Go directly to the thing itself, the great folk-season opener. (Despite my criticism of the geographical mismatch for the movement of the players until May, at least in this way we have a great one months from now until August.)
The Masters is won by the top players in a particular decade. Byron Nelson and Gene Sarazen won in the 1930s. Nelson, Jimmy Demaret and Sam Snead won in the 40s. Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Snead and Demaret won in the '50s. Jack Nicklaus,Palmer and Gary Player won in the 60s. Tom Watson, Raymond Floyd, Fuzzy Zoeller, Nicklaus and Player won in the 70s. Seve Ballesteros, Ben Crenshaw, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Nicklaus and Watson all won in the 80s. Tiger Woods, Fred Couples, Jose Maria Olazabal, Faldo and Langer all won in the 90s. In this decade, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and Tiger have won.
The 60s were by Palmer and Nicklaus, who has won three times dominated. Ought to be the same way, Woods with three andMickelson with two. (Singh won in 2000, Mike Weir in 2003.)
The point is that when you look at the winners over the history of the tournament, you see mostly top players. Leaderboards at The Masters are usually an All-Star team. This is not a major to take a chance with a 150-1 shot. (It’s fun to look at the long,long, long shots, though: Would you take Ballesteros at 750-1 or Nicklaus at 1000-1? Player at 5000-1,anyone?)
That said, there are some compelling possibilities under 100-1. How Olazabal at 66-1. Bottom line: the man can still play. How Charles Howell III at 50-1. He is already going in office pools. He is the not-so-under-the-radar pick. Local boy stay with mom and dad this week, after an excellent year is already a victory, etc.
The mid-range rates are still attractive. Henrik Stenson, Jim Furyk and Padraig Harrington 33-1 act as cost-effective moves. Furyk, in particular. He had a long putt on the 18th last year only to the cut, and makehe finished T22. He has three top-10 in Augusta to boot. Probably the best deal is Adam Scott at 33-1. He won last week, he won the Tour Championship and the player, so it is not foreign to big tournaments with strong fields. And, as Johnny Miller pointed out last weekend, his swing looks identical to Tiger again. He was shaky with short putts on Thursday and Friday, though. You can not miss many opportunities if you are close fight in Augusta.
Thepicks are below. As I've often said, this is my favorite sporting event of the year for many reasons, near the top of the list, which is the relative lack of commercials. Oh, and the pretty flowers are on the list. And, of course. The smooth greens. And the sound of birds chirping in the Georgia spring. And Amen Corner. The accuracy of the required number 13 And ...
At The Masters take Tiger Woods (11-8), 1 / 6 unit: When Tiger says he likes the way he plays, that's what he saidLooking after winning the CA Championship two weeks ago.
Take advantage of Vijay Singh (16-1), 1 / 6 unit: When Vijay says he was then close to winning which is what happened three weeks ago at Arnie's tournament, look out.
Take Retief Goosen (25-1), 1 / 6 unit: The last five trips to Augusta: T3, T3, T13, T13, 2
My Links : Sneed
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