Masters Odds 2018: Early Lines and Predictions for Top Sleepers in the Field
While most of the focus at the Masters usually revolves around the top names in golf, there are always a few surprising names that show up on the leaderboard.
A year ago, Charley Hoffman caught us off guard with an opening-round 65, while William McGirt followed his fellow American at the top of the standings following 18 holes of play.
Thomas Pieters emerged as the most unlikely top-10 finisher, as he remained in contention alongside champion Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose, Charl Schwartzel and other past major winners over the final two rounds.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Entering the 2018 Masters, the top sleepers in the field are going to be more under the radar than usual due to the presence of all the big names in the sport, including Tiger Woods.
Below is a look at a few players who have a chance to surprise us this week at Augusta National Golf Club.
Top Sleepers in Field
Tommy Fleetwood (+4,000; Bet $100 to win $4,000)
Tommy Fleetwood hasn't won a tournament in the United States, but he has an opportunity to get one step closer to changing that at Augusta.
The 27-year-old Englishman, who has four career wins on the European Tour, missed the cut in his first appearance at the Masters a year ago, but he rebounded well with a fourth-place finish at the U.S. Open.
Despite playing well over the last few months, a span that includes a fourth-place finish at the Honda Classic, Fleetwood enters the Masters as a sleeper because of his lack of experience at the top of Grand Slam leaderboards.
Outside of his run at the U.S. Open a year ago, Fleetwood missed six cuts at majors and hasn't cracked the top 20 in three other Grand Slam appearances.
Fleetwood is attempting to change his fortunes in major tournaments in a year in which he could be a major player on the European Ryder Cup team.
Although he doesn't have the best numbers across the board compared to Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson and others, Fleetwood is seventh on the PGA Tour in scoring average.
If he continues to put up consistent numbers over four rounds, Fleetwood could find his name in the top 10 come Sunday.
Prediction: Top 10
Alexander Noren (+4,000)
Sweden's Alexander Noren isn't a new face to golf at 35, but he is a new name to the casual American fans, as most of his success has come on the European Tour.
Noren has been hard to ignore this season on the PGA Tour, as he has a trio of top-three finishes from the Farmers Insurance Open, the Honda Classic and Dell Match Play.
Before struggling a bit at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he had one round in the 60s and tied for 36th, Noren produced an impressive string of results.
In a five-tournament span starting with the Farmers Insurance Open, Noren had 18 rounds of 71 or lower.
What Noren has to avoid at Augusta is a bad round that ruins his place on the leaderboard, like the 75 he shot at the second round of the Honda Classic.
Even though he rallied with a 65 and 67 on the weekend, Noren wasn't able to catch Thomas and Luke List.
Just like Fleetwood, Noren is one of many European players attempting to perform well at each of the four major tournaments in order to earn enough Ryder Cup points or impress captain Thomas Bjorn to be named a captain's pick for the event in France at the end of September.
Prediction: Top 15
Patrick Reed (+4,500)
Before March, the notion of Patrick Reed being a sleeper at Augusta would have been laughed at.
In the last month, the 27-year-old American found his form and is now looked at as a sleeper to make a mark on the opening major on the 2018 calendar.
Reed, who took second at the 2017 PGA Championship, rebounded from a rough start that included four missed cuts with a second-place finish at the Valspar Championship.
The American followed that up with a seventh-place mark at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and a strong run at the Dell Match Play.
Although he's been in and around major leaderboards in the past, Reed's only top-10 finish at a Grand Slam came in August at Quail Hollow, as he finished two shots behind Thomas.
In between the missed cuts, Reed put down some low scores, but the problem before March is they came on an inconsistent basis.
In his last three stroke play events, Reed has six rounds in the 60s and an average score of 69.8, which is a number we expect to see him at.
As long as he continues his recent form at Augusta, Reed should improve on his career-best finish of 22nd and make a run at the top 10 positions.
Prediction: Top 15
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
Statistics obtained from PGATour.com.
Odds obtained from OddsShark.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
