Ben Coley previews the first day of the Masters Tournament with Russell Henley and Ryan Moore fancied to land weak three-balls.
Thursday banker
Punters are pointed towards first-round leader tip Russell Henley for the best three-ball wager on day one of the Masters. Henley, who figures highly for first-round scoring, sat fourth after day one last year and sixth on his previous visit, is entitled to outscore Larry Mize and Shubhankar Sharma with something to spare.
Sharma is a fine young talent who has answered just about every call this year, but he's making his Masters debut with the extra pressure of having been handed a special invite from the Augusta committee. Though impossible to rule out, if he breaks par it will be another astonishing achievement to add to a growing list.
On balance, the Indian might just find this a step too far and while Mize has made two cuts in the last three years here, his last under-par round came way back in 2009. Given that he's struggled to get competitive on the Champions Tour this season, something in the region of 75 would represent an extremely good day's work and a beatable target.
Henley is evens with sportingbet and that appears generous.
Next best
If you're looking for a double, Coral also make Ryan Moore an 8/11 chance to beat Ian Woosnam and Jhonattan Vegas, which adds up to 12/5 that both he and Henley oblige.
Moore, another who features in my specials preview with a top-20 finish considered well within his compass, is playing well. He knows and loves Augusta, where he once contended as an amateur and also had a chance to win last year, and his long game has looked at its absolute best lately. He's also finding greens for fun, a key pointer towards success at this course.
By contrast, Vegas looked out of sorts in Houston last week and struggled throughout February and March. The Venezuelan averages 75.5 to Moore's 72.69 at Augusta and the man with the considerably lower scoring average also arrives in considerably better form.
As for Woosnam, he's not managed to shoot par here in a decade and hasn't even been close of late. There's no shame in that, of course, but this ceremonial appearance will surely end in a missed cut and he's just not a factor in this three-ball. The only way I can envisage him winning at odds in the region of 8/1 is if both his playing partners struggle to break 80.
As mentioned, one firm offers upwards of 9/4 the Moore-Henley double while William Hill are around the 2/1 mark. It would be a little disappointing not to get paid out in full.
Others to consider
Billy Horschel has struggled a little lately, but he interests me at the best part of 3/1 to outscore Chez Reavie and Cameron Smith.
Reavie was disappointing in Houston last week and must overcome a poor Masters record - he's missed all three cuts and averages a whopping 77.33, his best round in six a two-over 74. Perhaps he'll improve upon it having been in generally good form this year, but Augusta is not made for his game.
Smith is a more appealing candidate and fared reasonably well to make the cut here on his 2016 debut, but recent form would be a fair concern with his only big positives coming from the Match Play, and I'd want to see much more from him before concluding that he has the right game for Augusta.
Horschel meanwhile has been 17th and 37th in three starts in the Masters, and on his last two visits has opened with rounds of 70 which would make him hard to beat here. What's more, in three of his eight starts this year, this excellent ball-striker has sat inside the top 10 after round one, including at Bay Hill last time. Like Smith, his recent play leaves plenty to be desired, but it's factored into the price.
Chances are that 17-year-old Yuxin Lin will be overawed on his Masters debut, but I didn't think he could be totally ruled out given that Charl Schwartzel has really struggled this year and Webb Simpson, like Reavie, is a player who isn't well suited to Augusta.
Lin, who won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, is a player with a bright future and we know how well lefties have gone at this course. There was some 8/1 around for him to find a number competitive enough to beat two largely unappealing sorts and that strikes me as fairly generous.
Marc Leishman has coped well with the Tiger Woods show and twice started well here, so I wouldn't have him bigger than Tommy Fleetwood alongside the great man in the marquee morning match, while Patrick Cantlay should be favourite to beat Ian Poulter and Trevor Immelman. Some firms disagree with that statement.
Posted at 1415 BST on 04/04/18.