The field for the 2022 Masters Tournament is set and these are the golfers to consider when placing your wagers.
The first weekend of April brings golf fans The Masters, played at Augusta National in Georgia each year. It almost coincides with the start of the baseball season, giving sports fans the sense that summer and warmth are on the way.
The Masters has been played for 88 years, with 85 events. Jack Nicklaus won at Augusta six times while also finishing second in four other contests. Tigers Woods has five victories over 22 tournaments and seven other top 10 finishes.
At the onset of Masters week, we’re going to dig a little deeper to find a handful of golfers, not those at the fringes but the ones lurking right in the middle of the field who are poised to have breakout weeks.
Here are 9 golfers with odds provided by Caesars Sportsbook.
1. Si Woo Kim (100-1): He’s shown how high his ceiling is by winning the 2017 Players Championship over Louis Oosthuizen and Ian Poulter by three each. He’s been sneaky good at Augusta for a while now. Kim has made four consecutive cuts, and three of them are top 25s. Last year, despite putting with his 3-wood for a portion of the tournament early on because he broke his putter, he finished T12. He’s a must-add to any fantasy lineup this week for me.
2. Corey Conners (50-1): A flusher’s flusher of the golf ball. In the last 50 rounds, Conners ranks in the top 10 in this field in ball-striking. The putter will always be a question mark, but he converges some real heat with a great history here. He’s strung together two straight top 10s, and while we have questions about the win equity, we don’t have any about his ability to snatch another top-20 showing (or better).
3. Shane Lowry (45-1): Over his last 50 rounds, he’s been a better ball-striker than Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. Do we worry that he’s never finished in the top 20 at Augusta? We do worry about that, but two straight top 25s, a run of some of the best golf he’s ever played and that Claret Jug he has in his dining room are enough to overcome any lingering concerns about his ability to play ANGC.
4. Adam Scott (50-1): It feels strange to call a past champion who also has not missed a cut here since 2009 a sleeper, but it’s true. It’s that cut streak that excites me for those trying to figure out fantasy teams. You almost certainly know he’s going to get you a weekend, and he’s been among the best in this field in iron play over his last 50 rounds. Finished T4 at Riviera earlier this year, and four of his last five top 20s at Riviera have preceded top 20s two months later at the Masters.
5. Thomas Pieters (100-1): This is less about consistency and more about upside. Pieters is the rare type of 100-1 play who could legitimately be in the mix on Sunday afternoon the way he was when he finished T4 in 2017. He could also miss the cut by five, and nobody would notice. If you’re into volatility, he’s a great play because his modern power game fits so nicely on this golf course (if it’s on).
6. Russell Henley (50-1): He doesn’t miss cuts. The last time he had to sit out a weekend was at last year’s Open Championship, and his record at Augusta is sterling. Four made cuts in five starts with three of those resulting in top 25 finishes. He also has four top 15’s in his six PGA Tour starts in 2022. Tremendous iron player on the major course where it is perhaps the most important to hit your irons well. There’s a ton to like about Henley as a top 15-type player at this event.
7. Tony Finau (50-1): We get it, the golf has not been great of late. However, 50-1 is too long for somebody with three top 10s in four starts at a course where your history matters more than most.
8. Max Homa (100-1): This line seems a bit too high, even for somebody like Homa who has struggled at major championships. He’s been terrific so far this year with top 20s in five of his last six events, and he should eventually settle into a better major routine. We wouldn’t be scared away by his six missed cuts in his last seven major starts because we think he’s a more consistent golfer right now than he was the first two times he played this event.
9. Tom Hoge (125-1): He’s dropped off a bit since his win at Pebble Beach, but he’s one of the 10 best ball-strikers in this field over his last 50 rounds. That’s absolutely worth a flyer at 125-1.
My Goat Sports 