With all due respect to the many world-class tournaments held around the world in the first quarter of the year, all eyes inevitably turn to Augusta National which begins on April 5. The first major of the year (at least on the men’s side, as the women will compete in their inaugural Grand Slam event, the ANA Inspiration, March 29-April 1) is seen by both players and fans of the sport as the true first major of the season.
This year’s Masters has added attractions. First of all, it will mark the comeback of a player who hopes to revive his career after a long hiatus to break a long-standing record held by another legendary figure: Tiger versus Golden Bear: 14 majors versus 18.
After his impressive comeback this year following his long recovery period from back injuries, Tiger Woods is the third favorite (best odds: 9/1) to win a fifth green jacket and his 15th Grand Slam title at Augusta on Sunday, April 9.
Also back at Augusta this year after falling down the stairs of a house he had rented and injuring himself on the eve of the previous edition’s tournament, Dustin Johnson, current world number one and winner of the 2016 US Open, is listed as the second favorite to win if the odds of all the major bookmakers are taken into account.
And who is currently the top favorite to don the green jacket at the Masters? Rory McIroy (at 8/1), who last week won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his first victory since the 2016 US Tour Championship.
The Northern Irishman (pictured above during his dismal final round at last year’s Masters) will attempt to become the sixth player in history to win at least one of each of the four majors (after Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods), having previously won a British Open, a U.S. Open and two PGA Championships. He will also try to erase the traumatic memories of the 2011 Masters when he led the tournament by four strokes after the third round and perpetrated a final round of 80 strokes to finish in fifteenth place.
Rounding out the top 10 bettors’ favorites (in order) are: Justin Thomas, who won his first major last year, the PGA Championship; Jordan Spieth, winner of a Masters (2015), the US Open and the British Open, so he only needs the PGA Championship to complete his own Grand Slam; Justin Rose (2013 US Open winner and 2016 Olympic champion); Jason Day (2015 PGA Championship winner); Jon Rahm, the Spanish rising star and world number three seeking his first major; three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson (2004, 2006 and 2010); and Ricky Fowler, arguably now the unfortunate holder of the moniker “best player not to have won a major” after Sergio Garcia’s 2017 victory.
The defending champion and new father (of Azalea) is ranked 13th in the betting, behind two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson and Paul Casey, who won the Vaspar Championship on the PGA Tour two weeks ago. Reigning U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka has been forced to sit out the Masters while he recovers from a wrist injury.
The 14th to 20th places in the betting odds are, respectively, for Hideki Matsuyama, Henrik Stenson (winner of the 2016 British Open), Tommy Fleetwood (European Tour number one last season), Thomas Pieters, Marc Leishman, Adam Scott (who in 2013 became the first and so far only Australian to don the famous green jacket) and Patrick Reed.
The third Spaniard in bettors’ preferences is Rafael Cabrera-Bello, ranging from 80/1 to 100/1; current European Race to Dubai leader Shubhankar Sharma (who received Augusta’s only international special invitation this year) is at 125/1; Andrew “Beef” Johnston is at 250/1; 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett languishes at around 200/1; Bernhard Langer (Masters winner in 1986 and 1993), dominant on the Champions Tour, is at around 500/1; and Jose Maria Olazabal (Masters champion in 1994 and 1999) is at 1000/1 to 2500/1, while rounding out the list are other former champions such as Mike Weir, Ian Woosnam, Larry Mize, Mark O’Meara and Sandy Lyle.
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