Tipster: Stanley

The Masters

Matchup plays (1.5pts unless stated):

Stuart Appleby to beat John Daly -118 @ Expekt

I fancy Daly to do well this week and looks good value at 80/1 to win with Ladbrokes, but in matchups he is a different proposition altogether. In his last five starts, he has three top-10 finishes, including a win, but his other two finishes were 69th and 79th. So long as Daly is not in contention, he could easily shoot very high scores over the weekend and makes him opposable in matchups.

Angel Cabrera to beat Ian Poulter -118 @ Expekt [3pts]

Another set of opposable players in matchups is rookies. Course experience is very important at Augusta and Poulter has none. Cabrera missed the cut on his debut in 2000 but has finished in the top-15 in each of the preceding three years. Having also finished in the top-20 in his last two PGA Tour events, he looks a decent shot to continue his run of high finishes in this event.

Bernhard Langer to beat Michael Campbell -143 @ Expekt

Langer has missed only one cut since he made his debut here in 1982, winning twice. By contrast, Campbell has missed the cut on four previous visits with every round over par. With the Ryder Cup captain in good form - all eight cuts made on the PGA Tour this year, including two top-10 finishes - this should be straightforward.

(also available at NordicBet)

Stewart Cink to beat Steve Flesch -125 @ Sportingbet and Sporting Odds

Cink is another who has been playing well this year, making every cut, though not well enough to win or finish in the top-5 as tipped last week. He has good course form with four top-30 finishes in his last five years and should beat Flesch who missed the cut in his only previous start here in 2001.

Stewart Cink to beat Jonathan Kaye -118 @ Expekt

Kaye has won this year - the FBR Open - but has since struggled, missing two cuts and finishing 30th and 56th in the other two events. He did make the cut on his only previous start at Augusta in 2001, but three of four rounds were over par and if Cink makes the cut he should also prosper in this match.

Brad Faxon to beat Jonathan Kaye -125 @ Sportingbet and Sporting Odds

Making the cut should be straightforward for Faxon. Apart from his missed cut in 1997, his worst finish in the last ten years at the Masters has been 26th. He has also made his last three cuts after struggling on the West Coast Swing, so this should be enough.

Kirk Triplett to beat Peter Lonard -118 @ Expekt [3pts]

Lonard showed an impressive return to form last week, having missed three of his previous cuts on Tour. It will be a much tougher challenge to maintain his form this week as he made his debut at Augusta last year with rounds of 78 and 82. Triplett has had four top-15 finishes this year already and was 6th here back in 2001.

Adding:

Nick Price to beat Peter Lonard +100 @ WWTS [4.5pts]

Opposing Lonard again. He finished 15 shots behind Price after 36 holes last year and as outlined above, he has missed two of his last four cuts. Price is certainly not the player that he was, but he is still more than capable of finishing in the top-30 for the seventh time in nine years.

Adding (1.5pts unless stated):

Padraig Harrington to beat Chad Campbell -140 @ Five Dimes

Five Dimes have added a huge array of matchups - 121 in total - so adding a few more to the tally. Opposing Campbell this week on the basis that, as Shaker has already argued, his putting should be his weakness around Augusta and Harrington has a big lead in this department. For all that Campbell deserved the praise for his win in the Bay Hill Invitational, he has finished in the top-35 in only a third of starts this year. He will need to be much more solid if he is to master this course.

Scott Verplank to beat Chad Campbell +110 @ Five Dimes [3pts]

Against Campbell's unpredictable play, Verplank has been one of the most consistent players of the season so far. His worst finish in six starts has been 26th and the only time that he has finished lower down the leaderboard than Campbell was at the Bay Hill Invitational which Campbell won and Verplank was 3rd. After six missed cuts at Augusta, Verplank has made the last two cuts here and finished 8th last year. In this form, he should not be too far away from the top-10 again.

Scott Verplank to beat Sergio Garcia -110 @ Five Dimes

Continuing with the dependable vs. erratic player theme, Verplank should beat Garcia this week. The Spaniard has finished 30th, 20th, 31st and 53rd in his last four strokeplay events and finished with 77 in the last round of his last two events. He may have the better form at Augusta prior to last year, but he not been in the same class as Verplank for some time.

Scott Verplank to beat John Daly -165 @ Five Dimes [3pts]

And again. As above, I expect either a sink or swim week from Daly. He has remained focused in events partly because of a drive to get his place in the top-50 in the World Rankings and so play in this event again. He has a decent shot at winning this title, but if the course starts to frustrate him, a weekend of 76-80 as he had in the Players Championship is rather likely.

Jeff Sluman to beat Michael Campbell -115 @ Five Dimes [3pts]

Opposing Campbell again. Four missed cuts from four visits is enough reason, plus he went out in the first round of the WGC Matchplay Championship in his start on American soil this year. It has hardly put to rest his nightmare spell on the PGA Tour in the first half of last year. Steady Sluman has made his last four cuts at Augusta and has made every cut on the Tour since his opening event of the year in Hawaii.

Final update: 10-3-0; +17.24pts

Appleby/Daly WON by 2
Cabrera/Poulter LOST by 3

Langer/Campbell WON by 5

Cink/Flesch TIED (Lost)

Cink/Kaye WON by 4

Faxon/Kaye WON by 3

Triplett/Lonard WON by 4

Price/Lonard WON by 4

Harrington/Campbell WON by 5

Verplank/Campbell WON by 8

Verplank/Garcia LOST by 8

Verplank/Daly WON by 4

Sluman/Campbell WON by 6

Great week on the matchups with all ten winners decided at the cut. Most welcome!

Tipster: Shaker

The Masters

Matchup plays (2 pts unless stated):

John Daly to beat Chad Campbell +140 @ NordicBet
Wouldn't dream of a spread play on this matchup, but fixed odds I fancy taking this speculative price. Daly's short game is just wondrous and generally in a different league to Campbell's, and I can see a very exciting week for the 'Wild Thing'. Campbell's one weakness is his putting and his 77-77 last year on his debut showed he didn't immediately conquer the place, to put it lightly, and it could well be much harder on and around the greens this time around due to the firmness of the course.

Jeff Maggert to beat Justin Rose -110 @ Sportingbet and Sporting Odds
Maggert's experience here should see him as a warm favourite in this matchup, in my opinion, and who can forget what a run he had last year. Rose's long game has been coming on since being in the US but his putting is still shaky and even making the cut could be beyond him I feel. Just don't see this test suiting him at all in only his 2nd Masters.

Paul Casey to beat Ian Poulter -110 @ SkyBet [3 pts]
Not sure if I'll ever see Poulter in the same class as Casey and even on home ground Casey is by far the most consistent too. So with Casey now coming to terms with challenging the best in the US events (10th place in the Players last time was a fine effort), I'd have to take this bet every time; I think the gap between the two will become even more pronounced in time. This is a Masters debut for both players but I see a decent week and an enhanced reputation as a much more likely scenario for Casey than Poulter.

Retief Goosen to beat Chad Campbell -110 @ Bet365
Opposing Chad with a similarly top-class player but, crucially, one who has proven pretty much beyond doubt that he has the game for this place. As with the Daly matchup, I see Campbell as being way behind in putting ability, and with the Augusta-experience difference that should be even more pronounced this week; Goosen is currently 6th in Putting Average and 9th in Scrambling on tour.

              

Final result: 3-1; Profit 4.8 pts

Daly/Campbell WON by 4
Maggert/Rose LOST by 12
Casey/Poulter WON by 9
Goosen/Campbell WON by 5

Maggert was complete rubbish but apart from that the opposing of Campbell was a very good move and I'm certainly happy to have said what I did about Casey; he had an excellent week and an enhanced reputation is definitely the result.