Masters Odds 2016: Latest Lines for Top Favorites at Augusta

When the calendar turns to April, it means only one thing to golf fans: The Masters Tournament is approaching.

Augusta National awaits the most talented golfers in the world on the sport's biggest stage from April 7-10 as they battle for the coveted green jacket.

It takes four days of nearly perfect golf to win this tournament, and one bad hole can cost a player the championship. While there have been sleepers over the years who sneaked in and won the Masters, more often than not, a highly ranked player ends Sunday with the lowest score.

According to Odds Shark, three players have the best shot at donning the green jacket, all with the same odds:

Golfer	PGA Rank	Odds to Win
Jordan Spieth	2	+700
Rory McIlroy	3	+700
Jason Day	1	+700
Next Five
Bubba Watson	4	+1000
Adam Scott	6	+1000
Rickie Fowler	5	+1200
Phil Mickelson	20	+1800
Dustin Johnson	9	+2000

Jordan Spieth

Although no one has won back-to-back Masters championships since Tiger Woods in 2001 and 2002, Jordan Spieth has as good of a shot as anyone to pull off the feat. The 22-year-old Dallas native just surrendered the No. 1 world ranking to Jason Day, but don't let that fool you—he's still capable of winning any tournament.

Spieth started the season with a seventh-place finish, followed by a fourth-place finish and a win at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. He's struggled since—even missing the cut at the Northern Trust Open in February—but he seems to be best under pressure.

If you are wondering how his game is at the moment, check out this shot from Friday at the Shell Houston Open, via the PGA Tour:

His mind also seems to be in the right place when it comes to approaching the prestigious event. Speaking with CBS' Charlie Rose recently (h/t Robby Kalland of CBSSports.com), he gave a level-headed description of what it would take to be the fourth player to repeat as Masters champion.

"[At Augusta National] you're playing the golf course," Spieth said. "And this year is going to be tricky, because last year we were 18 under. The hardest thing to do in repeating or trying to repeat a win is not looking at the year before and think that it's just going to be like that."

It won't be an easy task, but Spieth certainly seems up to the challenge. 

Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy has yet to win a Masters, but if (and when) he does, it won't surprise anyone. What's surprising is how the 27-year-old has struggled this year—at least, as much as the PGA's No. 3 golfer can.

He finished outside the top 10 in his first three events of the season before failing to make the cut in February at the Honda Classic. However, he played his best golf of the season in March, tying for third at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship and finishing fourth last week at the WGC-Dell Match Play.

Like Spieth, he also appears to be laser-focused on winning a green jacket, telling Ewan Murray of the Guardian (h/t Joel Beall of Golf Digest) he plans to skip the Par 3 Contest at the Masters.

“It’s a bit of a distraction and the year I had my best chance at Augusta, 2011, I didn’t play the Par 3 Contest,” McIlroy said. “So maybe the decision not to play it this year can work in my favor.”

If he hits the ball off the tee anything like this one in practice, via the European Tour, he'll be tough to beat:

McIlroy has improved his finishes at the Masters the past three years, and his fourth-place finish last year was his best ever at the tournament. It's the only major tournament on the PGA Tour he has yet to win, and at this point, it seems like a matter of when, not if, he completes the career Grand Slam.

Jason Day

Day's back is bothering him, but you wouldn't know it.

All he's done is win back-to-back tournaments on the PGA Tour and take over as the No. 1-ranked golfer.

However, as well as he's played lately, even he hasn't been without struggle this season. Prior to the victories at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and WGC-Dell Match Play, he had finished outside of the top 10 (and missed one cut) in his previous four tournaments.

Yet if you go back to last season, it's hard to argue anyone is playing better than the 28-year-old Australian, per SportsCenter:

He showed toughness at the end of last month when he battled through a sore back at the WGC-Dell Match Play and impressed ESPN.com's senior golf writer, Jason Sobel:

Day is an interesting case because he isn't dominating the statistics as much as one might think a No. 1 player would.

If fact, there are only two major statistical categories where Day is ranked in the top 10 on the tour, but they are important ones.

He's is 10th in birdie average (4.44) and third in strokes gained putting (.970). The term "Drive for show, putt for dough" comes to mind when you see the impressive putting statistics and realize he is ranked just 20th in driving distance (304.1 yards) and 164th in driving accuracy percentage (56.5).  

Whatever Day is doing appears to be working, and there is no reason to think it can't transition into play at the Masters, where he will be as tough to beat as anyone else on the course come Thursday.