The Masters Tournament is the first of the four major tournaments to take place in the golfing calendar and, in the view of many, is the best and most popular event of the year. Unlike the other majors, the Masters is unique in that it takes place at the same course each year – the Augusta National Golf Club.
As a consequence, the Masters Tournament is the one major where course history is a significant factor, with it always being worth punters looking to back players with a good record on the course.
Avoid Debutants
The Augusta National is a course where experience is key. As with many things in life, it can take a bit of getting used to and novices really don’t have a great record when it comes to winning here. History tells us that it’s not a wise decision to back a golfer making his debut at this event.
The very first Masters Tournament in 1934 was naturally won by a player – Horton Smith of the USA – making his first appearance in the championship, while Gene Sarazen won at his first attempt in 1935. Since then, only Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 has done likewise.
On average, those winning the coveted Green Jacket in Augusta require at least six attempts at the Masters Tournament before succeeding. Sergio Garcia won it on his 19th attempt!
Multiple Winners
That said, there have also been several multiple champions at the Masters, with Jack Nicklaus holding the record with six wins (1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975 & 1986). The last of those wins also saw Nicklaus set a record as the oldest Masters winner at the age of 46 years and 2 months. “The Golden Bear” also finished runner-up on four occasions (1964, 1971, 1977 & 1981).
Tiger Woods has five wins (1997, 2001, 2002, 2005 & 2019) to his name, the first of which saw him become the youngest Masters winner at the age of 21 years and 3 months. The average age of a Masters winner is 32.
Since the turn of the century we’ve seen Phil Mickelson claim three wins (2004, 2006 & 2010) and Bubba Watson donning the Green Jacket on two occasions (2012 & 2014).
Only three golfers have ever won back-to-back Masters Tournaments – Nicklaus (1965 & 1966); Nick Faldo (1989 & 1990) and Woods (2001 & 2002).
August Masters Betting Strategies
Dive into our proven betting strategies designed to give you an edge in wagering on the Augusta Masters, one of golf’s most prestigious tournaments.
Focus On Main Players
Another factor to consider when betting on the Masters is that this isn’t a tournament that is typically won by big outsiders, with 22 of the 24 Masters winners since 2000 having been ranked inside the world’s top 25. Quality generally prevails at Augusta.
Current Form
Something else to keep an eye on is the current form of players going into the Masters. For example, Jon Rahm had won five of his previous eleven events prior to winning the 2023 Masters, while Scottie Scheffler had won three of his last five events before winning in 2022.
Home Advantage
Another statistic that might be worth taking into consideration is that American players have won over 70% of the Masters Tournaments to date. Players from the USA are in the majority at the tournament anyway, but home advantage does have a part to play.
Live Masters Betting
For those that like to bet on golf in-play, it’s always worth remembering that “Amen Corner”, the 11th, 12th and 13th holes are notorious for their difficulty and have had a significant impact on the outcome of the tournament down the years.
Many golf fans will recall Jordan Spieth being seemingly on course to retain his Green Jacket on the final day in 2016 before he first bogeyed the 11th hole and then hit a quadruple bogey at the 12th. The lesson here is that even if your chosen player has a healthy lead over the field, it’s very much a case of don’t count your chickens at the Masters.
Augusta Masters Statistics
Length and accuracy off the tee are always important of course, but it’s not quite so crucial at Augusta as it once was. These days it might be more productive to look at other statistics, such as those golfers who are ranking highly in hitting Greens in Regulation (GIR).
Approach shots into the greens are increasingly important at the Masters. It can certainly pay dividends to look at the PGA Tour stats for the current year for those players who perform well on the GIR metric.
In addition, punters need to be aware of the extremely fast, bentgrass greens at Augusta. Winning at the Masters means avoiding bogeys and 3-putts just as much as hitting birdies and eagles.
Hole In One’s Betting
If looking for more novelty type Augusta golf bets, it’s perhaps worth noting that, at the time of writing, there have been 34 Hole in One’s recorded in the history of the Masters tournaments. 24 of those have been on the 170-yard Par 3 16th Hole.
Other Augusta Stats
A few other interesting stats include the fact that there have been six Masters winners who have led at the end of the first round, second round and third round before going on to claim victory.
There have been two recent examples of this, with Spieth doing so in 2015 and Dustin Johnson in 2020 (when he shot a Masters record score of 20 under par – 268).
So, in closing, we would suggest that some of the main traits to look for when selecting a player to bet on to win the Masters are:
- Course experience
- Good recent form
- Top 25 world ranking
- American
- High ranking for Green in Regulation
Of course, the beauty of sport is that there’s never any guarantees and the next winner of the Masters Tournament might not meet all or any of these criteria. However, history suggests that focusing on these markers when choosing your Augusta bets is the sensible option.