- The Masters golf tournament heads into the final round on Sunday with Hideki Matsuyama in control.
- This is welcome news for William Hill’s Nevada books who are facing a big liability on Jordan Spieth.
- Speith is currently in 7th place, six strokes off the lead.
It’s completely understandable if William Hill’s Nevada books are collectively breathing a sigh of relief right now. At the end of the the third round at Augusta National Golf Club their ‘worst case scenario’ for The Masters is looking less and less likely. After a weather delay, Hideki Matsuyama was unstoppable, finishing with a 7 under and turning in the first bogey-free round of the 2021 Masters. This is fortuitous for William Hill–according to an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal they are facing a big liability on a Jordan Spieth win.
Matsuyama is no doubt a much more palatable choice to win–not only for William Hill but for most sportsbooks. Matsuyama was 40/1 futures betting choice at South Point and went off at 10/1 for Thursday’s first round. He hasn’t won a tournament in four years and has never won a major so to suggest that he was ‘under the radar’ is an understatement. He’ll head into Sunday’s final round with a four stroke lead over his nearest challengers–a four way scrum at -7 involving Will Zalatoris, Marc Leishman, Justin Rose and Xander Schauffele. Corey Conners is in sixth at -6 with Jordan Spieth in seventh at -5. Overnight odds have Matsuyama as a -115 choice to finish the deal and take the green jacket.
In a pre-tournament article, the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Todd Dewey made the rounds of the city’s bookmaking community to find out where the action for The Masters was going. Based on their comments there wasn’t much concern about any potential winner–except for Jordan Spieth. When the futures odds for The Masters went up earlier this year there was little concern about Spieth who hasn’t won a tournament since the 2017 British Open. In early February, he was 60-1 at the Westgate Superbook but all of a sudden started to play excellent golf. He turned in a pair of consecutive top four finishes at the Phoenix Open and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am. His form caught the attention of ‘sharps’ and squares alike. Spieth went from 60-1 at the Westgate in February to a 10-1 second choice the night before the tournament. The Westgate also has early odds on Spieth at 25-1 to win the PGA Championship and 30-1 each to win the U.S. Open and British Open.
The Westgate’s Jeff Sherman reported that his book had been taking money on Spieth ever since his reversal of form but William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich gave a more emphatic assessment. Spieth was the 9-1 co-favorite with Dustin Johnson at William Hill the night before The Masters began:
“Spieth is on fire, and he plays well there, and they were getting big prices on him at one point. We’ll get pulverized if he wins.”
South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews is happy to see the bets coming through the window:
“It’s always the biggest-bet tournament, which we’re very glad to see. I think it’s going to be big again.”
At BetOnline.ag, Matsuyama is a -117 favorite in a matchup against the field. Takeback on every other golfer remaining is -103. If you want to back a specific golfer to try and beat Matsuyama you can go with Xander Schauffele (+500), Justin Rose (+900), Marc Leishman (+1100) or Will Zalatoris (+1100). Jordan Spieth is +1500 to make an astonishing comeback.
