We’ve reached the halfway mark of The Masters and after 36 holes everything is well set up for a big weekend as we have a leaderboard with some of the best young talents in the game combined with seasoned major contenders.
Friday Review
The course has had the better of things so far with just nine men under par after two rounds and four under par leading the tournament. Four men are on that number and they include our pre-tournament pick Thomas Pieters, the man who we also backed to lead after the second round. Rickie Fowler is another on four under while the chasers within four shots include another of our tournament picks Jon Rahm as well as Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott and Justin Rose.
It wasn’t just Pieters who gave us betting success on Friday. Both of our three ball bets came in comfortably to which made it four out of four for group bets over the first two days which is perfect.
Third Round Leader
Saturday is moving day at Augusta National and it will be interesting to see which of the talented players make their move as we jostle for position heading into Sunday. Rickie Fowler is the favourite to lead from here which is understandable but there is always a bad hole in him which I don’t like.
The weather is set to be much more benign on Saturday which should assist scoring and there doesn’t look to be a bias about when a player tees off so we can just focus on the leaderboard and see where it gets us.
Jon Rahm begins three back but I don’t think he is out of this tournament by any means. He has played his two rounds in the wind on the wrong side of the draw and he is still one under for his first couple of spins around here. With him being a little more familiar with the course and with scoring conditions finally to his liking I’m expecting a decent weekend from the Spaniard and at 18/1 he could be the one to make the biggest move on Saturday.
2 balls
There are 23 pairings heading out onto the golf course on Saturday but only one of them presents a betting opportunity for me. I fancy a couple of players down the list but they are too short apart from this one.
Jordan Spieth vs Phil Mickelson
Group tees off at 19.10 BST
Two men who are nicely positioned heading into Saturday are Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickelson and they do battle in what is probably the marquee group of the day. Both men are even par so just four off the lead and both will be looking to kick on and get themselves right into contention now but it is Spieth I expect to make the biggest move.
We saw Mickelson haemorrhage shots on Friday evening and while he has plenty of bouncebackability I’m going to go with a Jordan Spieth who is fighting really hard. But for one bad hole when the wind was at its heaviest on Thursday which cost him a quadruple bogey, Spieth would be leading this tournament now but with conditions much more normal I expect him to go well.
Spieth’s comeback from that disaster has highlighted both his mental strength and his liking for this golf course. I expect him to end Saturday right in the mix, outscoring Phil Mickelson along the way.
Tips
Back J.Rahm Third Round Leader (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 19.00 with Bet365 (1/4 1-3)
Back him here:
WON – Back J.Spieth to beat P.Mickelson for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with Coral
Back him here:
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