It’s been the Jordan Spieth show at Augusta National, as the 21-year old phenom set a new 36-hole scoring record and now holds a 5-shot lead heading into the weekend. Spieth’s dominance has necessitated a new market at BETDAQ– a “Spieth-less” Win Market in which Dustin Johnson is the favorite at 4.5. Johnson is listed at 10.5 in the actual Win Market, making him one of the only players aside from Spieth whose pre-tournament backers are still in decent position (our own top choice, Jason Day, struggled to a 2nd-round 74 that caused his odds to balloon all the way up to 86.0 after he was trading at 6.5 on Friday morning. We had him at 16.5 on Wednesday).
The third round is Moving Day at Augusta, and plenty of fireworks are expected when things get going in a few hours. Here are a few of my favorite bets on the board:
WIN MARKET W/O SPIETH
Recommendation: McIlroy at 18.5
It’s been a frustrating couple of days for the top-ranked player in the world, as lackluster front nine performances have left him twelve shots off Spieth’s pace and seemingly out of the tournament. Bottom line: unless Spieth backs up, there’s simply no way Rory is going to be wearing the green jacket on Sunday afternoon.
Remove Spieth from the field, though (as BETDAQ had done), and things get real interesting. Charley Hoffman is in second place alone at 9-under, but I don’t think many people expect him to stay there. Below Hoffman is a three-man group at 7-under, but 4-under is tied for 8th, so there are only a handful of guys who enter the weekend with a significant lead over McIlroy (who is -2). And for all of Rory’s shortcomings this week, he did fire a back-nine 31 yesterday that was capped off with a fist-pumping birdie on the last. He spoke in the post-round interview about getting off to a fast start today, and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he did just that. I realize that winning may be out of the question for McIlroy at this point, but at 18.5 I think he’s a terrific value in the “Spieth-less” Win Market.
THIRD ROUND 2-BALLS
Brooks Koepka (2.02) vs. Graeme McDowell (2.38)
Koepka is a Masters rookie who has made some rookie mistakes over the first two days, triple-bogeying the 11th hole in Round 1 and bogeying four out of six holes on the back nine yesterday. However, he’s also made some things happen, racking up 10 birdies and an eagle in two rounds, and he strikes me as a dangerous player entering the weekend. McDowell, meanwhile, was not in top form heading into this event and played like it yesterday, firing an uninspiring 74 after breaking par on Thursday. Recommendation: Koepka at 2.02
Russell Henley (1.91) vs. Danny Willett (2.1)
Henley played beautifully on Thursday, shooting 4-under par 68 to plant himself right on the first page of the leaderboard. He struggled a bit yesterday, though, needing two birdies in his last four holes for 74. He’s a slight favorite here primarily because he’s more of a known commodity than Willett (at Augusta, anyway), but I’ve seen a lot of Willett over the first two days (thanks to the fine online coverage at Masters.com) and am just really, really impressed with the way he’s swinging the club. He may not have learned to “respect” Augusta National yet, as he’s stumbled to a few careless three-putts thanks to his over-aggressive nature on the greens, but he’s absolutely dominating the course tee-to-green and has an unmistakable air of confidence about him. I like his chances against Henley today. Recommendation: Willett at 2.02
Hideki Matsuyama (2.06) vs. Charl Schwartzel (2.14)
A trip to Augusta National was apparently just what Charl Schwartzel needed, as the South African has played two quality rounds this week after a poor stretch of golf on the PGA Tour. Can he keep it going? More importantly, can he keep pace with young Hideki Matsuyama, the 23-year old Japanese star who has made things look quite easy this week? Based on the feel I get watching the two men play– Schwartzel feels like he’s “hanging on” while Matsuyama strikes me as “holding back”– I don’t think he can. Maybe “holding back” isn’t the proper way to characterize Matsuyama’s play, but I think his best golf may be ahead of him this week. Recommendation: Matsuyama at 2.06
NEW !!!
You can now follow BETDAQ updates on Google+
For further details – CLICK HERE
£20 FREE BET
