Sport
The Masters preview: Justin Thomas time at Augusta?
We’ve had to wait for over 250 days for Major Championship golf to return, but the wait is finally over. Arguably the most beautiful golf course in the world, Augusta National in Georgia, plays host to the best field in golf for The Masters.
This is probably one of only two golf tournaments a year when those ‘sofa golf fans’ become avid viewers and if a certain Mr Tiger Woods decides he’s ready to go, then there’ll be plenty more tuning in.
Here’s our preview of the year’s opening Major.
Tiger, Tiger and more Tiger
Will he? Won’t he?
Much, well in fact, almost all of the pre-tournament chat has been around whether Tiger Woods will make his first tournament appearance since February 2020. All the signs are that he’ll tee it up and if there is anyone who can climb the mountain again then it’s Tiger, as shown by his truly remarkable fifth victory here in 2019. He’s 50/1 with William Hill to win the tournament, which, if he were to do it, would probably be his greatest achievement of what has been an extraordinary career.
With the walk around Augusta clearly a concern, he’d surely be happy to make the cut, for which he’s 11/10 to do.
Thomas ready to win his second Major
While Tiger will grab almost of all the headlines if does decide he’s ready to go, there’s still the small matter of finding the winner, and the man who looks the one to beat here is Justin Thomas at 12/1. Jon Rahm might be the favourite at 10/1, and his Augusta record makes him a worthy contender, but Thomas seems about as close as they come to winning again, especially now he’s got his putting sorted.
Since winning last year’s PLAYERS, Thomas has been arguably the best player on the planet tee-to-green – he hasn’t been outside in that category in six seasons – but his form on the greens was well below that and that’s the reason he’s failed to win since. However, there have been signs recently that he’s finding his groove again and that’s surely very ominous for the rest of the field.
Thomas has long been touted as an ideal Masters type and although his Augusta record is nothing particularly special – though he was fourth in 2020 – and although he finished 21st last year, he was right in there pitching ahead of the weekend. His game really stacks up well around here with the American ranked inside the top 30 for par 5 performance – a key metric at Augusta. The last 13 winners of the Green Jacket are cumulatively 118-under-par on the four par 5s with the last two winners, Hideki Matsuyama and Dustin Johnson, playing them in 11-under-par, and even Zach Johnson, the winner in 2007, playing them in 12-under, despite not once reaching the greens in two.
The American also has form on courses which tie into being successful around here in Riviera and Muirfield Village and if he comes into this in a similar vein as previous outings, he’ll be a very tough nut to crack.
2020 winner Johnson coming to the boil nicely
When Dustin Johnson broke the 72-hole record here in 2020 by shooting 20-under-par, he was at the peak of his powers and the rest of the golfing world was very much playing second fiddle to the American. So, to think he’s only won once since is quite remarkable.
There were plenty of decent showings in 2021 but no top fives on the PGA Tour is not what any of us thought would happen to DJ, and the fact he didn’t appear at the Sentry Tournament of Champions would not have sat well. He didn’t appear competitively for over three months, but played really nicely tee-to-green at Torrey Pines on his first start back where a cold putter cost him. He missed the cut at the Genesis Invitational but finished inside the top 10 at the PLAYERS where he looked to be finally getting his confidence back throughout the bag.
He was probably feeling the effects of a Monday finish when only seen three days later at the Valspar and he showed his class when gliding past virtually every opponent in the Match Play before he was defeated by eventual champion Scottie Scheffler.
His win in 2020 here shows he loves the course and the fact that we might see a softer than usual Augusta – similar to what we saw when he won – will be music to his ears. Of course, the lack of a recent win is a concern, but there aren’t any better players that don’t let those sorts of thing bother them and few would be surprised if he was right in the thick of it come Sunday afternoon. He looks another major player at Augusta at 18/1.
Others to keep an eye on
Of the remainder, new world number one Scheffler is clearly respected, but he looks very short now at 16/1. He’s the form man in world golf, but it’s highly debatable that he should be a similar price to Johnson.
Sam Burns is respected at 35/1, but he has history against him being a Masters debutant, so the staking plan is completed by Si-Woo Kim and Thomas Pieters. The former has made the cut in four of his five Masters appearances and played pretty nicely at both the Match Play and Valero Texas Open. He ranks third in par 5 performance this season and could go well at 66/1.
Pieters is back in the world’s top 50 after his win earlier in the season in Abu Dhabi, and as we all know, he has about as much talent as anyone in world golf. He makes his third Masters appearance and first since 2018, but he was fourth on debut here in 2017 and might just surprise a few at 100/1.
