JEFF ALLEN: MASTERS PREVIEW
The first major of the 2016 golf season is upon us and is as wide open as any major in recent memory. With Tiger
Woods out of the picture for quite a while now, the next crop of “young guns’ has taken over and in the case of this
particular tournament, are all in excellent form and can’t be easily thrown thrown out. Lets quickly take a look at the
favorites with odds as of 4/4/16 compliments of the Westgate Super Book in Las Vegas.
Jason Day 7/1
Jordan Spieth 8/1
Rory McIlroy 8/1
Bubba Watson 10/1
Adam Scott 12/1
Ricky Fowler 12/1
Dustin Johnson 15/1
Phil Mickelson 15/1
Henrik Stenson 15/1
Justin Rose 25/1
Let’s get something out of the way right away. LONGSHOTS do not win the The Masters! If you go back to 2000, just
Mike Weir (2003) and Trevor Immelmann (2008) are the only winners that come close to being considered longshots.
Angel Cabrera was somewhat of a surprise in 2009 but the chain smoking Argentine has just the type of game that does
well at Augusta and proved that his win in 2009 was no fluke as he followed that up with a playoff loss in 2013. The
winner will likely come from our BIG TEN above so having now eliminated almost 95% of the field, we need to figure out
who and why.
If you are looking for players to have some fun with, Allen suggests the likes of Kevin Na 125/1, Bill Haas 100/1 and Brit
David Lingmerth 200/1. Forget about Euros Sshwartzel, Oosthuizen and Sergio Garcia. All three have the game to win and
Schwartzel has had a hot spring but none of three figure to be in the hunt come Sunday. The real shocker with the game
ability to stun would be Ernie Els. The Big Easy hasn’t been a facyor in several years while battling with injuries but this is
a guy who could be in it till Sunday. Amateur Bryson DChambeau is an amateur that has drawn a lot of interest and
has drawn some betting interest opening at 500-1 and is now currently just 100-1.
Weather will be a consideration all tournament long. While rain during daylight is not expected. High winds are expected
through most of the tournament with gusts up to 30 MPH. Saturday is expected to be the the toughest day to go out and
shoot a score. High winds will not help players who generally shoot the ball high like Spieth and Bubba Watson. The early
Thursday with the late Friday tee times should have the best of it over the first 36 holes. Here we are talking about Speith,
Fowler, both Johnsons, Mickelson and Stenson.
We’ll thin the herd by eliminating Rose and Stenson right off the git go for minor form or pedigree faults. We’ll throw at Dustin
Johnson (who actually led in tickets written through late Wednesday) until he proves that he can shoot a round of golf on
Sunday. We’ll get rid of Bubba, Spieth and Rory who will have to wait a few more years t won his career grand Slam. Bubba
and Rory like to play high shots that drop and stick which might not be the case this week. Spieth has a 1st and 2nd in the
only two times he’s played here but the Texan has had a tough spring and has not been razor sharp of late. That leaves an
Allen superfecta of Day, Scott, Fowler and Mickelson.
As Allen see’s it …
Fourth: Ricky Fowler has been knocking on the door and has played well in 2016 and has been a monster ticket burner in the
past and we’ll have to take a look see until Fowler looks one of the others in the eye and beats them.
Show: Phil Mickelson … has won here three times and 11 top tens. He’s shot 88 career rounds at Augusta, 49 under par. Time
is running out for Lefty and he’s been paying well and might just be urgent with Father Time whispering in his ear.
Place: Adam Scott has put to rest any notions that he wouldn’t be able to win without an anchored putter. The UNLV product has
had a big spring and you don’t want to see this guy’s name on the leaderboard on Sunday with five holes left.
and THE WINNER IS …. Jason Day. The Aussie is a walking Mash unit with problems with Vertigo, numbness, back problems.
That said, he’s won six of his last 13 tournaments including the last major. Day was nails in match play two week’s ago and
took last week off to freshen up for here.
The most profiitable way to go could be matchups which are available on a tournament and round by round basis. Justin Rose
has taken a lot on money in tournament matchups vs. Schawrtzel and Oosthuizen. We would look to play Rickie Fowler against
Rose and Dustin Johnson. Ernie Els might be worth a look at +225 in his group matchup with Davis Love III, Bernhard Langer
and Vijay Singh.
World Champion handicapper Jeff Allen has always been and avid golfer and was a scratch player back in the day. He
doesn’t get out as much these days having turned his attention to poker and other endeavors but is always up to take
a couple of dollars out of your pocket if you happen to be in town and would like to play a “friendly” round. Most importantly,
Jeff Allen says relax and have some fun and maybe pick up some cash along the way.