Europeans lining up for Augusta assault

After a barren spell at Augusta for the European contenders, two of the last three wearers of the Green Jacket have been from this side of the Atlantic.

The 2019 Masters looks well set up for players from this side of the pond and all 12 of the men who helped win the Ryder Cup in 2018 are set to tee it up this week in Georgia.

Open champion Francesco Molinari (22/1 – Masters Outright) has a career-best T19 at The Masters but looks well set to improve on that record, especially after recently taking the honours at Bay Hill.

Paul Casey is also well fancied after defending his Valspar title and has a good record at Augusta, with five top-10s, including a run of T6-T4-6 between 2015 and 2017.

Speaking of good Masters records, Justin Rose lost out in a play-off to Sergio Garcia (14/1 Top European) two years ago, while he was T2 behind Jordan Spieth in 2014.

A win at the Farmers Insurance Open and the boost of moving back to world number one after last week’s Valero Texas Open means it is no surprise he is talking an extremely good game and is 14/1 in the outright market.

Jon Rahm finished fourth 12 months ago and three top 10s in 2019 shows he is in decent form, while Tommy Fleetwood is also attracting interest after tying for 17th last year.

However, it is Rory McIlroy who leads the outright betting at 8/1 with Betfred as he aims to win his first major since the 2014 US PGA Championship. This is the only one of the big four absent from his CV and breaking his duck this week will see him become just the sixth man to win all four majors since the Masters was first played in 1932.

With the weather forecast set to be soggy over the weekend, McIlroy’s ability to carry the ball so far through the air could be crucial. Casey himself has acknowledged this fact and having also won The Players Championship, the 29-year-old is also 13/5 to be the Top European.

Odds subject to change