If you are ever going to back Rory to win The Masters I feel this is the year to do it. Hes tipped by Steve Palmer in the RP preview today and he knows what he is talking about.
Rory was 2nd last year at 20/1 and didnt play that well until the final round, eventually finishing 3 stokes back. Hes had a good year so far winning in Dubai and finishing 3rd in the WGC Matchplay lto. Conditions are going to be mixed this year with rain forecast for the weekend which is not a negative for an Irishman.
Its hard to know how the LIV golfers will fair after a year off the main tours, but it could easily be a negative for them which will make the task easier for the likes of McIlroy.
The price might seem skinny at 7/1 now, but if hes in the last couple of groups on Sunday evening then it could look huge.
I have also backed VICTOR HOVLAND ew @ 33/1 (10 places). An improving player with only 4 years as a pro, he lead the Open Championship after 3rds last season, eventually finishing 4th, which was the last major. He finished 3rd in The Players Championship last month which is the unofficial 5th major and lies 9th on the PGA scoring ave stats this season (McIlroy is 7th). He has 3 Masters starts with a best finish of 21st, but arrives in good form and could easily post his best finish this year.
14:24 Patrick Reed (US), Adam Svensson (Can), Sahith Theegala (US)
14:36 Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Shane Lowry (Ire), Thomas Pieters (Bel)
15:18 Viktor Hovland (Nor), Xander Schauffele (US), Tiger Woods (US)
15:30 Patrick Cantlay (US), Kurt Kitayama (US), Adam Scott (Aus)
15:42 Jon Rahm (Spa), Justin Thomas (US), Cameron Young (US)
15:54 Sung-Jae Im (Kor), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Cameron Smith (Aus)
16:30 Bryson DeChambeau (US), Francesco Molinari (Ita), JT Poston (US)
16:54 Brooks Koepka (US), Danny Willett (Eng), Gary Woodland (US)
17:24 Tom Hoge (US), Si-Woo Kim (Kor), Phil Mickelson (US)
17:48 Jason Day (Aus), Zach Johnson (US), Gordon Sargent (US)
18:12 Corey Conners (Can), Dustin Johnson (US), Justin Rose (Eng)
18:24 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Collin Morikawa (US), Will Zalatoris (US)
18:36 Max Homa (US), Sam Bennett (US), Scottie Scheffler (US)
18:48 Sam Burns (US), Tom Kim (Kor), Rory McIlroy (NI)
19:00 Tony Finau (US), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Jordan Spieth (US)
A lot of quality near the top of the leaderboard after a day of low scoring and I'm afraid Rory looks to have missed out again. Very pleased with Hovland but Rahm was awesome and might take some stopping from here.
Rahm was superb and will be around for many years to come.
Mickleson, wow he crept in to the running towards the end, shame for Koepka, just had a bad 4th round.
I bet on the exchange so backing to win and trading a bit throughout the Masters and was comfortable really from the outset of a profit assuming nothing crazy happened, would have made more if Koepka had of won but really enjoyed the Masters this year, weather could have been better but made for some drama in the end.
The player with the best scoring ave on the PGA tour wins (must note that for next year !), but the LIV boys showed up well. As usual those with previous course form did well, the likes of Mickelson and Reed outperforming their odds. Mickelson was 125/1 to be top American ! Pleased with the Hovland place, he did well to recover in the 3rd round, but never really looked like winning in the final round.