The first round of The Masters is in the books and all eyes will be on the greenery of Augusta National again on Friday as the jostling for positions and making the cut become a real priority in the second round of play.
First round review
It was a familiar tale in the opening round on Thursday as the defending champion Jordan Spieth took the sole lead of the tournament with a sparkling 66. That is five rounds in a row that the American youngster has led this fine tournament and he’ll be aiming for a sixth end of round lead on Friday.
After his round Spieth would have seen both Jason Day and Rory McIlroy threaten to lay down serious challenges to his lead. Day was -5 at the turn but a calamitous back nine which included back to back sixes sent him tumbling down the leaderboard to post just level par.
McIlroy then had it going when he hit four under on the 15th hole but bogeys on 16 and a sloppy one on 18 left him two under par going into the second round. He is out early on Friday though and will hope to capitalise on that.
Elsewhere it was Danny Lee and Shane Lowry who took advantage of the easier conditions late on to post the next best scores to Spieth. Both went round in four under 68 and being out early on Friday they have the chance to post a target ahead of Spieth. A large group on three under par are in position to launch a title tilt too. They include Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose and Ian Poulter.
While it was a good day for those players it was a nightmare start for three fancied runners as Bubba Watson, Adam Scott and Rickie Fowler all struggled. A birdie at the last salvaged something from a back nine wreckage for Watson but he is still three over after 18 holes. Scott is a shot further back while Fowler, who opened with a double bogey, failed to break 80 and isn’t winning from there.
Latest odds
Spieth 2/1
McIlroy 6/1
Rose 10/1
Day 11/1
Garcia 20/1
Lowry 25/1
Casey 28/1
33/1 bar
Second round leader
Having had some success with 100/1 Ian Poulter placing in the first round leader market on the opening day it makes sense to revisit the market for the second round too although with the scores the way they are the value is on the thin side.
Spieth is 6/5 to retain the lead at the halfway stage which on the face of it you would say is fair but he goes out as late as 12.55pm local time and he could be getting the worst of the conditions so it might be no certainty that he goes low again.
Instead it could be worth taking someone out early to post a score that isn’t touched. All the consensus is that this course is only going to get firmer from here on in and that will further be the case when the wind gets on the track again so I’m going to target the earlier starters who should have a more playable course.
Given their positions in the tournament Danny Lee and Shane Lowry would be two men to look at first but there was something about Lee that didn’t truly convince me on Thursday. His four under on the opening day was solid but I’m not expecting a repeat while Lowry was actually one over for his last 10 holes having got off to a fantastic start.
Sergio Garcia was a consideration with a nice 10.43am tee time locally. He certainly carries momentum into the second round after finishing strongly on Thursday but I can never fully trust him in a major.
In the end I feel there could be some value in Rory McIlroy. McIlroy will have been disappointed with his finish on Thursday but that might only have fired him up for a big Friday. He was last out on Thursday which is never an easy group to play in so being out early should really suit him. He won’t have any scoreboard pressures on him, he can just go and attack a playable golf course.
If Rory breaks 70, which is perfectly possible for someone with his power around here, then he will be at worst -5 but you’d like to think there is a shot or two more in him if he really fires in which case he could be ahead of Spieth by the time the champion tees off. At 11/1 I’ll back McIlroy to stay there.
Friday 3 balls
I’ve had a good look down the three balls for Friday but sadly there hasn’t been the overreaction we usually get to the first round of this tournament so I’m finding value quite hard to find in them. With a bet already in the bag and two more days to come I’m largely keeping my money in my wallet here but there is one I like.
Scott Piercy threatened something really big on Thursday when he was three under through four holes but after coming unstuck around the start of Amen Corner he eventually had to settle for a round of 70.
That was still good enough to see off his playing partners Graeme McDowell (71) and Fabian Gomez (77). There is surely no way back for Gomez from here. The attacking he is going to need to do to the course just to make the cut let alone get back into things is likely to yield more dropped shots than gained ones.
McDowell has regularly mentioned how he has never truly performed here and the main reason for that is a lack of length. It is to his credit that he shot one under on Thursday but whether he can repeat that remains to be seen.
Piercy has the length to get home on all the par 5s and if he can take advantage of that and avoid big numbers on the danger holes I would expect him to come through for a second day in a row.
Tips
PLACED – Back R.McIlroy Second round leader (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 12.00 with Bet365 (1/5 1-3)
Back him here:
WON – Back S.Piercy to beat G.McDowell & F.Gomez for a 3/10 stake at 2.40 with Coral
Back him here:
