When speaking about the Masters, Jordan Spieth should be the first name on everyone's mind. The young pro captivated the golf world last season, winning consecutive majors and keeping the talk of a calendar year Grand Slam alive and well for a few months. Spieth produced a legendary 2015 by winning both the Masters and US Open to start the year and became only the sixth player in the tour's history, and first since Tiger Woods in 2002, to win both events back to back.
In fact, Spieth's 2015 season was so dominant that the young American pro produced a Top 4 finish in all four majors and brought the golf world as close to a calendar year Grand Slam as it has seen since Woods was in dominant form nearly a decade ago. The beginning of 2016 has been a quiet one for Spieth, even though he started it by winning his seventh PGA Tour event, as much of the media attention as of late has been focused on Jason Day and Rory McIlroy. Let's take a closer look at the Masters, go over the odds and make a few predictions about how Spieth might perform during the event. All odds come from Bovada.
Jordan Spieth 2016 Masters Storylines
Spieth opened 2016 with a dominant win at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in early January and produced a score of 30-under par, which clocked in as one of the lowest scores for a 72-hole PGA Tour event in history (Ernie Els shot a 31-under in 2003). Spieth has since played in four other tournaments, but he missed the cut at the Northern Trust Open and managed to place no better than 18 in the others.
The defending Masters champion, however, has been fine tuning his game and was probably in no rush to win any of those events. The biggest take away from the early part of the year should be that spectacular tournament win and the scary thought that Spieth is only improving. The pro also advanced to the second round of the GC-Dell Match Play this week and may have another excellent tournament performance under his belt before the Masters begins during the first week of April.
Jordan Spieth 2016 Odds and Key Stats
Spieth is currently receiving +1200 Masters odds, which ranks second behind Day and just ahead of McIlroy. Through seven events during the 2016 season, Spieth has averaged a 69.3-stroke round and managed to earn $1.7 million and a No. 13 rank on the yearly PGC money list. Outside of the matchplay event to end the month of March, Spieth's last tournament was an 18th-place finish and even-par score at the Valspar Championship in mid-March. The 22 year old has played in 26 rounds and 468 holes so far this season, which is quite a bit more than both his nearest rivals in Day and McIlroy.
2016 Masters Picks and Predictions
Wagering on golf is so difficult because the sport is a "game of inches" and a bad shot here or there can cost a player an entire tournament. Spieth, however, is as good of a bet as any to defend his Masters crown and grab a third major before the age of 23. No player has repeated at the Masters since Woods did so during his 2001-02 run, yet Spieth has already shown a fondness for making history and matching Wood's records.
Augusta National is a difficult course, but it has also proven to be beatable over the last 10 to 15 years as both Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson were able to win two Masters in a three-year span during that time. The question on the table for Spieth is "how great will he become?" because the all-time great players have multiple Masters wins on their mantle. Spieth is receiving excellent odds at +1200 for the tournament and clocks in as a great wager to make.
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