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Hello, friends. Welcome to Casual Hoya's 4th annual live-blogging of The Masters! FOUR YEARS! Wow, time flies! Whatever!
Today, we'll be guiding you through the first round at Augusta National, where Gary Player, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus have already kicked off this 77th edition of the Masters with their ceremonial tee shots and Tiger Woods tees off at 10:45 am eastern in pursuit of his 5th Green Jacket.
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Some betting action to keep you motivated:
According to Bovada, Woods is currently a 7/2 favorite to win his fifth green jacket, and he has the same odds (plus-1000) to miss the cut as he does to win the tournament by five or more strokes. Winning a major championship is impressive enough, but Woods is also plus-1600 to win in wire-to-wire fashion.
While all betting eyes are focused on Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy come in a distant second. Both players are currently 12/1 favorites to win. Coming off a second-place finish last week, McIlroy is plus-175 to finish in the top five, while Mickelson is plus-225.
Justin Rose has the fourth-best odds at 20/1, while Dustin Johnson and Keegan Bradley are tied for fifth at 22/1. No other player has better than 25/1 odds. Defending Masters champion Bubba Watson is a 33/1 favorite to repeat. Other notable odds include Ian Poulter at 40/1, Webb Simpson at 50/1 and K.J. Choi at 66/1. Louis Oosthuizen, who lost in a playoff to Watson last year, is a 25/1 favorite.
The 2013 Masters odds include a few interesting prop bets, as well. Mickelson is the favorite to finish as the top left-handed player, at minus-210, while Watson is second at plus-165. Red is currently the favorite to be the color of the winner's final-round shirt, narrowly edging out white and black. With Woods, Mickelson and others, American is the favorite to be the winning nationality, with English second.
Oddsmakers are split on whether or not there will be a hole-in-one in the 2013 Masters, with both yes and no currently going off at minus-115.
To lead you through the course lined with blossoming azaleas and several strains of dogwood, we have Hire Esherick following the play at hole 7, JGD chiming in from Amen Corner, and of course Bobby Clampett on 17. Actually, that's not even true. In fact, this is often just me out here commenting to myself over 100 times and documenting every stroke Tiger takes as it happens right here, on America's most-viewed Georgetown Hoyas hoops site...that is until we break coverage with the latest Otto Porter news, rumors and innuendo.
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