Few tournaments in the world of sport have quite so many traditions, or quite as much prestige, as The Masters in Golf. The tournament, which has been held every year at Augusta National since 1934, has a number of unusual foibles. Spectators must be called patrons, caddies must wear green boiler suits, a par-3 contest takes place the day before the start of the tournament and the first shots of the tournament are usually taken by esteemed former golfers.
Then we have the tradition of the winner not only receiving the famous trophy based on the clubhouse, but also membership to the club as bestowed on them by the gift of a green jacket, presented to them following their win by the previous winner. Last year’s winner also has the task of entertaining all previous Masters winners in attendance hosting the Champion’s Dinner during the week leading up to the event.
The fact that The Masters has been moved from its usual spot in the calendar in April, to the cooler climes of November should, hopefully, not make too much of a difference to the players and although it is usually the first Major of the Year, it will be the third (and final) Major of 2020 this time around.
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Let’s now preview the tournament coming up at Augusta, starting on Thursday morning, by taking a look at the famous tournament itself, its winners, the course on which the tournament is contested and finally we will ring you our tips on who we see winning the event or at least coming close enough to earn an each way payout.
The Masters 2020
First founded in 1933, the first Masters tournament took place in 1934 and was won by Horton Smith. In its formative years, it was a strictly American affair and each of the winners in the first 26 years of its history were American players.
South African legend Gary Player broke that mould in 1961, but although he landed three Masters titles, he remained the only non-US winner until 1980 when Severiano Ballesteros became the second. Since then, we have seen a far greater number of overseas players win the title, including the first British player, Sandy Lyle in 1988, to win the event.
Jack Nicklaus holds the record for victories at Augusta with six, with Tiger Woods, the defending champion, just one behind him on five wins. Outside of those two there are a number of three-time winners including legends of the game like Player, Sam Snead, Nick Faldo, Jay Demaret and Phil Mickelson. Arnold Palmer has landed a green jacket on four occasions.
As mentioned previously, Tiger Woods is the holder of the tournament championship having won in 2019. Other recent winners include Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia (who will miss this year’s tournament due to a positive Covid-19 test) and Danny Willett.
Augusta National – The Course
The famous layout at Augusta National features the 9-hole par 3 course, as well as the famous 18-hole championship course. The grounds were formerly a nursery and the legacy of that is that each of the holes is named after a famous flower, tree or shrub that was grown at the nursery.
The most famous part of the course is Amen Corner, which is reached on the second shot at the 11th and runs through until the second shot on the 13th hole. The 16th across water, a famous par 3, has been the sight of some of the most defining moments in the tournament’s history as has the famous uphill last hole.
Currently, the course record is held by two players, Nick Price who shot 63 in 1986 and Greg Norman who shot the same score in 1996. The largest winning victory is 12 strokes, held by Tiger Woods and the lowest winning score to par was -18 which is jointly held by Woods and Jordan Spieth.
Who are The Masters contenders this year?
At the moment, the USPGA Champion Bryson DeChambeau is the 8/1 favourite with bet365 Sport to win The Masters this year. He is just ahead of Dustin Johnson at 17/2, Jon Rahm at 9/1, Justin Thomas at 11/1 and Rory McIlroy at 12/1. Other low prices options include Xander Schauffele (14/1) and Brooks Koepka (16/1).
Outside of those top seven options, the prices do tend to length to 25/1 or greater very quickly with the likes of Tyrell Hatton and Patrick Reed (both 28/1) an interesting option alongside the long-hitting Tony Finau. Tiger Woods is 45/1 to repeat his success of 2019, while there are a number of big names at odds of 50/1 or better including Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose, Paul Casey, Phil Mickelson and Louis Oosthuizen.
Our tips for an outright winning bet would be Justin Thomas, who is an 11/1 chance and is long overdue another Major success, while an each way bet (with bet365 paying out the top eight places) could well be the in form Lee Westwood (110/1) who has a great record at Augusta and who tends to play well in this event.
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