There are seven Green Jacket winners among the top 20 favorites to win the 2019 Masters at Augusta National in April.
They include four-time champion Tiger Woods, three-timer Phil Mickelson and dual-winner Bubba Watson. They also include the defending champion, Patrick Reed.
But this week, two months from 2019 Masters tee-off of pro golf’s first 2019 major, none of them is the favorite.
Generally, New Jersey sports bookies currently seem to favour England’s Justin Rose and American Rickie Fowler..
The two top their list of futures odds at +1200 with three multi-major winners behind them at +1400.
Two of this trio, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth, both own Green Jackets and the third, Rory McIlroy, has won all the majors except the Masters.
Behind them long-time former World No 1 Dustin Johnson and the exciting Spanish prospect Jon Rahm sit at +1500.
Rose has many credentials, Fowler not so many
For Rose, there are a number of sound reasons for his lofty perch. He is a major winner – the 2013 US Open. He is the reigning Olympic and FedEx Cup champion and is the current World No 1. He has twice finished second in the Masters and knows Augusta National well.
He also happens to be in top form right now. Three weeks back he won the Farmers Insurance Open in Arizona.
Fowler doesn’t come with anything like the same credentials. He’s another with lots of form right now, having won the Waste Management Phoenix Open two weeks ago. But while he’s been knocking on the door, he’s never won a major.
Certainly, it will come as a surprise to some that he is rated above so many multi-titled major winners. Not the least of them is the legendary Woods.
Tiger’s comeback to win the coveted Tour Championship at the end of last year verged on the miraculous. Not too many believed he could shrug away the personal and injury problems that have dogged him for 10 years.
But he did – and right now he certainly looks like a man to watch heading to the Masters. So might another old hand, Phil Mickelson. After his upset victory at Pebble Beach on Sunday Phil looks to be a pretty good bet at +2500 – even at the age of 48.
New Jersey’s most likely top 20 Masters winners
+1200 – Rickie Fowler (USA) and Justin Rose (Eng)
+1400 – Rory McIlroy (Nir), Jordan Spieth (USA) and Tiger Woods (USA)
+1500 – Dustin Johnson (USA) and John Rahm (Esp)
+1600 – Brooks Koepke (USA), Justin Thomas (USA)
+2200 – Tony Finau (USA)
+2500 – Phil Mickelson (USA) and Jason Day (Aus)
+3000 – Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) and Xander Schauffele (USA)
+3500 – Matt Kuchar (USA), Hideki Matsuyama (Jap) and Paul Casey (Eng)
+4000 – Bubba Watson (USA), Adam Scott (USA), Francesco Molinari (ITA) and Patrick Reed (USA).