The Masters: best bets for the first-round Augusta threeballs

Sky Sports Golf, 7pm Thursday

The most attractive Masters first-round threeballs for spectators take place in the middle of the day, but for punters it is the top and tail of the card that should be of most interest.

Tiger Woods, bidding for a 15th Major title which would get him within three victories of the great Jack Nicklaus, tees off at 4.04pm UK and Ireland time in a mouthwatering group alongside Jon Rahm and Haotong Li.

Woods has his work cut out to defeat the sparkling Spaniard and the cheerful Chinaman in that match – Rahm would be the selection for those wishing to bet on the contest – while Masters favourite Rory McIlroy is far from a shoo-in either for his 4.15pm threeball against Rickie Fowler and Cameron Smith.

Wagers on Rahm at 6-4 and McIlroy at 11-10 may yield returns, but a safer and much more appealing threeballs investment is Keith Mitchell for the 1.41pm gathering. The two best bets of the opening round come straight away, with Mitchell looking particularly solid.

The 27-year-old powerhouse is making his Masters debut, but he played college golf at the University of Georgia and has some playing experience at Augusta. The Georgia-based slugger is well suited to the assignment, with effortless length off the tee and an ability to hit towering iron shots, and he could be the Masters first-timer who makes most of an impact over the next four days.

Mitchell won his maiden US Tour title in fine style just over a month ago, bravely overcoming the challenges of Fowler and Brooks Koepka to win the Honda Classic with a final-hole birdie, and he followed up with sixth place in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Mitchell has great potential and can be fancied to boss Ian Woosnam and Kevin Tway in his threeball. Woosnam is 61 and has missed the cut in the last ten Masters, his annual jolly to Augusta always ending on the Friday night. The Welshman has missed the cut in 17 of his last 18 Masters, yet is happy to turn up each year to shoot a million over par.

Tway, like Mitchell, is a debutant, but his only experience of Augusta has been from watching his father Bob compete there many moons ago. Tway junior has missed six US Tour cuts in a row, so confidence has hit rock-bottom prior to his Masters bow.

Punters may want to consider putting Mitchell in a threeballs double with another US Tour form-horse – Corey Conners. The 1.30pm contest looks at the mercy of Conners, who produced some glorious golf last Sunday to win the Texas Open.

Conners carded ten final-round birdies for a US Tour breakthrough in Texas, earning a last-gasp Masters spot in the process, and the Canadian is walking on air. He has found his A-game at the perfect time and can hit the ground running at Augusta because he already has a Masters spin under his belt.

Conners opened with a nervous 80 as an amateur in the 2015 Masters, but followed up with an excellent 69 to show he can handle the track. Four years later, expect a faster start and for Adam Long and Andrew Landry to be left behind.

Long and Landry are Masters debutants who have arrived in terrible form. They both missed the cut in Texas last week – level par and one over respectively – while Conners romped to 20 under par with a sensational closing back-nine of 30.

The best threeballs value later in the round is arguably in the final group, where Paul Casey can get the better of American duo Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka at 7pm.

Casey, who boasts eight top-20s at Augusta in his 12 Masters starts and has form figures of 6-4-6-15 from the last four, successfully defended the Valspar Championship title last month and is bullish about his chances. The Englishman is probably best followed early in the week and he has a significant form edge over his playing partners for the first two days.

Spieth has a fantastic Masters record but has been in dire nick for seven months, while Koepka has been suffering with an ice-cold putter. Koepka was forced to miss the last Masters through injury, so could make a sluggish August return.

Recommendations
K Mitchell
4pts 5-6 BoyleSports, Hills
C Conners
2pts 11-8 Sky Bet
P Casey
1pt 15-8 Betfair

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