Tag: Matthew Wolff

Your Guide to Betting The Masters

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Looking to throw down a few bucks on The Masters this weekend? Preferably in a way thats not completely random and reckless so you might actually walk away a richer man? Well, look no further. I picked Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka to win at Augusta last year, both of whom tied for second place one stroke back of Tiger Woods. Here’s to hoping for a little more luck this year so I can continue my outlandishly expensive habit of actually playing golf.

With that being said lets take a look at the odds on some of the top names in golf to take home the green jacket this year.

Bryson DeChambeau (+800) is the betting favorite currently and will be the player to watch as he’s just been mashing this year with his Happy Gilmore-esque drives. He took home the US Open trophy earlier this season by outdriving, and outputting, everyone on tour. So while he’s finished outside the Top 25 his last two outings at the Masters, 2020 has been his year.

Tiger Woods (+3400) returns to Augusta this week in what is presumably the longest Masters title defense ever without actually repeating as Tiger won the green jacket 19 months ago. Tiger has been inconsistent recently, but those are some excellent odds for the defending champ.

Dustin Johnson (+900) has been hands down the best golfer in the world this year with nine Top 10 finishes and two wins, including an absolutely ridiculous performance at The Northern Trust when he shot a -30 and won by 11 strokes. DJ however is coming off an unforced vacation after he tested positive for the coronavirus so it remains to be seen if there are any lingering effects or rust he’ll need to shake off.

Jon Rahm (+1000) and Justin Thomas (+1100) are the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked golfers in the world so they should be in the mix this weekend. Not to mention Rahm hit maybe the greatest shot of all time with this practice round hole in one yesterday.

Collin Morikawa (+3300) made his PGA Tour debut in 2019, but he blew onto the scene with his ballsy win at the PGA Championship earlier this season so we’ll see if he’s ready for the gigantic stage of Augusta.

Xander Schauffele (+1400) finished second at the Masters last year (and cost me a big chunk of change) and has seven Top 10 finishes in 2020 (including a win at the Tour Championship) so he’s been knocking on the door for a while.

Rory McIlroy (+1200) is always a favorite to win anytime he steps onto the course, which is no surprise since he’s the No. 5 ranked golfer in the world with six Top 10 finishes on the year. What else is there to be said about Rory that hasn’t already been said? A slight knock on Rory is the fact that he did immediately kill the PGA Tour video game franchise after taking over for Tiger.

Brooks Koepka (+1600) is coming off a knee injury that forced him to miss some time this season, but as everyone knows Koepka ALWAYS shows up for majors. It’s actually kind of crazy when you look at the numbers. Koepka has seven career victories on the PGA Tour with four of those coming in majors. He’s won the 2017 US Open, the 2018 US Open, the 2018 PGA Championship, and the 2019 PGA Championship, which made him the first golfer ever to hold back to back titles in two majors simultaneously. More than half of his PGA Tour wins have come in the biggest tournaments in the game. Thats banana land.

Webb Simpson (+3300), Tyrell Hatton (+2800), and Patrick Cantlay (+2500) round out the Top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings so those guys are always a safe bet.

Patrick Reed (+2800) is one of my favorite golfers to watch because he is an absolute hothead like your buddy that snaps his club in half after a bad shot. No, literally.

Patrick Reed: the people’s golfer for people like me who sometimes flip out on the course. But Reed did win the Masters just two years ago so he’s always in play.

Keep an eye Matthew Wolff (+3300) too, who was in great position to win the US Open this season before melting down on the final day when he shot a 75 and ultimately finished second as DeChambeau took home the trophy. He’s a pretty solid dark horse bet, plus how great would it be to see a 21-year-old with the most unconventional swing in the game win at the most storied course in the world?

Although he’s been shaky on the PGA Tour lately, Phil Mickelson (+7000) is a 3x Masters champ so you can never count him out at Augusta. He also has battered the competition so bad on the Senior Tour, excuse me the PGA Tour Champions, that it should realistically be considered elderly abuse. My point is that while he may be “just” the 64th ranked golfer in the world currently, he’s far from washed up. I don’t know if I’d bet more than some pocket change on him, but if you’re looking for long shots you could do a lot worse than Lefty.

The Official Pick:

As my long shot I’m going with Collin Morikawa (+3300) because even though he’s been pretty off since winning the PGA Championship, he showed he’s got ice in his veins when he’s in it down the stretch. Then I’m hedging a bit with Brooks Koepka (+1600) since he is absolutely nails in majors and to round it out I’m taking Xander Schauffele (+1400) because this man has been banging on the door for a while now with five Top 10 finishes at majors.

So who do you think takes home the green jacket? Tweet us your picks @The300sBoston

Bryson DeChambeau Earns His First Major, Crushes the Competition at the US Open

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While it may not have been the way he pictured it, Bryson DeChambeau won his first career major, dominating the field to win the US Open at a Winged Foot course that crushed most of his peers.

DeChambeau is one of the most polarizing figures in all of golf as people seem to either love him or hate him. I for one don’t understand the hate for a young American challenging the status quo in a sport full of stuffy unwritten rules. I fully admit that he is an interesting cat and has a way of rocking the boat (bitching and moaning to officials) that probably rubs some people the wrong way, but golf is a sport that has been begging for some novelty. Bring on the guy who goes out of his way to do things differently like just randomly deciding to put on 40 pounds

Or a guy that is custom designing his irons so they are all the same exact length. Odd, but hey it works. It’s not like Bryson is showing up in jorts and giving people the DX suck it sign after bombing one off the tee like he’s Kenny Powers. He’s just looking at the way things have always been done and said well what if I do it differently?

Bryson has been criticized a ton because he always tries to just overpower courses like he’s Happy Gilmore.

That criticism was especially loud this past weekend as the US Open took place on a ruthlessly tight and unforgiving course like Winged Foot, but it worked for DeChambeau in a huge way as he dominated the field. He was the only player to finish under par and finished a full 6 strokes ahead of Matthew Wolff who melted down on Sunday to finish in second place. Bryson basically punted on accuracy and figured if I can just bomb it as far as possible, the course is set up in a way that I can recover from most roughs.

You know, assuming your ball doesn’t end up with a lie like the grass in a public park that hasn’t been mowed in six months because the entire landscaping crew got furloughed.

DeChambeau’s percentage of fairways hit was ugly at 41%, but because of that extra 20-30 yards he was getting off the tee, he was able to pick up a legit advantage like grabbing an eagle on a long Par 5 on Sunday.

If you watch golf every weekend you’re well aware of DeChambeau’s “Scientist” nickname, but if you’re even a casual fan this isn’t stuff that you would automatically know. I feel like I’ve heard it 20 times, but it doesn’t make it any less insane that DeChambeau uses a driver with a 5 degree loft. That is absolutely bananas. Most guys are using 9.5-10.5 degree drivers and DeChambeau figured out if he swings at a fast enough speed he can maximize his distance off the tee by basically swinging with a frying pan for a club. I mean his putter has more loft than his driver for christ’s sake.

Does he fairly get criticized for pissing and moaning to the officials more than your average bear? Yup, the fire ants complaint was a Hall of Fame moment of unintentional comedy.

But even yesterday he knew the rule where he was close enough to a sprinkler head in the rough just off the green that it warranted a drop in any direction within a club’s length. Granted he was up a handful of shots at the time, but knowing that rule allowed him to move his ball from the rough onto the green. Cannot hate on that awareness.

While the celebratory zoom call with his parents got a little awkward as a crowd surrounded and millions at home watched the private convo, but it was hard to not get choked up witnessing his initial reaction to seeing his parents.

So Bryson’s an unconventional guy, but with Tiger and Phil at the tail ends of their careers we could use some more unconventional guys and personalities on tour to keep this game growing beyond its core audience.