It’s almost time for that sound we’ve all grown so used to hearing. The sound of the CBS Masters music and Jim Nantz saying, “Hello friends.”
We’ve given you six sleepers to keep an eye on and we’ve covered the top 10 favorites in two posts (favorites 1-5 and 6-10) heading into this week, but now, it’s time for our picks. If one of us is correct, we’re going to make sure you remember that so I should point out that straight up picking tournament winners isn’t the easiest business. In over 30 picks, we’ve gotten three right.
While that number may not appear very enticing, if you were to have taken my advice and wagered just $5.00 on my two correct picks and lost $45.00 on the nine I got wrong, you would have walked away with a profit of $225. That’s some tough math.
I’ll explain how.
I correctly picked Xander Schauffele to win the WGC-HSBC Champions at 40/1 odds and also picked Bryson DeChambeau to win the Shriners at 14/1 odds, so if you really want to get something right this week, follow my lead.
Here’s a look at how we’re doing overall this season.
* Two Inches Short won our braket challenge even though he didn’t pick the WGC-Match Play winner.
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Who’s going to win the 2019 Masters? Tiger Woods. Book it.
Big Cat is striping it arguably the best since his back fusion surgery a couple of years ago and that includes winning last year’s Tour Championship. I see no reason why he won’t get the job done this week.
15 majors sounds so much better than 14, doesn’t it?
This season he’s 6th in strokes gained overall. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. That short game he says he needs to clean up? He’s only 6th in strokes gained around the green. And oh yeah, he took down Rory in the WGC-Match Play quarterfinals. Building towards the Masters is a tradition unlike any other.
Want to see Tiger’s record at Augusta? It’s spectacular:
19 pro starts
4 wins
2 runner-ups
11 top 5s
13 top 10s
70.93 scoring average
Tiger in the hunt Sunday afternoon down the stretch in a mock red turtleneck sounds like something we are interested in. We should feel blessed he’s even playing again.
Players to watch:
Some oldies but goodies…
Freddie Couples – that swing never gets old
Vijay Singh – the 2000 masters champ contended a few weeks ago.
I already did my bragging at the top of this post, so I’m going to get straight to the point.
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After watching him all season, I believe that this is Rory’s year to finally don the green jacket and become a winner of the modern era grand slam. McIlroy’s entire 2019 season has been on maximizing his chances to win at Augusta. He’s already got a win and has finished in the top 10 seven times in eight tournaments.
McIlroy is ready to get the monkey off his back, and he will do it this year. He was close last year when he played in the final group alongside eventual winner Patrick Reed, but a final round 74 cost him any shot at winning.
McIlroy has finished in the top 10 every year at Augusta since 2014. It’s going to happen at some point and this year looks like the year.
While this pick isn’t much of a stretch, it can still make you some $$$ at 7/1 odds. I would suggest pairing it with a Charley Hoffman or Paul Casey top 10 finish to maximize your potential winnings.
[irp posts=”56238″ name=”Six early 2019 Masters sleepers to consider”]
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My initial pick two years ago heading into the week was Dustin Johnson. It was pretty much a no brainer at the time too. DJ was coming off three wins in three consecutive starts including the WGC Mexico Championship and the Match Play. At the time, it felt like the only one who could keep DJ from slipping on the Green Jacket that week was either himself or an act from god. Then stairs-gate happened, effectively ending his week.
Why am I bringing all this up? Well, take a wild guess who I am taking to win this week.
While DJ isn’t heading to Augusta this year with three straight wins under his belt, he does have another pre-Augusta win in Mexico this year and once again it is starting to feel like the only one that can keep Dustin out of Butler Cabin come Sunday night is himself or another crazy, fluke accident.
There’s no question Mike has the popular pick this week in Rory and it’s looking better by the hour with all the rain Augusta has been getting hit with. You know another bomber who can take advantage of a wet and slow golf course though? DJ.