US Masters: long holes hold key to success at Augusta
Published:The perfect fairways, beautiful fauna and lighting greens of Augusta make it one of the most exciting and interesting tests in world golf but, while there is plenty to separate it from other courses, there is one area in which it’s exactly the same – the par-fives.
The long holes on any course are where the pros are expected to pick up the birdies and eagles if they are to stand any chance of winning and Augusta is no different.
Perhaps the best evidence of how important the par-fives are comes from a glance at the Masters records of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
Sky Sports’ Dave Tindall posted a brief rundown of their respective records on twitter this week and it makes for fascinating reading.
He noted that their combined scores on the different holes were as follows…
Woods and Mickelson are respectively 26 and 55-over for the par-threes, 29 and 35-over for the par fours but a massive 134 and 166-under for the par-fives.
These players have won the Masters seven-times between them since 1997 and it’s almost entirely down to their ability to low score on the longer holes.
And it’s because of this that Woods still looks a decent bet to win at 4/1.
He currently leads the PGA Tour in par-five birdies, having racked up a score of one-under or better on 36 of the 56 long holes he’s played this season.
Meanwhile, another fancied American – Keegan Bradley – is third in that list having birdied 63 of the 108 par-fives he’s played in 2013. He’s currently 25/1 to win his first Green Jacket.
With the ability to birdie and eagle the par-fives being so hugely important at Augusta, keeping an eye on how players perform over the opening couple of days could be a great way to seeing who to back once the tournament is under way.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
