Just Back Bubba – The Masters 2015 Tips

The 2015 Masters gets underway on Thursday afternoon from Augusta but who will you be backing in the first Major of the season?

The Tournament
You can’t really say that spring has begun until the Masters gets underway. The first Major of the season, it dates back to 1934 and is the only one of the big four global events to be played at the same course every year. As an invitational tournament, it also has the smallest field of all the Majors, with just ninety golfers taking part, although the top fifty in the world receive automatic invitations.

The Course
It has been tinkered with over the years, but the Augusta National Golf Club course remained a beautiful golf venue, with perfectly manicured fairways, dogwood, azaleas and gleaming white bunkers. It has been lengthened more than once and unless the weather intervenes, shorter hitters are at a disadvantage. Solid putting is the other key to success there as the lightning fast bentgrass greens are unforgiving.

In The Bunker
A final round of 69 ensured Rory McIlroy a top-ten finish at last year’s Masters, his best effort in six visits to Augusta. It is the only Major missing from his collection and he will surely be putting on the famous green jacket at some point in his career, but the question as ever with Rory is one of price. No doubt there will be plenty of punters happy to lump on at 6/1 but those odds look pretty short considering he has yet to show his best form on the course, and I’ll be looking elsewhere this weekend.

Recommended Bets
It’s all or nothing for Bubba Watson at the Masters. His two victories in 2012 and 2014 are his only top-ten finishes in the season’s first Major, but his proven ability to tame Augusta National make him hard to ignore,

and he travels to Georgia this year in excellent form, having finished third at the WGC Cadillac on his last outing, his seventh consecutive top-fifteen finish. Back him at 11/1 to win his third Masters.

Rickie Fowler’s form so far in 2015 has been nothing to write home about, but that doesn’t mean we can rule him out this week. As he showed last season he has become adept at peaking for the big events. He registered top five finishes in all four Majors in 2014 including a fifth at Augusta last season, when he went into the final round just two shots off the lead. At 35/1 he offers plenty of value this week.

Brandt Snedeker’s comeback from injury has been one of the good news stories of 2015. His victory at Pebble Beach was his first since 2013 and he has four other top-twenty finishes to his name this year as he climbs steadily back up the world rankings. His first Major is long overdue and having twice made the top ten at Augusta, he’s worth adding to your short list at odds of 50/1.

Bubba Watson @ 11/1
Rickie Fowler @ 35/1
Brandt Snedeker @ 50/1