US Masters 2020 Tournament Specials Odds

It is three and a half years since Sergio Garcia ended his long wait for a first major title when he beat Englishman Justin Rose in a playoff here at Augusta National, the last time the prestigious Green Jacket was won after a 72-hole tie.

With most of the field accustomed to the course due to playing here every year, it is a tournament that throws up narrow victories and witnesses playoffs more often than any other major, with six playoff winners since 2003, and as no obvious runaway favourite in the field, a close contest may play out again like last year, where the top 11 players were separated by just three shots.

A playoff to happen is priced at 11/4 this Masters - click the link to claim this bet in your bet slip.

ICYMI: Read the odds for the top USA finish at The Masters 2020 here, with Woods down in 13th at 25/1.

The two years following on from Garcia’s playoff success, saw Patrick Reed in 2018 and Tiger Woods last year both claim the Masters championship by just one stroke. This could be put down to the increased competitiveness of professional golf now, compared to the Woods-peak era, and the years proceeding that, where very few golfers really took the world by storm.

Now we look at the start list and can say with confidence that over a dozen golfers are in with a great shout of winning and a one-stroke margin of victory for the third year in succession is priced at 3/1.

It is now over nine years since Charl Schwartzel won the Masters by two strokes, the last man to do so here, which is a strange occurrence given how often it is tightly contested at Augusta. In comparison, the last four winners of the USPGA all did so by a two-shot margin. But just because it has not happened for a while does not mean it is unfeasible, as it only takes one player to break away from a stacked field late on Sunday with a few back-to-back birdies on the card for this to become reality - a two-stroke margin of victory is priced at 11/4.

To prove how quickly winning margins can become large, the 2016 Masters is the perfect case study. Jordan Spieth led by five strokes going into the back nine on Sunday, but after a complete capitulation finishing with horror show on the 12th hole, a quadruple-bogey saw him fall way behind new leader Danny Willett, as the Englishman won by a three stroke margin, after a staggering eight-stroke swing on the back nine. Being the most difficult to predict happening, a three-stroke winning margin is available at longer odds of 11/2.

After footage of Jon Rahm’s crazy hole in one went viral while practising on Tuesday, odds of a hole in one in the competition shortened, despite the fact they are often very rare. The Par 3 contest usually gives us our fix of fun shots and hole in ones, but with that scrapped this year, all eyes will be on the 16th hole, the place where two-thirds of all holes in one have been achieved at Augusta.

Advancements in club technology and shot distance means players can now reach even the longest of par 3s with an 8-iron, meaning they have more control and subsequently, dropping it closer to the hole.

11 of the 27 aces here have been seen in the last ten years, with Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau securing the feat last year, both on the 16th. But despite all the technical aspects, a huge amount of luck is also needed and considering the fact we have seen only 27 in 83 years, odds of 13/8 for no hole in one is priced higher than the value 4/9 for one to happen.

A wire-to-wire winner is one that wins the competition outright on Sunday after leading at the end of every round. It may sound like it happens pretty frequently, as most winners usually have played well on all four days, but at The Masters, only five players have ever done so.

Jordan Spieth was the last man to in 2015, joining an elite list containing legends of the game such as Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

Brooks Koepka’s 2019 USPGA win was the 26th time it has happened in major golf history, but it means a few players in this year’s field have achieved it in the past, with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy also in that list

This is the most convincing way of winning a golf tournament, and even though the level of competition is high, some of those teeing off on Thursday are definitely capable - odds for a wire-to-wire finish is priced at 12/1.

A record which has stood for 34 years is the course record of 63 at Augusta, held by Zimbabwean Nick Price, who just about made the cut in 1986 after an opening day score of 79, but then shot a nine-under round on Saturday which saw him jump into a tie for second.

Only Greg Norman has matched that since, which came 10 years later, but it is not exactly a good omen as neither went on to win the tournament. In 2018, Jordan Spieth was one hole away from breaking it, after going through 17 holes in 59 shots, but he then bogeyed the last when needing a birdie, meaning he failed to even match the course record, shooting a brilliant, but agonising 64.

It has been a remarkable year in sport and the wider world, so you would imagine if we see it broken in any year, it will be 2020 - the odds for a course record is at 11/1.

With the top golfers now able to boom golf balls well over 300 yards, par 5s are much more accessible to reach in two shots, meaning the probability of getting a ‘ouble eagle should be similar to acing a par 3.

However, pin placements at Augusta can make this extremely challenging and requires staggering amount luck, as Louis Oosthuizen got in 2012, the last major albatross carded. Oosthuizen's second shot rolled all the way along the 2nd green and miraculously found the pin, only the fourth ever seen at The Masters, and the first at the 2nd hole.

The history and probability may not show much chance, but crazier things have happened at Augusta and the odds for an Albatross is at 14/1.

By Andrew Delaney