book, which includes bogeys, but seldom includes worse.
The key here is temperament and not allowing the emotions to get in the way and Scottie has this down to a tee, afterall even the greatest golfers of all time hit bad shots occasionally, but what separates them is what they do after a bad shot, which will be often a safe shot back out of trouble and par save or at worse bogey.
I will be shocked if Scottie has any double bogeys or worse this week and this is why he is one of my strong picks to join a short list of players who have won back to back Masters titles - those being Tiger, Jack and Faldo - now wouldn't that be a nice list to join.
This week we may well see history, with Scottie joining that list or Rory joining the career grand slam list of Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods. Whatever happens it is building up to be a great week's golf.
I included him in one of my Sweepstakes picks, which included Cam Smith, Bubba and Scottie. The combined odds had to be 150/1 or more, so Bubba was a massive punt, but he loves Augusta and 13 cuts made from 14, which is even better than Rory means that I think he will make the cut.
This will be Rory's 15th Masters, which of itself is pretty amazing, given that Rory is still just 33 years of age. For a while now this has been the one that Rory has really wanted to win. He famously choked here in 2011 after carding a swash-buckling opening round 65, and solid -3 and -2 rounds in rounds 2 and 3 leaving him sitting pretty on -12 and leaving a younger 
I think for a long time at Augusta he has carried around that ghost. Sure he bounced back at the 2011 US Open and won that maiden major. He wasted little time adding four more majors in 2012 and 2014 to bring his total to 5, but there the major story ends, until perhaps this week. I believe last year's closing round 64 and a 2nd place finish finally vanquished those ghosts of 2011 and I feel that he has never been more ready to add his 6th major, and it will be by far the sweetest in my opinion, as he will have had to wait 9 years. If we think about that, it's the same amount of time as from when he was just 13 to his first major in 2011. That is a long time folks.
The key for Rory this week is not a fast swash buckling, and if he chases that, chances are he won't make the cut. However Rory has been working a lot with mind coach Bob Rotella and his mind and temperament has never been in a better place, so the opening round will see limited risk taking and if I was to have a guess, I would say he shoots -2 70 and quietly gets about his business. Nobody wins a golf tournament on a Thursday, but lots play themselves out of contention with 74s, 75s, 76s, which means chasing things on Friday and you don't want to chase things at Augusta National, except perhaps on the back 9 on Sunday when risk can be very well rewarded.
To win at Augusta, you have to putt well. You might be the best ball striker or the longest hitter, but if you don't putt well you will not be getting sized up for a brand new green jacket come Sunday evening. This is a part of Rory's game that seems to come and go, but he has worked a lot with putting expert Brad Faxon, which can only help and he recently ditched the old Taylor Made Spyder in favour of the Scotty Cameron Tour-Only 009-M. I suspect that this may well be the one that he wins majors with, the Masters 2023, maybe, but if not certainly another major in 2023, he is on the cusp, I can smell it.
€10 win at 12/1 ( I placed this last year, so I got much better odds than are currently on offer, which is 6/1)
Xander is not getting much of a mention at all this week. I have listened to Podcasts, read Previews and heard many opinions, but the man from San Diego has not been talked about at all from what I can see. The 29 year Californian has been quietly getting about his business and he will be very happy to be flying under the radar here and while Scottie, Rory, Tiger and others grab the headlines, he is quietly preparing for the week and I really feel strongly that he will finish in the top ten and at odds of 25/1, I see him as a value e/w pick. What form does he bring into the Master? Pretty decent form actually.
That's four top tens in his last nine starts and all nine are top forties, so I think Xander will be well and truly in the mix on the back nine this Sunday. He has previous form around this golf course in recent times as well, with a T2 finish in 2019 and a T3 in 2021. Yes, there was a blot on the copy book last year, so it is important he gets things moving with an under par 70 or 71 on Thursday and that should set him up nicely for a good week.
Xander is my biggest bet of the year for the Masters and I opted for €20 e/w at 25/1 (10 places) which offers tonnes of value in my opinion. He is my sleeper pick, as odds of 25/1 are pretty long, but I like guys around this price and have had wins in the past on Scott at 33/1, Bubba at 33/1 and almost Rory at 33/1.
One of the biggest surprises in golf for me recently, and there have been a few, was Cam Smith leaving to join the LIV tour. I remember hearing rumours and I thought surely not. All the talk this week has been about the big three of Scottie, Rory and Rahm who have been fighting it out for world #1, a spot inhabited by Scottie for now, but had Cam not left for the non-qualifying LIV tour, where money talks, he surely would have been part of a quartet instead of the trio.
Yes, he lacks competitive golf this year so far, but the 29 year Australian has strolled around Augusta six times as if it was his local pitch and putt course, not one bit phased, so I fully expect him to be in the mix and is another of my sleeper picks for the week.
I have €7 win at 20/1 on Cam Smith and you can get as much as 25/1 now, which offers great value in my opinion, as he clearly loves this track, with 6/6 cuts made and 4 top tens in six attempts. Those are serious numbers.
Now are ye ready for my complete rank outside pick for the week!!!?
The drive down Magnolia lane can do something to a player. We have seen it so many times before where a player struggling big time with their form manages to find their midas touch around Augusta. Will that happen this week for Cameron Champ? Well it is unlikely and that is why he is a rank outsider, the bookmakers rarely get it wrong, which is why they are always up, but I see value here.
Cameron Champ has played here very year for the past three years and has finishes of T19, T26 and T10 last year, so he clearly likes this golf course and has the cuts made and scores to prove just that. From those 12 rounds, there are three 68s, so he knows how to go low around here and the par 5s especially will suit his huge length of the tee.
There is rain forecast, so that long length of his could give him a distinct advantage on the par 5s, especially with number 13 playing 35 yards longer this year.
My massive outsider for the year is Cameron Champ. I had €1 e/w at 175/1 (10 places) on the big hitter.
I also have one more sweepstake entry of Koepka, Conners and Thomas, so let's include those as well, so all told these are the guys I have picked this year, let's see how many make the cut and where they finish - the odds below are the ones I got, some are now lower.
The photo used is not my own was sourced from a Youtube screen grab. The masters records are screen shots from here https://www.masters.com/en_US/players/player_list.html
