Spieth in familiar territory heading into Masters final round
Published:
Jordan Spieth can be forgiven for having déjà vu as he approaches the first tee for the last round in this year’s Masters.
For the third consecutive year, the American will play in the final group as leader on the last day. History suggests he won’t slip further than second place.
In his 2014 debut, Spieth shared the 54-hole lead with Bubba Watson before finishing as runner up to his countryman after the final 18.
Last year, the Texan broke out on his own, maintaining a significant advantage after three days before completing a wire-to-wire victory.
Conditions in his third Masters tournament mean Spieth hasn’t been able to exert as much dominance over the field this time around, but he still finds himself with an advantage heading into the fourth and final day of the tournament.
He’ll be looking to protect a one-shot lead when he tees off on Sunday and Ladbrokes offer 5/4 that he achieves it. Considering how tough the Augusta National has played this week, though, the chasing pack are likely to feel extremely confident of overhauling him.
Leading the charge is another young American, the wonderfully named Smylie Kaufman, who moved in to a surprising second place with a three-under-par round on Saturday to sit two under for the tournament.
His inexperience – he has only played one Major tournament before now – means he’s a lengthy 12/1 shot to shock Spieth.
Not without experience though is Bernhard Langer, who has a share of third place and continues to belie his 58 years.
Ladbrokes rate him as an even unlikelier victor at 25/1, but with a third of the odds on offer for the first two home, there could be value in backing him each way to continue a very consistent week.
Anyone on the leaderboard sat at three-over-par or better will fancy a crack at the Green Jacket this year. Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy are among those, but in order to slip on the coveted prize, they’ll first have to stop Spieth.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
