The Masters kicks off on Thursday, and with it, one of the most exciting events of the year if you’re a golf fan. This is the first Major tournament of the year, and it is always one of the most anticipated events on the PGA Tour. This is also one of the biggest weeks of the year when it comes to sports betting. As you get ready to place your bets, it’s important that you educate yourself in order to give yourself the best chance possible of winning. Here, we’ve taken a look at a few of the top ranked golfers for the weekend with the hopes that we can help boost your odds of picking a winner
Dustin Johnson: Johnson is the number one ranked golfer at most sites going into The Masters. That means that he’s going to be a low value bet and that you’re likely to spend too much on him. Now, that might not necessarily be a bad thing as the general consensus is that he’s dominating the PGA right now. However, the downside of choosing Johnson is that if he does win, you won’t win as much as you probably deserve. Unfortunately, the odds point to him disappointing rather than surprising here. That’s just the nature of being the number one guy—there’s only one place that you can go from there. Your bet is likely going to be better used somewhere else.
Tiger Woods: If you’re looking for a golfer that is almost guaranteed to make an impact, Woods is the way to go. Yes, of the top 15 ranked golfers, Woods has the least amount of recent experience. However, he is the type of golfer that would not enter The Masters unless he thought he had a realistic chance of winning it. The downside of Woods is that based upon what we’ve seen of him over the last five years, he is way too expensive. He’s popular, and the sportsbooks know that, so the odds on him are much lower than realistic.
Rory McIlroy: McIlroy is one of the handful of golfers who looks like a different golfer based on which site you are using. At some sites, McIlroy is a top five selection. At others, he isn’t even in the top ten. At these latter sites, he is a great selection; a golfer that will return much more than what he’s worth if he wins. Over time, these types of selections do create a situation with positive expected value, but it’s hard to know if this is the one tournament where he will make it worthwhile. golfer. Most people are going to stay far away from him because he seems like a bad deal, which will drive up his return, so it might be worthwhile to choose him as his expected return goes up. For now, McIlroy is still expensive and overvalued.
Bubba Watson: Watson is perhaps the most overlooked of all of the golfers entered in this tournament. He is not listed in the top 20 at many sites, while at others, he sits in the top ten—which is where he realistically belongs. He has a great shot of making the top ten or better this weekend. He’s made 7 out of 8 cuts lately, and has been a force to be reckoned with at the World Golf Championship rounds that he’s played in. He is not always the most reliable golfer, but he has been in top form lately and almost always performs well at early Majors. He has momentum on his side, has a great ceiling when it comes to potential return. That’s a great deal no matter how you look at it.
Sergio Garcia: A final strong value golfer to take into account is Garcia. He will return more than double of what Watson and has been a bit more consistent than him this season, making 9 of 9 cuts. A fourth place finish at the Valspar Championship a few weeks ago showed that he’s capable of holding his own against the best in the world, and there’s no reason to think that he won’t do so this weekend. He could be a dark horse this weekend.