Steve Palmer's Masters specials predictions, best bets, free golf betting tips

Steve Palmer's golf tips, best specials bets & player analysis for The Masters, which starts on Thursday at Augusta National Golf Club.

When to watch

Sky Sports Main Event and Golf, 2pm Thursday

Best bets

Sam Burns top debutant
3pts 7-2 Betfair, Power

Cameron Smith top Rest of the World
3pts 7-2 bet365

Keita Nakajima top amateur
3pts 7-4 BoyleSports

Thomas Pieters top European
1pt each-way 25-1 general

Sepp Straka top debutant
1pt each-way 14-1 Hills

Preview

Debutants traditionally struggle at Augusta National, daunted as they tee up inside the Cathedral of Pines for the first time, but Sam Burns has won three PGA Tour titles over the last year and could be set to make an immediate impact.

Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 is the last Augusta virgin to win the Masters. This week's crop of 20 may extend the sequence of failure to 43 years, but Burns seems the debutant with the best chance and the world number 11 can be backed at 7-2 to be the pick of the new arrivals.

Burns, who successfully defended the Valspar Championship last time out before skipping the WGC-Match Play to freshen up, appears to have rediscovered his A-game at the perfect time to give a strong account of himself in Georgia.

An each-way investment in the same market on Sepp Straka is also advised. Straka was born in Austria but moved to Georgia when he was 14, so the Masters feels like a home game. He made the cut in both his previous Majors and Straka enjoyed his PGA Tour breakthrough in the Honda Classic in February.

Ninth place from the wrong side of the draw in the Players Championship a month ago was another great performance from Straka. He could be the man who gives Burns-backers most to fret about in this market, so getting both onside is the preferred tactic.

Cameron Smith has taken a typically relaxed approach to the Masters, spending much of his time lately doing some gentle short-game work, seeing his family and playing TPC Sawgrass with his father. The chilled-out Aussie has not competed since winning the Players Championship and may take time to hit his stride this week.

Come the weekend, though, Smith should be purring at a course where he boasts three top-ten finishes. Given the injury cloud hanging over Hideki Matsuyama, who withdrew from the Texas Open last week after just 27 holes, Smith appears a solid option in the top Rest of the World section.

Outright fancy Thomas Pieters looks a lively outsider in the top European market, while Keita Nakajima can be trusted for top amateur.

There are six amateurs going to post - and Nakajima seems a class apart. The Japanese ace is number one in the rankings, has already won a title on the Japan Tour and finished 41st in a PGA Tour event (Sony Open) in January.

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