We’re on the verge of a Masters like no other, set for mid-November instead of its usual perch in April. The ripple effect from the shift has also affected NFL scheduling, as the 1:00 pm ET window will feature no games on CBS, which has coverage of the Masters’ final round. So this week there are six games in the late window and five in the first; usually, there are just a few games that start at either 4:05 or 4:25 pm Eastern time. For the golfers, cooler temperatures and a more northerly wind will influence play as well, along with drier air.
As you figure out your The Masters betting strategy, take a look at our top five golfers headed to Augusta National.
PGA News: Ranking the Top 5 Golfers in the Masters Field
#5: Brooks Koepka
He won majors in 2017, 2018 and 2019. At the start of 2020, he was the #1 player in the world. However, 2020 has not been as kind to him. At the RBC Heritage in June, he came in seventh, and he finished T2 at the FedEx St. Jude Invitational in August. For the last few years, though, he has been the best player on the game’s biggest stages. In 2019, his worst finish in a major was fourth, and he defended his 2018 PGA title. At the Masters, he has improved his play each year, going from 33rd to 21st to 11th between 2015 and 2017. Wrist surgery kept him out of the 2018 edition, and last year, he was the co-leader after the first and second rounds and finished just one shot behind Tiger Woods.
#4: Justin Thomas
At the end of 2019, Justin Thomas was ranked #4 in the world, and since then he has moved to #3. In 2020, he has played in 18 events. He has won twice, come in second three times and finished third once, along with four other finishes in the top ten. So if you’re looking for steady competitiveness, he’s right there. This is the sixth straight year in which he has won at least one tournament. In 2017 he won five, and he has won two each in 2018, 2019 and 2020. His only major win came in 2017, at the PGA Championship. He still is looking for an elite performance at Augusta, but his four turns at the Masters have shown steady improvement. He cracked the top 20 in 2018 for the first time and then finished T12 in 2019, five shots back of Woods.
#3: Dustin Johnson
Dustin Johnson has regained the #1 ranking in the world; in 2020, he has played in 16 events, winning two and cracking the top ten in seven others. He did go through a bout of COVID-19, so it’s unknown how that will impact his play at Augusta. He won at the Travelers Championship in June and The Northern Trust in August; in that second win, his worst round was a 67, and he posted a 60 in the second round that pushed him to an 11-stroke victory. He has one career win in a major, at the 2016 U.S. Open. A year ago at Augusta, he birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th holes on Sunday to move into a tie with Woods, but he ended up T2, one stroke back.
#2: Jon Rahm
Rahm already has put together a storybook Masters, with two holes-in-one in practice rounds, including one that he skipped across a pond and ran along the green to the cup. He started 2020 as the third-ranked player in the world. He briefly held the top spot and is now in second. In 18 tournaments, he has two wins, two runner-up finishes and five other top-ten finishes. He won at the Memorial and the BMW Championship (edging Dustin Johnson in a playoff). In his last ten majors, he has four top-ten finishes, his best coming at the 2019 U.S. Open, when he finished T3, six shots off the lead. At Augusta, he cracked the top ten in 2018 and 2019, shooting a 65 on Saturday in 2018 to get within six shots, only to finish fourth. In 2019, he finished T9, three shots back of Woods.
#1 Bryson DeChambeau
In 16 tournaments, DeChambeau has his big win at the U.S. Open in September, finishing six shots ahead of the rest of the field. He has four top-three finishes and six other results in the top ten. At the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in October, he came in eighth. He started with a 62 in the first round and had 67 or better in three of the four rounds. Augusta has not been kind to him since 2016, when he finished as low amateur. He finished T38 in 2018 and T29 in 2019. In two majors this year, though, he has won and come in T4. It’s that big driver, though, that has him as the favorite this weekend.
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