I've felt for a while that SAHITH THEEGALA might be an ideal Masters candidate, and for now there's no better way to test that theory than by backing him in the top debutant market.
Theegala gained a bit of a cult following thanks to an excellent rookie season which really should've seen him win either in Phoenix or at the Travelers. The more you watch his tee-shot to the 17th at Scottsdale, the unluckier he looks. Best not to game out the potential ramifications of that bounce, which cleared the way for Scottie Scheffler to become a PGA Tour winner and then the Masters champion.
The way Theegala and his family dealt with that blow was endearing and his popularity soared further when he somehow made double-bogey on the 18th hole in Connecticut, this time stepping aside to allow Xander Schauffele through. Again, that led to further success for Schauffele, who won the Scottish Open a few weeks later, and ultimately kept Theegala out of the Presidents Cup team.
It also taught him plenty and having sniffed the top end of the leaderboard at the Open soon after, then won a pairs event in December, it's no surprise he's bagged a couple of high-class top-10s this year, first in the Farmers and then at Riviera. Both came in his home state of California but I've been impressed with him since, particularly when defying tough conditions to finish 14th at Bay Hill.
With his Match Play effort perfectly encouraging, he's warmed up nicely for this first try at Augusta National, and something in the region of a top-20 finish looks well within reach. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if he contended, though the well-worn stat that tells us it's now 43 years and counting since we had a debut Masters winner has to be taken into account.
For the same reasons, the top senior market was also worth looking at. Mickelson is 6/5 favourite which appears very short for someone whose form looks pretty desperate, but Bernhard Langer (4/1) has missed his last couple of cuts here and Fred Couples has struggled lately, too.
Couples might be in a better place physically this time so 6/1 isn't without appeal, especially with so few viable options further down. Vijay Singh could be one of them at 9/1 after a better effort last time on the Champions Tour, but three of his last six rounds here have been 80.
Perhaps Mickelson will it win by default after all, but splitting stakes on Langer and Couples gives you a decent chance of getting him beat.
With 10 runners, two of whom are veterans, plus one debutant in Adrian Meronk and a player who has never done well here in Alex Noren, the top continental European market looks ripe for a bet.
Jon Rahm is an even-money chance in a place and, with Viktor Hovland's short-game a likely hindrance, the obvious policy is to side with the Spaniard. His worst Augusta finish is 27th and even that might be enough this week, though his own expectations will be far higher.
I'm not in a rush to take him on but I am Sergio Garcia, Thomas Pieters and most in this market, so SEPP STRAKA is a super each-way bet even if he's up against it to overcome the favourite.
Straka's first taste of Augusta went well as he finished 30th and he returns having maybe just started to turn a corner of late, last week's 22nd in Texas showing his game to be in good nick through the bag.
His biggest asset is his approach play (as we saw with a practise hole-in-one on Monday) which is always a good starting point here and he has some potentially informative form at other courses, notably Riviera where he played so well a year ago before capturing the Honda Classic, itself a tough test as this is sure to be.
He isn't the most reliable and his bad golf can be very bad, but Straka was beaten only two shots in this market last year despite it being his debut and, with that behind him, can hit the frame at the very least. He might just be the one to capitalise if Rahm does disappoint.