Golf Masters 2019 Odds
2019 Masters predictions, picks, odds: One of these nine golfers will win at Augusta National. If there is a trend in golf or the Masters, it is converging on this week for McIlroy. Golf The Masters 2019 Preview and Odds The wait is almost over for arguably the biggest golf tournament in the world – the 2019 Masters. August National hosts the 83 rd running from Thursday and all the leading players in the game have their eyes firmly set on winning the famous Green Jacket and etching their names into the history books.
Yardbarker's Ryan Fowler runs down the golfers with the best odds to win the 2019 Masters.
Butler Cabin fever
Tiger Woods last won the Masters in 2005, nearly two years before Steve Jobs announced the invention of the iPhone and yet oddsmakers — reacting to bettors emotional wagers — have Woods among the favorites to wear the green jacket this Sunday. Rory McIlroy had just turned 18 years old when Apple released its latest tech gadget in the summer of 2007. Fast forward 12 years, and McIlroy is in prime position not only to make his first Butler Cabin house call but also to complete his career Grand Slam with a Masters win.
Patrick Reed
Odds: 33-to-1
Before Sergio Garcia helped him slide into his first green jacket last spring, Reed had missed two cuts and finished no higher than 22nd in four Masters appearances. However, the Augusta State University alum shot 13-under on the course's par 5s during the 2018 Masters — two strokes off the course record — which helped him stave off a charging Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth.
It's safe to say Reed isn't playing his best golf at the moment. His one top 10 finish came back in October, and he missed the cut at the Valspar Championship just two weeks ago. Recency bias of a 2018 Masters win will lead some of Reed's backers to apply lipstick to his season-to-date stats. However, his strokes gained total is down from .947 to .417 year over year.
Xander Schauffele
Odds: 33-to-1
The 25-year-old already has two tour wins under his belt this season. Schauffele's 14-under won the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament, and 23-under captured the Sentry Tournament of Champions trophy. Before missing the cut at THE PLAYERS Championship, Schauffele posted three consecutive top 15 finishes. Whereas some of his competition's season-to-date stats tend to fluctuate, his are above average no matter where he approaches the ball. Schauffele's averaging nearly 4.5 birdies per round, and his 1.95 strokes gained total ranks fourth on the tour.
Odds: 33-to-1
After winning The Open Championship last July, Molinari closed out the season with two more top 10 finishes and three outside the top 20. Molinari has played only five stroke play events this season, but his 12-under won him the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month. The 36-year-old has not enjoyed much success at previous Masters with two missed cuts in six tournaments and a 19th-place best finish back in 2012.
Odds: 28-to-1
Despite missing the cut in his first Masters two years ago and finishing 17th in his second, Fleetwood is a trendy pick and for good reason. He finished tied for third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and tied for fifth at THE PLAYERS in back-to-back weeks. His season-to-date stats are off the charts impressive, as he's ranked in the top six in three strokes-gained categories. Should he find Augusta's pristine beaches, Fleetwood's 70 percent sand save rate also ranks fourth on the tour.
Jordan Spieth
Odds: 25-to-1
Here's Spieth's Masters resume:
2014: t-2nd
2015: 1st
2016: t-2nd
2017: t-11th
2018: 3rd
However, that was then and Spieth's current reality is that he's not playing well — thus, the 25-to-1 odds. Before shooting 7-under at the Valero Texas Open this past weekend (t-30th), Spieth shot over par in three consecutive tournaments and missed the cut at THE PLAYERS. His official golf ranking has dipped from 10th to 33rd.
Odds: 20-to-1
The Spaniard appears much older than most 24-year-olds. His youthful exuberance has likely allowed him to partake in more tournaments in the lead-up to 2019 The Masters. Rahm has placed in the top 10 in six of 10 events this season, highlighted by a win at the Hero World Challenge back in early December. A 12th-place tie at THE PLAYERS and sixth-place tie at the Valspar Championship combined with the fact Rahm placed fourth at the 2018 Masters propels him into the pool of favorites to win the green jacket.
Odds: 20-to-1
Just a few days ago, Fowler's odds to win the 2019 Masters were 22-to-1. For them to improve comes as as a slight surprise, but bettors are obviously backing Fowler's competition based on his pedestrian — by his standards — season to date. His last three finishes were 40th (tie), 47th (tie) and 17th (tie) at the Arnold Palmer, THE PLAYERS and this past weekend's Valero Texas Open, respectively. To be fair Fowler's 14-under finished second only to Patrick Reed's 15-under at the 2018 Masters, and despite missing the 2016 cut this 30-year-old has placed in the top 12 in four out of his past five Augusta appearances.
Jason Day
Odds: 20-to-1
Day finished tied for second in his first Masters tournament back in 2011 and placed third two years later. However, he's finished 20th or worse in four of his last five trips to Augusta. The good news for the 31-year-old Aussie is he's playing some great golf this season. Day posted six consecutive top 16 finishes to start the season and tied for eighth at THE PLAYERS. He's ranked in the top five in strokes gained off the tee and putting with the fourth-best birdie average per round. At 20-to-1, Day could be a value bet.
Bryson DeChambeau
Odds: 20-to-1
While they were not all official PGA events, DeChambeau placed in the top 15 in each of his first six tournaments this season, which included a first-place finish at the Shriners Hospital for Children Open back in November. The 25-year-old, who turned pro back in 2016, bounced back from a 56th-place finish at WGC Mexico and 46th-place finish at the Arnold Palmer to tie for 20th at THE PLAYERS. With only two Masters tournaments under his belt, a 21st-place finish during his rookie season is his personal best at Augusta.
Justin Rose
Odds: 16-to-1
Rose has been on the cusp of walking into Butler Cabin as Masters champion not once, but twice, over the past four years. In 2017 he finished second to Sergio Garcia, and four years ago he tied Phil Mickelson for second the year Jordan Spieth became the second-youngest golfer to win The Masters. After he won the Farmers Insurance Open back in late January, he took a month off before placing t-63rd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He bounced back with an eighth-place finish at THE PLAYERS and finished tied for ninth at WGC's Match Play event. Rose's season-to-date stats don't jump off the page as a golfer in the zone, but he's averaging nearly five birdies per round (third), and his recent track record at Augusta shouldn't be ignored.
Odds: 14-to-1
Koepka missed the 2018 Masters due to a wrist injury. This was a major disappointment for golf fans, considering how well the then 27-year-old was playing at the time while also wondering if he could improve upon his 11th-place finish from 2017. As for the 2019 season, following a second-place finish at the Honda Classic, Koepka missed the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and finished tied for 56th at THE PLAYERS. His strokes-gained metrics are down across the board year over year, but those looking to back Koepka should be most concerned off the tee.
Justin Thomas
Odds: 14-to-1
After three consecutive top 10 finishes and four top 10s out of five, Thomas has hit a little bump in the 2019 tour road. He finished tied for 30th at the Honda Classic and tied for 35th at THE PLAYERS in his past two stroke play tournaments. Despite the temporary regression Thomas' five top 10 finishes in 10 events this season is quite the feat on the heels of three tour victories last season. He currently ranks first in birdies per round (5.14) and scoring average (69.14). Thomas has competed in the past three Masters, improving his standing each year but placing no better than tied for 17th.
Tiger Woods
Odds: 12-to-1
While Tiger appears to be taking himself a little less seriously on the golf course these days, one would have to believe emotion — as opposed to analysis — drove bettors to consider Woods a top three favorite to win the 2019 Masters. He's played Augusta only twice over the past five years and finished outside the top 15 both times. Although he earned a fifth-place tie at the WGC Match Play two weeks ago, Woods has yet to place inside a stroke play tournament's top 10 this season. If you're looking for a reason to back Woods, scan his greens-in-regulations metric. His GIR accuracy is up 7 percent year over year and when combined with a sixth-ranked total strokes gained, perhaps Tiger is on the verge of something great...again.
Dustin Johnson
Odds: 10-to-1
After missing the cut at the 2014 Masters, D.J. has rebounded to post three consecutive top 10 finishes. However, the green jacket continues to elude him. Based on this season's performance to date, there's good reason to believe he'll linger atop the leaderboard come Sunday. Setting aside the World Golf Championship Match Play, he's placed ninth or better in four consecutive tournaments, highlighted by a WGC-Mexico 21-under par performance, which earned Johnson his 20th tour win.
Rory McIlroy
Odds: 7-to-1
McIlroy shot 16-under to win THE PLAYERS Championship just a few weeks ago. Through his first eight tour events this season, he's placed in the top 10 eight times. As if that momentum wasn't enough, the 29-year-old has five consecutive top 10 finishes at the Masters heading into this week's tournament. Plus, he leads the tour in strokes gained, which is a testament to the consistency he's displayed on the course this season.
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© Provided by GolfweekContenders needing to make up ground in the Masters must be ready to attack No. 13, the easiest hole at Augusta National in the 2019 event.
No. 13 is a 510-yard par 5 that might be a par 5 in name alone. In reality, it might be bettered considered as more of a par 4 and a half. Last year it played more than half a stroke easier than par with a 4.47 average.
Masters Golf Tournament 2019 Odds
Historically, No. 13 had played to a 4.79 average before last year, which made it the second easiest hole in the Masters, trailing only No. 15 by 0.01 average strokes.
© Provided by GolfweekThe 13th green during a practice round for the 2018 Masters at Augusta National (Michael Madrid/USA TODAY Sports)
There were 17 eagles, 158 birdies, 102 pars, 23 bogeys and four double bogeys or worse on No. 13 in 2019.
What that all means, really, is that the shortish hole named Azalea is a strategic masterpiece, regardless of what the par might be.
Masters:How to stream, watch on TV Tiger’s history at Augusta
Players are forced to work a ball around the corner off the tee, avoiding trees, bushes and a creek to the left. They also can’t just blast away, because tee shots that don’t curve left to catch the hillside can easily run through the fairway into a stand of tall pine trees. If they do manage to sling a ball around the dogleg, most modern players then face a long or mid-iron off an uneven lie – ball above their feet while sloping downhill – to a green guarded by the tributary to Rae’s Creek. No easy task.
Golf Masters 2019 Odds Vegas
© Provided by GolfweekTiger Woods in 2018 plays from the pine trees that wait through the fairway on No. 13 at Augusta National. (Rob Schumacher/USA TODAY Sports
There’s concern that modern long hitters can bite off too much of the dogleg and leave themselves a wedge for a second shot – Bubba Watson, as just one example, was able to do that en route to his victory in 2014. If Bryson DeChambeau or any of several other power players take it over the trees to the left off the tee, they easily could be left with a wedge this year.
But that requires taking on a massive risk – miss by just a bit on that bold tee shot to the left, and double bogey or worse is lurking.
© Provided by GolfweekPhil Mickelson walks past the tributary to Rae’s Creek along the left side of No. 13 at Augusta National. (Rob Schumacher/USA TODAY Sports)
One interesting factor for 2020 with the Masters being played in November: The 13th tees off to the north before curving northwest toward the green. If there is a cold front in November – a real possibility – brisk winds could blow directly into the players’ faces. That would greatly complicate any efforts to blast a drive over the trees to the left, as well as force players to take extra club into the green for any second shots. There will be a lot of math to consider on that tee and in that fairway.
And that’s what makes No. 13 at Augusta such a great hole, even with modern bombers firing away. It’s all about negotiating risk while trying to maximize reward.
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