The Masters antepost

Billy Horschel outright
Olazabal top spaniard

For now........mostly traded throughout the year.

Jordan Spieth    
Bubba Watson
Dustin Johnson
Adam Scott    
Henrik Stenson    
Jimmy Walker    
Tiger Woods    
Patrick Reed    
Rickie Fowler    
J.B. Holmes    
Justin Rose    
Matt Kuchar    
Keegan Bradley    
Ian Poulter    
Jim Furyk
Zach Johnson    
Hunter Mahan    
Martin Kaymer    
Charl Schwartzel    
Charley Hoffman    
Graeme McDowell    
Danny Willett
Brian Harman

conundrum within an enigma 2 find the victor
don't fancy any of the bigged up faves
don't normally like those who are f*cking about with different putters BUT
cometh the hour cometh the man
step forward A Scott..horses for courses..my main bet..shouldn't be a million miles away come Sun pm
lesser interests on Oosty(been showing flashes of form,is his back ok?..who knows..class act,nearly won it the other year)
Palmer,Koepka,Moore,V Dub,Haas,Kirk,Grace,C Hoff & big Berndt
GL to all

H Mahan 140
B Haas 150
G Woodland 120
T Casey 70

gotta love this time of year. Gl all.

main bets:
jimmy walker
zach johnson
fred couples
jason day
---------------
(smallbet)
billy horshel
russell henley
ernie eels
tiger

im excited

Gone with main bets of bubba and mickleson - how bubba isn't fav bewilders me, in top form and proven to be the one man who can rip this course a new one! and phil coming back to a bit of form - simple fact is... it's augusta, if the lefty's are in form you back them, course is made for lefties and the bias is huge!!!

my others are all huge prices, win and top ten
Kevin Na

Charley Hoffman

Shane Lowry

Bernd Wiesberger

Cameron Tringale

Robert Streb

Ben Martin

Thomas Bjorn

Thongchai Jaidee

steve stricker

couple of 1st round leader punts

Miguel Angel Jimenez
90
Ryan Palmer
70
Morgan Hoffmann
130

The last seven US Masters winners started with a round in the sixties.

Added

Phil Mickelson
Ernie Els
Paul Casey
Russell Henley

Small squad for me.

Seung-Yul Noh
Ryan Moore
Ryan Palmer
Lee Westwood
Justin Rose
Jordan Speith
Rory McIlroy
Billy Horschel
Danny Willett
J. B. Holmes
Kevin Streelman

Ski has just persuaded me to add Henley and Casey.



Think Noh and Streelman are massive prices.

This is amazing but I've traded on about half the field successfully. BUT... I'm not on Spieth!

A few double bogey's would go down well with me right now!

kincsem  • April 9, 2015 6:55 PM BST 
The last seven Masters winners started with a round in the sixties.

In the last nine MASTERS the winner has come from the T10.


IN 2015.....11 players at -3 or better...incl DAY, ROSE, GARCIA and my fancies CASEY and PALMER (who's going backwards ffs).

'Best Comebacks' after just 18 Holes of play were.....from 7 SHOTS BACK.....Nick Faldo in 1990 and Tiger Woods in 2005.


...in the 2015 tournament there are 30 players with 7 shots after Round 1.

incl...DAY, SERGIO, CASEY, DUSTIN, PHIL, PALMER, MATSUYAMA,, SCHWARTZEL,, BUBBA and wee RORY.

The average attempts before your first victory at The Masters is SIX (from 48 winners).

It’s well known Fuzzy is the only one in the modern era to win on his first attempt back in ’79 but it took 15 attempts for the 1998 winner Mark O’Meara.
Two attempts for Schwartzel before winning in 2011 while Woods in ’97 & Bubba in 20.12 had three prior goes at it.

Four attempts for Arnie, Watson & Seve and Five tries for Player and Jack.
Faldo did it on his sixth attempt along with Immelman, who was the last wire-to-wire winner (incl. ties) in 2008.

Only ONCE in the last 30 years has the Masters champ been the sole leader after the first 18 holes. - Crenshaw '84.

TIGER AND RORY 2ball tomoro both on -2 ?

HOW IS THE DRAW DECIDED ???

Draw is decided on scores when scores are equal first in is last out. They are paired together as they finished in that order.

Catch Me ifyoucan  • March 29, 2015 4:00 PM BST 
WHAT IS ABOUT SUNDAY AFTERNOON THAT ATTRACTS THESE A**E H***S...
...likes FLYS TO SH8T.
Not one constructive post on the thread ALL FCUKING WEEK then all of a sudden feel the urge to.....

Here we go again.

2016 Masters Tournament field could be smallest since 1998.


Nearly three full months into 2016 with the deadline for gaining entry into the Masters Tournament fast approaching, only one professional in the world has booked a late spot at Augusta National Golf Club. Vaughn Taylor. That’s right.
The lone 2016 field addition from the best pros across the globe is the Hephzibah/Augusta State grad that had no full status on any tour in January. With his stunning victory at Pebble Beach in February, Taylor earned the right to drive about seven miles from his home in Evans to Magnolia Lane in two weeks.
And the odds are pretty good that Taylor might stay the only one. An 11th-hour winner in next week’s Shell Houston Open might be the last best hope for some lucky unqualified player to join Taylor in Augusta.


This week’s WGC Match Play marks the last chance for players to gain entry into the Masters via the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings. Seven players loitering outside the top-50 bubble are among the 64 set to compete in round-robin pool play beginning Wednesday at Austin Country Club. The only real chance any of them will have of climbing into the top 50 is at least winning one of the 16 pools to reach the knockout rounds. For most of them, a deep run is essential to gain the world ranking points necessary. Short of that, the only hope for anyone else is winning in Houston on the eve of Masters Week.

The lucky seven contenders queued up for last call are South Africa’s Jaco Van Zyl (No. 52), Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello (54), Belgium’s Thomas Pieters (57), Australians Marcus Fraser (62) and Matt Jones (63), American Patton Kizzire (65) and Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen (66).
Unless someone makes a surprise run this week or grabs the last golden ticket in Houston, the Masters field (currently 88 excluding the four expected no-shows) could dip below 90 for the first time since 89 teed it up in 2002.


Since the world rankings were implemented as a qualifying criteria in 1999 and the automatic winners were reinstated in 2008, there has never been such a scarcity of qualifiers in the early months leading up to the Masters. Taylor and 16-year-old Latin America Amateur winner Paul Chaplet of Costa Rica are the only two players to qualify since 15 top-50 players locked in at the end of 2015.


In fact, there’s been a presumed net loss of one in the expected number of starters since the year began – a figure that could reach minus-three if qualifiers Willett and Kevin Streelman have to withdraw late for paternity leave. Tiger Woods (back), Jim Furyk (wrist) and Jose Maria Olazabal (undisclosed) are all sidelined while they recover from injuries. Sangmoon Bae was already out because of a two-year military service requirement in his native South Korea.


It has been a remarkable set of circumstances that led to this dearth of latecomers. In 10 punch-your-ticket PGA Tour events since January, only Taylor played the role of Cinderella by beating favorite Phil Mickelson at Pebble Beach. Winners in the other nine include past Masters champions Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott (twice), Bubba Watson and Charl Schwartzel; major winners Jason Day and Jason Dufner; and already qualified past tour winners Brandt Snedeker, Hideki Matsuyama and Fabian Gomez.


For whatever reason, few outsiders have been able to close and clinch like Taylor. North Augusta/USC Aiken’s Scott Brown got blown away in the wind at Torrey Pines. Native Augustan Charles Howell couldn’t summon a Sunday charge in Tampa.
Habitual groomsman Kevin Chappell let go of the latest opportunity, heading to the final hole at Bay Hill with a one-shot lead before playing the hole so cautiously he settled for a bogey. Day simultaneously birdied the 17th to inherit the lead at the 18th tee and won with a sand-save par on the last to deny Chappell.

The rest of the world hasn’t offered too many openings for top-50 climbers either, with most of the marquee victories on the global European Tour being gobbled up by already established qualifiers like Rickie Fowler, Branden Grace, Louis Oosthuizen, Schwartzel and Willett.


Only Van Zyl even temporarily penetrated the border, reaching No. 49 three weeks ago after a victory in the Sunshine Tour’s Eye of Africa PGA Championship.
That earned him a coveted spot in the WGC event at Doral the next week, where precious no-cut points were available for just showing up.
Van Zyl, however, chose not to make the trip from South Africa to south Florida due to the distance. Anything in the top half at Doral would have kept him inside the Official World Golf Ranking top 50 and a high finish might have secured his first trip to the Masters.
Instead he slipped two spots to 51st while watching at home and put pressure on himself to make something happen in the Match Play.

Match play is unpredictable, but getting out of their respective round-robin pools is going to require an upset. Cabrera-Bello must deal with top-20 PGA Tour winners Matsuyama and Kevin Kisner. Pieters drew a group with the red-hot Scott.
The rest have at least one top-20 major winner to contend with atop their pools: Olesen (Rory McIlroy), Kizzire (Watson), Fraser (Zach Johnson) and Jones (Oosthuizen).

https://twitter.com/TheMasters

Watch this space.....12 days to go to Masters week, 12 years ago since Phil won !

johnnythebull  • March 24, 2016 9:46 AM GMT 
as it goes.....the guy really is an unreal bottler.....
think it may be a long wait 4 the wee man (rors that is) to pick up another major
don't see Spieth winning another one anytime soon either

Might have to bring this quote back up in two weeks

Jason Day disappeared from the golf course at the WGC and is now a major doubt for the Masters !

http://www.golfpunkhq.com/news/article/jason-day-suffers-injury-on-16th-tee-at-wgc

doesnt look like day is struggling today

Anyone know if Tiger is teeing up in the Masters?

In fact, there’s been a presumed net loss of one in the expected number of starters since the year began – a figure that could reach minus-three if qualifiers Willett and Kevin Streelman have to withdraw late for paternity leave. Tiger Woods (back), Jim Furyk (wrist) and Jose Maria Olazabal (undisclosed) are all sidelined while they recover from injuries. Sangmoon Bae was already out because of a two-year military service requirement in his native South Korea.


Doubt it tbh

Ta

Streelman's baby has happened 3 days ago - assuming this makes him likely to play? Anyone heard otherwise. Decent play at 500 I think

Cabrera-Bello must deal with top-20 PGA Tour winners Matsuyama and Kevin Kisner.

AND so RAFA did, thus earning a place in the Mssters !

With one up and 4/3 wins he's in the Masters

Rory masters prep going well- has the look of eagles about him at the moment and when he does he's a very tough guy to beat.

I think last year he was nervous as a kitten- all the talk was about how he was favourite and how he could complete the grand slam.

This year should be  lot different as the public perception is that he's only one of three favourites with Day and Spieth.

As things stand I think he's an each way shot to nothing and I think he'll go very close indeed.

If it rains Mcilroy can win this, it will help his putting. Despite what people think rain and even windy conditions are ideal for Mcilroy.

He hits the ball so purely that gives him an advantage in the worst weather over the rest. (ps he would have won the open at st Andrews when he was 18 but for his putting, oosty won it that year, windy conditions day 3 and rory scored badly...but this was because the greens had quickly dried out not because of the wind.

I don't think he needs it to rain to win.

Conditions on the greens here are pretty fast, maybe not as quick as Augusta, but he's coping with them fairly well isn't he? And he put himself in a position to win Augusta a few years back when he was a significantly worse player than he is now. Just lacked the experience to close it out.

I think with Rory it's as much about his state of mind as anything else. If he's feeling confident and has got that bounce back in his step then he's very hard to stop, rain or no rain.

McIlroy isn't great in the wind just see his final round at doral. Doubt wind will be a problem at the Masters.

He definitely has an advantage when courses especially long ones are soft.

a lot of prices shortened today

What are the factors that mean that someone is a good or bad player in windy conditions?

1. Hits the ball high. Well that is something Mcilroy does, but that is the modern way. They pretty much all do that.

2. Someone who is a short or medium hitter will naturally be at a disadvantage in windy conditions, not applicable to Mcilroy

3.The quality of the strike of clubface on ball, this is far and away the most important and here Mcilroy is as good as anyone who has ever played golf.

These are the mechanics, and from these it can be seen that it is impossible for Mcilroy to be a bad player in the wind. Ah of course I have not mentioned the phycology of golf, does he lack confidence in certain conditions...possibly, but at the end golf is a game in which technique overrides everything and Mcilroys inherent superiority in all these measures over most other players mean he is and must be a great player in all conditions.

some folk dont enjoy playing in wind as they cant stipe it and dont like adjusting

some have balance issues, and others cant hit half shots that are required at times

some cant accept how much distance is taken off or added by the wind

some refuse to accept wind affects putts


not just an issue of ball flight and or striking


some have played well in the wind in the past and relish it, others simply give up when it goes wrong





best look at who has played well or badly in wind in past and expect them to repeat, imo

making excuses as a reason to have a bet is quick way to poor bus

Mcilroy's track record suggests he struggles in the wind. He missed the cut at the honda and blew a comfortable lead at doral on a windy sunday. These are two examples from the last month. I can't remember Mcilroy ever winning when there have been windy conditions.

Players do not win golf tournaments as a rule, they lose them almost always.
This is why you can`t remember Mcilroy winning in windy condition. It is the percentages. You can`t remember anyone else winning in windy conditions either...because noone does.

Balance issues are governed first and foremost by the quality of the golf swing, this is more important than a players bulid or anything else.
Mcilroy hits the ball so purely and so far because everything is in perfect balance...more so than 90% of other players..this would give him an advantage in the wind.

some can`t accept distance being taken off or added by the wind? perhaps but a far more important thing is the quality of the strike. A poorly struck shot will always be magnified in windy conditions...therefore someone without Mcilroys striking will have every shot effected irrespective of their composure in the conditions....golf is in this way the most honest of games, you cannot get away with poor technique.

It can have an effect on putting, and this is where Mcilroy may have a weakness, but not because of the wind, because his putting tech. is in itself a little shakey....but this is the problem most other golfers face throughtout every shot they play in the wind. Mcilroy does not and this gives him a great advantage.

what's this got to do with the masters anyway? when's it ever windy at augusta?

Lets hope it rains and blows a gale and Mcilroy wins by 10...he is that good

last time it was windy that i can remember was 2007

lfc try looking at mcilroys scores in windy and non windy conditions and you will see the difference. Ill give you one for starters 2014 scottish open rd 1 = 64 rd2 = 78 im sure you can work out which day the wind blew.

As for your nonsense that no one wins - each week there is a winner it is the fella holding the trophy up on a sunday afternoon.

mighty whites there will be no discernable difference between Mcilroys scores on good days or bad...except in the sense that everyone will find it more difficult to score well in a gale. What i am convinced off however is that Mcilroy has the armory to score low, very low in the most terrible weather.

rory has played well in the wind, but, i cant remember him doing so lately

until he does again i shall avoid him in the wind, good luck lfc, im sure one
day it will come off for you but at 10/1 do you really need to ?

I don't get it ? Are we expecting howling winds at Augusta this year ?

I posted on page 4 above about the myth that 1st timers can't win the Masters.

That got me thinking.  Perhaps they can win if they "learn the course" over the 72 holes.  Maybe they need 15 or 20 rounds to learn the course.
I don't subscribe to old wives tales like that.  The players get to practice the course, have yardage charts, watch videos.
If it was true that a player must spend years learning the course then surely the players who play the worst are those playing their first round in their first Masters?

First round leaders on first appearance

1967: Bert Yancy in his first US Masters led the first round with a 67, and finished 3rd.
1980: Jeff Mitchell in his first US Masters tied the first round lead with a 66, and finished 38th.
1981: Greg Norman in his first US Masters tied the first round lead with a 69, and finished 4th.
1986: Ken Green in his first US Masters tied the first round lead with a 68, and finished 36th.
1988: Robert Wrenn in his first US Masters tied the first round lead with a 69, and finished 25th.
1991: Jim Gallagher in his first US Masters tied the first round lead with a 67, and finished 17th.
1993: Tom Lehman in his first US Masters tied the first round lead with a 67, and finished 3rd.
1999: Brandel Chamblee in his first US Masters tied the first round lead with a 69, and finished 18th.
2000: Dennis Paulson in his first US Masters held the first round lead with a 68, and finished 14th.
2001: Chris DiMarco in his first US Masters held the first round lead with a 65, and finished 10th.
2007: Brett Wetterich in his first US Masters tied the first round lead with a 69, and finished 37th.

How could these newbies, who had not spent years learning the Augusta course, play well enough to take the 1st round lead?

2011: Alvaro Quiros in his first US Masters held the first round lead with a 65, and finished 27th.
2013: Mark Leishman in his first US Masters tied the first round lead with a 66, and finished 4th.

Think only Fuzzy has won it on his first start although tiger won on his first pro appearance by 12 although he had played as an amateur previously. Spieth has a first and second on his two visits but like tiger is a supreme talent.

Leading after 18 is very different from winning only 5 in your list finished better than 17th.

There are a few of the talented young guns making their first appearance this year so will be interesting to see how they get on.

kincsem

do you hav stats first round leaders that win?

I had £20 on Immelmann when he did it

golf stats are full of contradictions but surely getting used to any course gives
an advantage over no experience.

masters is only major where its the same course year on year

theres no reason why a newbie shouldnt play well on a course he must have
seen dozens of times

but theres 4 days pin positions to learn on top of everything else

I remember a scots player qualified for 1st time

he said all thru his youth he saw it on TV,beautiful sunny warm

had to buy sweaters local pro shop

first two days he played,it was baltic,missed cut

Some of my post above is wrong e.g. Mark Leishman played 1st time in 2010 and missed the cut.
I used http://golfmajorchampionships.com/players?player=3068 and found that they use "finish" as the 72 hole finish.  If a player missed the 36 hole cut (or 54 hole?) they are not listed (i.e. not listed as a finish, not listed at all).

xmoneyx asked above about 1st round leadersa winning.
You can find stats on masters.org   http://www.masters.com/en_US/scores/stats/historical/index.html

These led after 18 holes and won
YEAR    CHAMPION

1934    Horton Smith
1937    Byron Nelson
1941    Craig Wood
1946    Herman Keiser
1947    Jimmy Demaret
1960    Arnold Palmer
1964    Arnold Palmer
1966    Jack Nicklaus
1971    Charles Coody
1972    Jack Nicklaus
1973    Tommy Aaron
1976    Raymond Floyd
1980    Seve Ballesteros
1984    Ben Crenshaw
2008    Trevor Immelman
2015    Jordan Spieth

They didn't lead all the way
Byron Nelson and Ben Crenshaw were 3rd at 54 holes, Tommy Aaron was 5th.  All the others led at 54 holes.
At 36 holes 13 of the 16 above led, one was 2nd, two were 3rd.

Worst start
2005    Tiger Woods....74  T33

Interesting it happened 8 times in 21 years from 64 - 84 but has only happened twice since.

I would have Rory McIlroy as poor in the wind.  Remember the Open at St Andrews in 2010: 63, 80, 69, 68
imo he is good on soft long uncomplicated courses in still conditions.  If it is not going his way he gives up (although I think he is learning that doesn't work).

that's a good stat--Nicklaus/palmer leading twice

Why did Mcilroy score that 80? It was windy but if i recall the first day scoring was good in wet conditions, of course this was ideal for Rory. St Andrews panicked thinking all sorts of records would be broken.

Day 2 however was not wet, it was warm and sunny and quite windy. This dried out the greens very quickly and they became very fast. On top of this because they were scared of very low scores they had positioned the holes on top of little mounds and slopes and ridges....ok in wet conditions but on day 2 it had become dry and fast
This was why Rory struggled day 2, his putting became shaky, if the course had been set up properly Rory would have won his first major at st. Andrews

only 9 of 156 shot worse than Mcilroy that day.

There are plenty of other examples of him being poor in the wind. Highly unlikely to be a factor at the Masters though.

The course got a soaking yesterday which will be right u his street.

I was there following McIlroy that day in St Andrews and it was not just windy more like a mini hurricane. The wind was so bad play was suspended because balls were moving on greens. Play was re - started about an hour or so later but the wind was just as strong and poor Rory was just blown away. I saw Louis coming up the 18th just as the wind was about to blow. Unfortunately had €1,000 on Rory at 20-1 ante post with Paddy Power but did not lay off ar 4-1 on Betfair after day 1. I figured three 69's would have been enough to win and it would have been. Mother nature robbed me of €20k but that's always the risk at the Open

yeah v unl pug

10 of the last 16 Masters winners were ranked in the Top 10 in the OWGR.

Take out Tiger Woods (3 wins) and Phil Mickelson (3 wins) make up a lot of that 10 of 16.

AGREED, but here are the Top 20...

1 1 2 AUS Jason Day 12.3736 494.94 40 -92.87 150.23 39
2 2 1 USA Jordan Spieth 11.0002 572.01 52 -130.80 104.59 56
3 3 3 NIR Rory McIlroy 9.3552 420.98 45 -134.98 82.92 45
4 4 4 USA Bubba Watson 8.5388 392.78 46 -93.34 120.21 46
5 5 6 USA Rickie Fowler 7.8726 409.38 52 -90.38 129.06 52
6 7 5 SWE Henrik Stenson 7.7178 378.17 49 -84.91 88.80 49
7 6 12 AUS Adam Scott 7.1700 308.31 43 -51.58 173.21 43
8 9 8 USA Dustin Johnson 6.3792 261.55 41 -56.56 73.06 41
9 8 7 ENG Justin Rose 5.9509 309.45 52 -87.69 32.08 53
10 10 10 USA Patrick Reed 5.0727 263.78 52 -54.99 67.19 62

11 11 18 RSA Louis Oosthuizen 4.7668 238.34 50 -42.05 93.47 50
12 12 19 ENG Danny Willett 4.5947 238.93 52 -40.56 80.47 53
13 13 14 RSA Branden Grace 4.5927 238.82 52 -40.09 63.40 53
14 14 15 JPN Hideki Matsuyama 4.5177 234.92 52 -53.62 78.66 56
15 15 11 ESP Sergio Garcia 4.3097 202.56 47 -61.44 53.91 47
16 16 13 USA Zach Johnson 4.1717 216.93 52 -48.36 39.41 52
17 17 49 USA Brandt Snedeker 4.1374 215.14 52 -34.67 114.98 55
18 20 34 USA Phil Mickelson 4.0389 165.59 41 -33.95 81.61 41
19 18 16 USA Brooks Koepka 4.0226 209.18 52 -48.87 49.64 54
20 21 35 RSA Charl Schwartzel 3.9236 204.03 52 -34.06 88.03 58

FYI

http://www.masters.com/en_US/index.html

Presume we can eliminate all 13 first-timers - Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 was the last:

• Aphibarnrat, Kiradech
• Berger, Daniel
• Cabrera-Bello, Rafael
• Gomez, Fabian
• Grillo, Emiliano
• Herman, Jim
• Kaufman, Smylie
• Kisner, Kevin
• Knox, Russell
• Lingmerth, David
• Merritt, Troy
• Smith, Cameron
• Sullivan, Andy
• Thomas, Justin

You can't eliminate first-timers.  They are playing.
That "stat" is nonsense.

Best list of debutants I can remember.

I don't think you can ignore a stat like that altogether. History teaches us that very few players win the masters in their first few visits, which is what makes what Jordan has done in the last two years so impressive.

I don't think any of the debutants this year are in spieths class. Therefore I'll be surprised if they win!

They don't win on their first visits because as I pointed out further up the thread most good American first play the US Masters as amateurs.
Six top amateurs get their chance to win the event as a first time starter spiked by their amateur invite.   They are not seasoned players on the Pro tour, and play like amateurs.
Spieth's first US Masters was as a pro in 2014 (finished 2nd), and by then he had 15 months play on the PGA Tour with one win "Special Temporary Member status in March, allowing him unlimited sponsor exemptions"

Before US Masters debut
Jordan Spieth: 1 US Tour win; 4 seconds

The US Masters first-timers
• Aphibarnrat, Kiradech (age 26):  3 European Tour wins. 2 Asian tour wins, and 6th in Arnold Palmer in March 2016.
• Berger, Daniel (23 tomorrow): 2 US Tour seconds in 2015 (lost a playoff)
• Cabrera-Bello, Rafael (age 31): 2 European Tour wins; 11th 3rd; 4th in his three USA events March/April 2016
• Gomez, Fabian: won Sony Open in Hawaii in 2016 (US Tour)
• Grillo, Emiliano: won Fry.com Open in Oct 2015 (US Tour)
• Herman, Jim: (age 38) won Shell Houston Open this week (US Tour)
• Kaufman, Smylie: (age 24) won in Oc 2015 US Tour) and 8th; 12th in March 2016.(US Tour)
• Kisner, Kevin (age 32): the hottest player around the turn of the year with consecutive 2nd; 1st; 9th; 5th (US Tour)
• Knox, Russell (Scotland, age 30): won WGC Champion in Nov 2015, and 2nd in following event. (US Tour)
• Lingmerth, David: a bit out of form, but 2nd in Jan 2016, and 1st, 6th, 3rd, 6th in 2015 (US Tour)
• Merritt, Troy: (age 31): 11th in Feb 2016; 3rd in Mar 2016. And 6th, 3rd, 1st in 2015.
• Smith, Cameron (Australia): 4th in the 2015 US Open, but form very poor since.
• Sullivan, Andy (Eng): won South African Open; Joburg Open; Portugese Open in 2015
• Thomas, Justin (USA, age 22):  won the CIMB Classic in Nov 2015 and 3rd in the Honda Classic in Feb 2016.

A few of them can play.  I think you have to win or be highly ranked to get an invitation.
There isn't a dominant player like Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods dominating the Masters at present.
There is more opportunity for first-timers imo.

I think out of the debutants the one I'd be most interested in is justin thomas. hits the ball a long way and prodigious talent in general. Actually i think he'll be a top five player in the next 2-3 years

Lewisham,
Ok I'll pick BERGER.

Kincsem / CCM / xmoneyx,
Your choice from the list ??? (any virgin player incl. THOMAS & BERGER).

Lingmerth, David

Don't think Cabrera-Bello's questionable short game will stand up that well around here... Kisner looks well out of form, which means there must be some value. I've narrowed it down to 3:
Andy Sullivan
Justin Thomas
Bryson Dechambeau

If I had to pick one, I'd go for Andy Sullivan. Think the course is laid out really well for him and he's a very good putter. Dechambeau is a big price at 18/1 all the same.

TV coverage...details, day by day (UK times):

Thursday
Live: Sky Sports 1 and 4, from 7pm
Highlights: BBC2 and red button, from 9.15am on Friday

Friday
Live: Sky Sports 1 and 4, from 7pm
Highlights: BBC2 and red button, from 9.15am on Saturday

Saturday
Live: BBC2 from 7.30pm, Sky Sports 1 and 4, from 8pm

Sunday
Live: BBC2 from 6,30pm, Sky Sports 1 from 6.30pm and 4, from 6pm

lewisham ranger

You might be right about Justin Thomas.
He is trading suspiciously low for a first-timer at about 200s.
I read that he has been getting tuition from Jeff Knox, the guy who knows every slope at Augusta.
Jeff Knox is the marker, the guy who plays with the player who does not have a partner (i.e. when there is an odd number of players and they are playing in twos).
They reckon Knox, who is an amateur, could beat half the field.
When he was paired with Sergio Garcia they had a side bet which Knox won.  Sergio famously refused to shake his hand afterwards. 

Catch Me ifyoucan
I am up to my t1ts in Smylie Kaufman betting slips, but I think he might be a bit immature as yet.  He has the shots.
Perhaps Justin Thomas is a good reliable choice.  See my post just above about course knowledge.

Mary that was never your first poke, best of luck with Sneds

yeah would prefer justin thomas to kaufman, kaufman I think lack's experience and in any case thomas record if far better overall

also has said how the masters sets up very well for his game, I think if anyone is going to spring an upset this year it must be him

Apr 5, 2016 -- 6:10PM, Catch Me ifyoucan wrote:

TV coverage...details, day by day (UK times):  ThursdayLive: Sky Sports 1 and 4, from 7pmHighlights: BBC2 and red button, from 9.15am on FridayFridayLive: Sky Sports 1 and 4, from 7pmHighlights: BBC2 and red button, from 9.15am on SaturdaySaturdayLive: BBC2 from 7.30pm, Sky Sports 1 and 4, from 8pmSundayLive: BBC2 from 6,30pm, Sky Sports 1 from 6.30pm and 4, from 6pm

Amen Corner from 3.30pm (BST) on the red button.....

Like a few of these 3balls...

THURS	FRIDAY
13.20	16.16	Jim Herman (4/5)	Draw (15/2)	Steven Bowditch (9/4)
13.31	16.27	Trevor Immelman	Robert Streb	*Derek Bard
13.42	16.38	Larry Mize	Victor Dubuisson	Kevin Streelman
13.53	16.49	Sandy Lyle	Bernd Wiesberger	Vaughn Taylor
14:04	17.00	Webb Simpson (17/10)	Chris Wood (15/8)	Thongchai Jaidee (2/1)
14:15	17.22	Charley Hoffman (11/10)	Lee Westwood (11/8)	Tom Watson (6/1)
14:26	17.33	Rickie Fowler (5/6)	Zach Johnson (13/8)	Cheng Jin (10/1)
14:37	17.44	Louis Oosthuizen (6/4)	Patrick Reed (17/10)	Jason Dufner (13/5)
14:48	17.55	Jordan Spieth (5/6)	Paul Casey (5/2)	Bryson DeChambeau (9/2)
14:59	18.06	Dustin Johnson (1/1)	Justin Thomas (12/5)	Emiliano Grillo (3/1)
15:21	18.17	Hideki Matsuyama (9/10)	Chris Kirk (9/4)	Vijay Singh (15/4)
15:32	18.28	Kevin Na (7/4)	Andy Sullivan (15/8)	Harris English (11/5)
15:43	18.39	Phil Mickelson (6/4)	Henrik Stenson (7/4)	Marc Leishman (5/2)
15:54	18.50	Justin Rose (1/1)	Daniel Berger (5/2)	Jamie Donaldson (3/1)
16:05	19.01	Adam Scott (6/5)	Brooks Koepka (9/4)	Kevin Kisner (3/1)
16.16	13.20	Mike Weir	Cameron Smith	*Sammy Schmitz
16.27	13.31	Ian Woosnam	Troy Merritt	Byeong-Hun An
16:38	13.42	Billy Horschel (11/10)	Matthew Fitzpatrick (13/8)	Darren Clarke (11/2)
16.49	13.53	Mark O'Meara	David Lingmerth	*Paul Chaplet
17:00	14.04	Brandt Snedeker (5/4)	Keegan Bradley (21/10)	Kiradech Aphibarnrat (5/2)
17:22	14.15	Charl Schwartzel (1/1)	Rafael Cabrera Bello (21/10)	Davis Love (9/2)
17:33	14.26	Danny Lee (15/8)	Russell Knox (15/8)	Smylie Kaufman (2/1)
17:44	14.37	Bubba Watson (15/13)	Branden Grace (21/10)	Ian Poulter (10/3)
17.55	14.48	Bernhard Langer	Hunter Mahan	*Romain Langasque
18:06	14.59	Jason Day (5/6)	Matt Kuchar (2/1)	Ernie Els (11/2)
18:17	15.21	Graeme McDowell (13/8)	Scott Piercy (13/8)	Fabian Gomez (14/5)
18:28	15.32	Jimmy Walker (6/5)	Anirban Lahiri (15/8)	Soren Kjeldsen (3/1)
18:39	15.43	Sergio Garcia (6/4)	Danny Willett (9/5)	Ryan Moore (5/2)
18:50	15.54	J B Holmes (8/5)	Shane Lowry (15/8)	Angel Cabrera (13/5)
19:01	16.05	Rory McIlroy (4/5)	Bill Haas (5/2)	Martin Kaymer (4/1)

WHATS THE LATEST WEATHER predicting.....any tee time advantage ?

LIKE Bubba out early Friday morning !

First US Sports event to be broadcast in 4k 
http://www.masters.com/en_US/news/photos/2016-04-05/ANGC.2016.infographic.MastersFirsts3.html


ALSO TRACK all your player's shots and position on here
http://www.masters.com/en_US/scores/track.html

What the 4K is 4K?

cheers catch me if you can

kinsem 4k is some new form of hd on new tvs qaulity supposed to be really good

4k is amazing...

how much is 4K  50 inch tv?

X,
Go for the 55" for about 1k, then you'll be able to see the hair stand on the back of their necks on the 12th tee !

I looked it up - currys.ie
LG 49UF680V Smart 4k Ultra HD 49" LED TV .... €699.00

55 inch

xxx must be amazing

If Smylie Kaufan  wins I can afford one.
I'm mentally prepared for the 36 holes reload of funds.

http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-ue55js8500-curved-4k-suhd-hdr-3d-smart-tv-55-with-freeview-hd-freesat-hd-and-built-in-wi-fi/p1955340#media-overlay_show




I hav a 42 inch samsung now HD


how much a dif in quality?

There isnt that many channels and events being broadcast in 4k yet so i wouldnt go racing off to specifically get a 4k tv but the quality is fabulous. Augusta in 4k glory makes me envious!

it would be like being a member in your livingroom

put that wrong


for now push settee closer to tele

Smith, Cameron (Australia): 4th in the 2015 US Open, but form very poor since.

5 cuts made in a row, 19th last week and 11th @ AT&T.

Not a bad shout @ nearly 1,000-1!

Congratulations to Jimmy Walker on his record-setting Par 3 Contest win ! We all know that stat

Paul Casey seems free on his 3 balls

Below we have a range of other interesting stats from the overall field and leader after Round One of The Masters 2016.

Scoring.....
Eagles – 6
Birdies – 250
Pars – 954
Bogeys – 348
Double Bogeys – 44

Greens Hit.....
60% – The average percentage of greens hit in regulation. Spieth managed to hit 67% of greens hit while Matthew Fitzpatrick and Justin Rose who hit an incredible 83% are the players who topped the greens in regulation list.

Fairways Hit.....
68% – The average percentage of fairways hit. The current leader Spieth managed hit 8/14 fairways for a total of 57%.
One player hit all 14 fairway drives, (100%) and that was Argentine Emiliano Grillo who finished at -1.
He's the only player from the 20 first timers who managed to hit under par in round one. Goes to show experience really is vital at the Masters (or alternatively hit all the fairways).

Longest Drive.....
1st: Garcia – 311yards
2nd: Holmes – 310yards
3rd: Leishman – 308yards

Average Driving Distance.....
272 yards – The average driving distance from off the tee.
Spieth managed to make an average driving distance of 262 yards. Proving distance isn’t everything Sergio.

Average Putts.....1.69 – The average putts per hole. Spieth averaged 1.39 putts per hole.

Bookies Top 7.....
Jordan Spieth – 9/4
Rory McIlroy – 9/2
Jason Day – 11/1
Justin Rose – 11/1
Sergio Garcia – 22/1
Shane Lowry - 25/1
Paul Casey 33/1.

Catch Me ifyoucan
Goes to show experience really is vital at the Masters (or alternatively hit all the fairways).

I'm saying it again, and will keep repeating it.  That is a daft stat.
The player in second place on -4 Danny Lee did play before once.
Yes, he played as an 18 year old amateur.  Now seven years later he is playing in his second Masters and doing better than 86 other players.
The Masters committee invite six young inexperienced amateurs every year, inexperienced in professional tournaments.  It is a good way of ensuring that they can not win the Masters on their first attempt.

Winners Phil Mickelson, Trevor Immelman, Tiger Woods, Jose Maria Olazabal, Mark O'Meara, Ben Crenshaw, Jack Nicklaus, Craig Stadler, Tom Watson and probably many more first played as amateurs.

Years ago the European Tour didn't start tournaments until about May.  Most European players could not afford to travel to the US Masters if invited (Ireland's Christy O'Connor was invited many time but could not afford to go), and if they did go they had no form at that time of year.
Many European professionals started their year on the African circuit, Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia.  They often got free air travel and stayed for free in the homes of local golf club members.  The got free tournament experience in sunshine.  I know. I was there.

For the sake of having something interesting to watch at the weekend just got to hope Spieth doesn't shoot another similar round today (shot 64 last year of course). It got so boring I didn't even watch the back nine on Sunday last year.

TOP DEBUTANT BETTING...

Daniel Berger 5             
Bryson DeChambeau 5             
Kiradech Aphibarnrat 5
Smylie Kaufman 8             
Emiliano Grillo 8
Troy Merritt 10
Rafael Cabrera Bello 11
Justin Thomas 18
Kevin Kisner 25
Cameron Smith 28
Romain Langasque 33

Catch Me ifyoucan • April 4, 2016 8:16 PM BST
10 of the last 16 Masters winners were ranked in the Top 10 in the OWGR.

WILLETT WON - he was OWRG #12.



Where's the TOP DEBUTANT BETTING ffs