Betting: How should you handicap LIV golfers at the Masters?
Pamela Maldonado handicaps a few of the top LIV Golf tour members competing at the Masters Tournament this week.
Video Transcript
- So you want to bet on the LIV players at this week's Masters. Pam Maldonado giving you a breakdown of Cam Smith, Dustin Johnson, and Brooks Koepka to see if they have a chance to contend at Augusta National this week.
Starting first with Cam Smith, -105 for a top 20, 35:1 for an outright. Smith is appealing because of his solo third in last year's Masters, plus a T-2nd in the 2020 edition.
It's pretty simple for me, however. Smith has played in only four tournaments this year, three of which were on the LIV Tour, where there's only about 50 players in the field. Smith finished 24th and 26th in his last two starts. Getting plus money only for Smith to finish in the top 10? Hard pass.
Dustin Johnson does hold a bit more intrigue, -115 for a top 20, 22:1 for an outright. DJ does hold the record for 72 holes at Augusta, won the Masters back in 2020, seemingly improving on the LIV Tour with the T-35, followed up with a 13th place finish, and then a seventh place last week.
Before leaving for the LIV Tour, DJ was solid off the tee, solid with his irons, and solid around the green, a great combination to contend here, as we've seen with his Masters history.
Looking at the last 100 rounds, DJ was ninth in strokes gained to the green, ninth in strokes gained total. -115 for a top 20 finish is far more intriguing for DJ.
Brooks Koepka will be popular this week because he just won last week in Orlando, gaining nearly 10 strokes total. The narrative? BK only shows up for these big time events, but does he really? Back to back missed cuts in the Masters. In his last six events with similar strength of field, Koepka had three missed cuts, zero top 25 finishes.
The one LIV player most appealing to me, Mito Pereira, +125 for a top 30, 80:1 for an outright. He's played in five tournaments in 2023 between the Asian tour and the LIV Tour, gaining strokes total in all five events, which led to back to back top sixes on LIV. Pereira has never played at Augusta, but if you look at the last 100 rounds, he was the seventh best iron player on tour. Frequently made my PGA betting card. Top 30 to me, definitely worth the risk.
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