Masters Odds 2016: Breaking Down Best and Worst Selections in Augusta Field
Masters fever is about to grip the nation.
Now that Villanova has earned the national championship in college basketball with one of the most thrilling finishes seen in the history of the sport and Major League Baseball's Opening Day is in the books, the focus of the sporting world will be on perhaps the most beautiful golf course ever created.
The Masters is the first of the season's major championships and often its most exciting. The best golfers in the world hone their skills so they are in their best form early in April every year.
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While we take note of the absence of Tiger Woods, it's hard not to be impressed by Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy. These are the top three golfers in the world rankings, and each will undoubtedly make a statement when the competition gets underway Thursday and throughout the weekend.
Day may have the best chance of winning the Masters and making it back-to-back major championships. Day won the PGA Championship last August when he put on a stellar show at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin, to win his first major title with a score of 20 under par.
Day has regathered himself and is in top form as he get ready to tee off in Augusta, Georgia. Day has won his last two tournaments, and he has the complete game to put on another memorable performance.
| Jason Day | 7-1 | Best | Best golfer in top form. |
| Bubba Watson | 12-1 | Best | Perfect game for the track. |
| Adam Scott | 12-1 | Best | Best ball-striker on the tour. |
| Louis Oosthuizen | 28-1 | Best | Consistently the most underrated player at the biggest events. |
| Patrick Reed | 40-1 | Best | Ability to overcome trouble makes him dangerous. |
| Rory McIlroy | 19-2 | Worst | A bit too wild to remain in contention. |
| Jordan Spieth | 10-1 | Worst | Pressure on him is significant. |
| Brandt Snedeker | 40-1 | Worst | Needs more of a killer instinct. |
| Dustin Johnson | 20-1 | Worst | Final-round woes continue |
| Phil Mickelson | 18-1 | Worst | Old pro finishes a bit short. |
Day is likely to be one of the longest hitters at Augusta, and he combines that with the sensational ability to make key putts (ranked third in strokes gained putting) when the competition is most intense.
He has emerged as the favorite in the event at odds of 7-1 according to Odds Shark, and he remains one of the best selections in the field.
Spieth and McIlroy are the second and third choices at odds of 19-2 and 10-1 respectively, but we don't see either one of those superstars having an impact on Sunday's final round. Spieth dominated the PGA Tour in 2015, specifically the first half of the golf season when he won the Masters and the U.S. Open.
Spieth appears to be a generational star who will compete with Day and McIlroy for years to come, but he has not been as good this year as he was in 2015. He has just one top-10 finish since winning in January, and he hasn't been as consistent in getting to the greens. He ranks 164th in finding the greens in regulation, and that hurts his chances at Augusta.
McIlroy is not playing with his best form either. His biggest issues appear to be concentration and consistency. McIlroy will rip the ball down the middle, hit the softest approach and then nail a double-breaker for a sweet-looking birdie and look unbeatable, but he is also likely to go into an unexplainable funk that can last six, seven or eight holes at a time.
Even the best golfers will have bad holes, but McIlroy has to find a way to shake those problems in a more decisive fashion.
As a result, Spieth and McIlroy are bad selections to come away with the green jacket.
Bubba Watson has been quite successful when playing at the Masters and already has two green jackets in his closet. The big left-hander combines power with an amazing soft touch on his approach shots, and that combination always plays well at the Masters.
Watson, a 12-1 choice in the tournament, has an excellent chance to pick up the third Masters title of his career. Watson is averaging 311.1 yards off the tee, and that ranks fourth on the tour, while he is also first in finding the greens in regulation.
Watson is one of the best plays in the field.
Don't count out Patrick Reed, either. Reed and Spieth were joined at the hip when they joined the PGA Tour, and while Reed has done well in recent years, he has not enjoyed the spectacular success that Spieth has found.
Reed is somewhat of an anti-hero, and that may be good for the sport because there are so many "good guys" who have been dominating recently. Having a bad boy come to the front could create quite a bit of drama. Reed is listed at odds of 40-1 to win the Masters.
Reed ranks 15th in FedEx Cup points and 10th in the World Rankings. He has seven top-10 finishes this season in the 11 events he has entered, and he knows how to keep his cool after hitting an average or poor shot. He ranks third in scrambling, and the ability to turn a bogey into a par or a par into a birdie could turn him into a serious contender this week.
Dustin Johnson is a 20-1 shot to come away with the green jacket, but he has been victimized by painful finishes in many of the biggest events. His inability to close out the U.S. Open was as bad as it gets for any of the tour's top players, and it's hard to see Johnson shaking his demons on the back nine Sunday.
That would assume he is at his best for the first three and one-half rounds. Johnson is in good form after finishing fifth in the Dell Match Play-WGC championships and third in the Shell Houston Open. However, he had a chance to win in Houston but was unable to put together a strong finish in the final round.
Johnson's ability to get off to excellent starts in tournaments regularly allows him to man the role of contender. He averages 69.00 in the first round (eighth on the tour) and 68.29 in the second round (first on the tour.
However, his final-round average of 72.57 ranks 170th, and we don't see him overcoming that problem at the Masters. Johnson is going to have to overcome a lot of painful history before he returns to the winner's circle. We don't see it happening here.
Stats courtesy of the PGA Tour's official website.
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