Tipster: Andy

The Masters

Pre-Tournament Trades

Buy 13th Hole Redemption Special at 144 at Sporting Index for 0.5 pts. (M/U 159, Profit 7.5 pts)
The make-ups on this market over the last 3 years have been 113, 123 and 209. With course changes on a regular basis since Tiger Woods' runaway success in 97 it is difficult to assess too far back so we can take the 2001 stats with a pinch of salt. So, why advise a buy at 21 pts over the previous best in the last two years ? Two reasons, one - the weather this year has been kind with players reporting that the ground is brick hard and the greens come Sunday night could be a brown shade of green. Also, shorter hitters like Scott Verplank are overjoyed at the fact that this means they can now contend when before the longer hitters had a great advantage in the wet as tee shots died on their first bounce. Now the majority of the field have a shot at hitting the 13th in two. The beauty of this spread is the fact there are no deductions for errors, so anyone missing the green and getting in trouble just do not contribute to the scoring. In the last two years there were 3 and 4 eagles respectively, I would surmise this year there may be more. Also with players being nearer the hole after 3 shots the chances of more players contributing a point for a birdie vastly increases too (83 in both the last two years). The second reason for the advice is that Ernie Els has stated on his website that the green has softened up a little from previous years, thus being more receptive to long iron approaches.

All in all, the downside here is limited, the upside could be anything, i suppose like all spread prices you should have an idea yourself of what you personally think the price should be and i would offer a price of around the min 170s as being nearer the mark.

Sell Len Mattiace FP at 37 with Sporting Index for 0.5 pts. (M/U 50, Profit -6.5 pts)

Mattiace was 2nd last year and comes into this event fairly fresh after an injury lay off. He started slowly missing two cuts but seemed to come into a little form with a Top 40 place at Sawgrass. With a known downside of 6.5 pts it seems a fair risk given that we have a 96 field from which at least 20 players have either no chance or a very limited chance. Available at 38 with other firms, we advise a sell here as Sporting are offering a double money offer if he wins or is 2nd to Tiger. This is worth the one point risk. Note though the cut in the Masters is lower than normal at 44 + ties,

Sell John Daly over Fred Couples 72H MB at 1 with Cantor Sports for 0.5 pts. (M/U -14, Profit 7.5 pts)

The Daly bandwagon rolls on and the spread firms know that your average golf punter will back Daly and Woods especially, in majors, no matter what price is put up. This is a fair example of this as Couples should be favourite here. Course form for both is  Daly - 52/mc/-/32/- since 99'. Couples 27/11/26/36/28. Current form obviously suits Daly with finishes of three Top 10's in five events, but Couples shows a model of consistency at Augusta that just can't be ignored.

Sell Chad Campbell over Chris Di'Marco 72H MB at 2.05 using the "matchmakers" facility with Sporting Index  for 0.5 pts. (M/U -22, Profit 12 pts)

Getting a 2pt start here on a player who has posted a 10th and 12th in the last 3 years compared to Campbell's debut performance in 03' of 77/77 to miss the cut by some way. The long term prospects for Campbell are far more promising than Di'Marco but i would offer an opinion that this course suits DiMarco more when the fairways are hard, allowing the shorter hitters to participate, as they are this week.

Round One Trades

Buy Tiger Woods over Thomas Bjorn at 10 with Spreadex for 0.75 pts. (M/U 25, Profit 11.25 pts.)

Buy Stewart Cink over Craig Perks at 9 with Spreadex for 0.75 pts. (M/U 16, Profit 5.25 pts)

Buy Len Mattiace over Iain Woosnam at 6 with Spreadex for 0.75 pts. (M/U 0, Profit -4.5 pts)

Buy Nick Price over J L Lewis at 4.5ch. with Spreadex for 0.75 pts. (M/U 25, Profit 18.75 pts.)

Sell Peter Lonard over Fred Funk at 0 with IG Sport for 0.75 pts. (MU 28, Profit -21 pts.)

Buy Scott Verplank over Nick Faldo at 7 with IG Sport for 0.75 pts (M/U 16, Profit 6.75 pts)

Buy Thomas Bjorn over Casey Wittenberg at 8 with IG Sport for 0.75 pts (M/U -22, Profit -22.5 pts.)

Buy Sergio Garcia over Zhang Lian-Wei at 9 with IG Sport for 0.75 pts (M/U 25, Profit 12 pts.)

Buy Bernhard Langer over Zhang Lian-Wei at 8 with IG Sport for 0.75 pts (M/U 28, Profit 15 pts.)

Buy Vijay Singh over John Daly at 8 with Spreadex for 0.75 pts (M/U 19, Profit 9.25 pts.)

Buy Padraig Harrington over John Daly at 6 with Spreadex for 0.75 pts (M/U 22, Profit 12 pts.)

Sell Ian Poulter over Jonathan Byrd at 1 with Spreadex for 0.75 pts (M/U 22, Profit -15.75 pts.)

Buy Brad Faxon over Trevor Immelman at 3.5 (S/F) with Spreadex for 0.75 pts (M/U 25, Profit 16.12 pts)

Buy Len Mattiace over Todd Hamilton at 1.5 ch with Sporting Index for 0.75 pts. (M/U 13, Profit 8.63 pts)

Round Two Trades

Sell Peter Lonard over Fred Funk at 3 with Cantor Sports for 0.75 pts. (M/U -25, Profit 21 pts)

Buy Larry Mize over Ben Crenshaw at 13 with Sporting Index for 0.75 pts (M/U 13, Profit 2.25 pts)

Buy Vijay Singh over John Daly at 9 with SportsSpread for 0.75 pts. (M/U -16, Profit -17.75 pts)

Buy Sergio Garcia over Zhang Lian-Wei at 11 with Cantor Sports for 0.75 pts. (M/U 0, Profit -8.25 pts)

Buy Bernhard Langer over Zhang Lian-Wei at 10 with Cantor Sports for 0.75 pts (M/U -13, Profit - 17.25 pts)

Buy Stewart Cink over Craig Perks at 10 with Spreadex for 0.75 pts (M/U 0, Profit -7.5 pts)

Buy Tiger Woods over Thomas Bjorn at 10 with IG Sport for 0.75 pts. (M/U 34, Profit 18 pts)

Buy Len Mattiace over Iain Woosnam at 4 with Spreadex for 0.75 pts (M/U 0, Profit -3 pts)

Buy Padraig Harrington over John Daly at 7 with IG Sport for 0.75 pts. (M/U -19, Profit -19.5 pts)

Sell Ian Poulter over Jonathan Byrd at 2 with Spreadex for 0.75 pts (M/U 13, Profit -8.25 pts)

Buy Thomas Bjorn over Casey Wettenberg at 5 with Cantor Sports  for 0.75 pts. (M/U -25, Profit -22.5 pts)

Round Three Trades

Buy Fredrik Jacobson over Brandt Snedeker at 10 with Spreadex for 0.75 pts. (M/U 34, Profit 18 pts)

Buy Jerry Kelly over Sandy Lyle at 11 with Spreadex for 0.75 pts. (M/U 16, Profit 3.75 pts)

Buy Justin Leonard over Casey Wettenberg at 10 with Spreadex for 0.75 pts. (M/U -13, Profit -17.25 pts)

Buy Retief Goosen over Todd Hamilton at 5.5 SF with Spreadex for 0.75 pts. (M/U 28, Profit 16.88 pts)

Round Four Trades

Buy Scott Verplank over Ian Poulter at 5 with Cantor Sports for 0.75 pts. (M/U 13, Profit 6 pts)

Buy Alex Cejka over Casey Wittenberg at 5 with Cantor Sports for 0.75 pts. (M/U -22, Profit -20.25 pts)

Summary:

Profit: 16.13 Points. (There was an error in one M/U unfortunately, i had failed to insert a "negative" and counted up wrong.

A fair week which bar a certain amateur called Casey Wittenberg would have been a great week. 81 points were lost on this one player alone who excelled himself all week. However, the prices were value on each and every opponent he played. He just was playing well above himself all week.

Tipster: Shaker

The Masters

Pre-Tournament Trades

Buy Michael Campbell FP at 40 with Cantor Sport or Spreadex for 0.5 pts
No fancy stuff here, Cambo has missed all four cuts here, has decided to give US golf a miss on the whole these days, and has anyway been in pretty poor form in vastly lesser company than this.
Result:
Campbell MC, MU 50, Profit 5 pts

Buy Rich Beem FP at 40 with IG Sport for 0.5 pts
Finished 15th on his debut here last year but was capable of decent form in the months following his USPGA win and looks a different player now. Putting incredibly poorly these days and hasn't shown any worthwhile form for about 10 months. This will be a very different course this year due to the underfoot conditions and he now looks hopelessly outclassed.
Result:
Beem MC, MU 50, Profit 5 pts

Sell Fred Couples FP at 34 with Spreadex for 0.5 pts
I hope I've got my facts exact here, if I haven't I'm not far wrong. I'm pretty sure Couples currently holds the longest run for made cuts at the Masters and I think it stands at 19 tournaments. Seeing as he has played consistently well for around 15 or 16 months now, I see absolutely no reason why that record won't still stand come Sunday. He obviously loves the place and another top twenty looks far more likely to me than a weekend off.
Result:
Couples tied 6th with 6 others, MU 9, Profit 12.5 pts

Buy Fredrik Jacobson on Top Debutant 50 Index at 15 with IG Sport for 0.5 pts
Fixed odds-wise Jacobson is the clear favourite in any debutant market and yet here IG have Baird and Micheel ahead and Casey equal to him. Also in this market are Poulter, Davis, Petrovic, Leaney, Hamilton & Curtis. The obvious dangers are the trio I first mentioned but the crucial factor for me is that Jacobson has far and away the best short game of this lot and that quality should see him in good stead at Augusta. I'm not a Poulter fan really, nor Davis or Petrovic in this company and I see no reason why the other three should suddenly challenge here. Only these 10 players count and the scoring is 50/30/20/10 for the best four finishes.
Result:
Casey 1st, Jacobson & Leaney tied 2nd, MU 25, Profit 5 pts


Final Result: 4-0; Profit 27.5 pts
A bit lucky that Beem and Campbell missed the weekend by just one shot each, but Couples and Jacobson played at least as well as expected and a very pleasing profit is the result.