The Masters
PGA Wagers

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Posted Wednesday, November 11 at 1:30 PM EST. 

Cutoff time for this event is November 12 at 7:00 AM EST. 

Streaming Subscribers: Watch on TSN, ESPN, and CBS Sports.

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The Masters

The long-awaited return of the most prestigious sporting event of the year and it comes in rarefied November air. How will Augusta National play, and who will slip into the Green Jacket come Sunday?

The 2020 Masters 2020 Field

A field of 94 will line up for the 84th edition of The Masters, and as ever that number includes the great and the good of golf today and from yesteryear. How will a softened Augusta handle Bryson’s bombs? Can Rory or Dustin finally get their hands on the Green Jacket? Will a young gun – Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and co – cash in on their unquestionable quality? Will Brooks Koepka add to his major haul? Can Tiger pull off another staggering win from under-the-radar? Could one of the old guard – Phil Mickelson or Bernhard Langer perhaps – deliver a win for the ages?

Maybe a debutant – Collin Morikawa, Sungjae Im, Matthew Wolff, Scottie Scheffler et al – strike a line through the idea that you need history at Augusta to prevail? There’s so many storylines and narratives, but in the end only one can be crowned Masters champion 2020.

This Week's Course Preview

Despite the unusual time of year for The Masters, the early signs are that everyone involved in the delivery of Augusta National has played a blinder. From a botanical perspective, if that’s your thing, there may be fewer azaleas and the like but the layout and the famous Magnolia Drive will still have a lush and colorful feel. As for the course itself, the Sub Air system employed to keep the Bentgrass greens in good order will have been working overtime with the rainfall that there has been, but you can rest assured that the putting surfaces will be as slick and as pure as ever.

One noticeable difference could be in the fairways. Rory McIlroy, who played the venue on Saturday, said that he noticed the Bermuda grass hadn’t been killed off yet (typically this occurs in the winter frost), and so the fairway grass is thicker and grainer in patches. He also mentioned that it was soft and wet, so drives may just plug on landing – remember, the grass is deliberately grown in the direction of the tee boxes, which minimizes ball run. The likelihood is that Augusta will play long and feel like a long slog for the players too.

There could be some fun and games around the greens with Rory reporting of mud balls and interesting contacts due to the appearance of Bermuda in the short stuff around the putting surfaces. 

The Augusta National Golf Club was designed and built by Bobby Jones, and his labor of love has since been given a makeover by Rees Jones and Tom Fazio in the intervening period – nothing major, but the lengthening of holes in some places to ensure it remains a major test for the modern player.

The jewel in the crown of Augusta are the rapid greens, and for all the talk of Bryson and company dropping bombs off the tee, ultimately you will need to chip and putt well to succeed given the huge undulations and contours that inform these Bentgrass surfaces.

What We’re Looking For

With all of the rain and the softened ground, we’re expecting Augusta National to play mighty long this week and that in itself will discount many in the field. But remember, the greens will run as slick as ever, and so absolute precision on approach – or a reliable chipping game – will also be crucial. As ever, success at Augusta will be ranked by making hay on the easier holes, specifically the quartet of Par 5s, while staying out of trouble on those where water and the most complex greens await.

We want to be looking at the younger guys too. Tiger’s victory was something of an anomaly, and really it’s players under 40 that can handle the physical test of Augusta as well as the psychological aspect of landing the most famous prize in the sport. Typically, you would expect a classier operator to come to the fore, but there is an opportunity here for longer hitters with a quality short game to thrive – conditions will be so much different this week as to what they normally are on this slice of Georgian beauty.

You wonder how this edition of The Masters will feel to the players. With no patrons on site, will it lack some of its usual luster? Will the players feel fewer nerves to normal? That could certainly open the door for a debutant, who historically haven’t always done well in this event, or indeed those who have struggled with nerves in the past. All in all, it’s going to take an excellent show of all-round golf to claim the Green Jacket and the title of 84th Masters champion.

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To Win Outright: These are played at BET365 because of their cashout option.

Louis Oosthuizen 55-1

The South African is a perennially strong performer at Augusta, finishing T2 here in 2012 and in his last six visits his lowest finish is T41. A long hitter with an excellent short game, Oosthuizen has all the tools to succeed in The Masters and you would say a softer version would aid him even further – allowing for the fact that the greens will be as slick as ever. While not a prolific winner in the States, his solo third effort at the U.S. Open proves that Oosthuizen can get into the mix even among the world’s elite. Dude ranks 17th ON TOUR in Scoring Average and a nifty 31st in SG: Putting. Of the dozen or so golfers priced in this range, we’re going to trust Louis to be in the mix (Risking 0.2 units to win 11). 

Tony Finau 33-1

As a player with something of a reputation for not being a closer, it’s time for Finau to rid himself of that unfair distinction. The conditions at Augusta are set up perfectly, and at this point a golf course designed to separate the best from the rest gives Finau an edge over any other run-of-the-mill PGA TOUR event. Yes, it’s crazy, but Finau right now is as likely to win a major as he is the Sanderson Farms Championship, for example. A proven performer on fast Bentgrass greens, Finau’s all-round game is strong enough to get him in contention. A run of 5-10 at Augusta highlights his suitability for this course, and in playing in the final group last year, Finau confirmed to us and himself that he is ready to take his seat at the top table of golf. While we usually aren’t on board with anyone at 33-1, Finau is too good to pass up this opportunity. He ranks 4th ON TOUR in Scoring Average, 18th in Driving Distance and 23rd in SG: Approach (Risking 0.2 units to win 6.6). 

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Head-to-head Matchups for the Memorial.

Unless otherwise stated, the head-to-head match-up will be bet at Pinnacle, BET 365, Coolbet or 5DIMES

HEAD-TO-HEAD MATCHUP below is for 72 holes:

H2H

Jason Kokrak -110 Cameron Champ (Bet365)

Cameron Champ’s obvious talents have been overshadowed lately by Bryson DeChambeau stealing his thunder as the longest driver around. Champ delivered an excellent show of ball-striking at the CJ Cup, and he followed that with a more assured effort with the putter when finishing T8 at the ZOZO Championship, where he closed out 65-67. Indeed, he ranks 4th in Driving distance but his Birdie Average ranks 58th and his SG; Approach ranks 63rd. His putting is erratic at best. 

Like many of you, we read all the experts and in the “first timers” categories, we see Champ mentioned frequently along with Sungjae Im, Matthew Wolff and Collin Morikawa among others but nowhere have we seen a mention of Jason Kokrak. He’s an American that was born in a small northern town in Ontario and he’s far, far under the radar. 

A long overdue win at the ZOZO Championship was finally confirmation for Jason Kokrak that he has the talent to thrive at the highest level of golf. Augusta should suit Kokrak’s game just fine.  A known preference of slick greens, Kokrak has plenty of strong performances on Bentgrass to his name, and he is long enough off the tee to thrive should the fairways get even softer due to the rain. With a slew of top-25s in majors, Kokrak can do it in the big events and he will be hoping for more of the same this week. What we especially like is that he ranks 3rd ON TOUR in SG: Putting, 8th in Scoring Average and 27th in SG: Off-the-Tee. Statistically, he blows away Cameron Champ in the key areas it takes to thrive at Augusta. This wager is only available at BET365 (Risking 2.2 units to win 2). 

Dustin Johnson -110 over Bryson DeChambeau (Bet365)

Once again, we turn to the experts' picks, as they cannot get enough of Bryson after he crushed the field in the U.S. Open. We’re seeing mentions of Bryce, Rambo, Xander, Day and others but for some strange reason, few prognosticators are mentioning DJ. In any case, DeChambeau has been the betting favorite for this event ever since he won the Open by six strokes. DeChambeau is averaging 4.04 total strokes gained per round over eight rounds to start the 2020-21 season, however, his all-or-nothing mentality means he can win this tournament, but he could miss the cut if things go poorly on Augusta’s tormenting putting surfaces. Even if DeChambeau has a great event, DJ can still beat him. 

While we could say the same for Bryson, a soft Augusta plays perfectly into the hands of Dustin Johnson. He is a fantastic driver of a golf ball, a reliable scrambler and fast greens hold no fear for him, hence why he’s served up four top-10s at Augusta National in his last quartet of visits. The physical aspect of winning The Masters should provide no problem for DJ, who showed that his recovery from COVID-19 has been effective in his T2 effort at the Houston Open last week. Indeed, that was a performance that was typically Dustin, with all aspects of his game firing, albeit not all at the same time. That said, he was in fantastic touch on and around the greens on Sunday, and if he takes that to Georgia, he will be in excellent stead. After a two month layoff, DJ didn’t skip a beat at the Houston open last week with a second place finish and anytime we can get him evenly priced against Bryce, you can pencil us in. DJ ranks 2nd ON TOUR in Scoring Average, 3rd in Driving Distance and 6th in SG: Approach. BOOYAH! (Risking 2.2 units to win 2). 

Matt Wallace -115 over Gary Woodland (Pinnacle)

If the weather does take a turn for the funky then Augusta could become something of a battleground this week, in which case you’ll want tough cookies like Matt Wallace on side. The Brit loves a scrap and his game is well suited to it too, with an excellent scrambling and chipping technique that gets him out of trouble more often than not. This would represent the biggest win of his career, of course, but Wallace is already fairly prolific in Europe with four wins prior to turning 30. Dude ranks 7th ON TOUR in SG: Around-the-Green and he also ranks 55th in SG: Putting. That said, this wager is more about fading Gary Woodland. It just so happens that Pinnacle Sports has Gary W up against Wallace. 

The last time Gary Woodland played was at the Zozo Championship at Sherwood. He had been batting discomfort in his left hip due to a torn labrum and lo and behold, he withdrew during his opening round of the tournament, although he cited a sore back as the reason. Certainly, the maladies could be related, but obviously, he’s headed in the wrong direction physically. One cannot fault him for giving it a go at the Masters but he’s in no position to be evenly priced against Wallace and if we lose this wager, it’ll likely be because of a Wallace ugly showing and not a Woodland good one (Risking 2.3 units to win 2). 

RESULTS

2 golfers to win outright @ 0.2 units each = -0.4 units

H2H
Kokrak -110 over Champ (L) -2.20 units
DJ over DeChambeau (W) +2 units

Wallace over Woodland (W) + 2 units

Therefore 4 units in win - 2.6 units in losses = a net profit for this event of 1.4 units

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PGA Wagers (Risking 7 units - To Win: 0.00)