Masters Tournament 2023: Live golf betting opportunities heading into Saturday, April 8th
The 2023 Masters Tournament is shaping up to be an all-time classic, as you couldn’t write better narratives if you tried. As things stand, Brooks Koepka has a three-stroke lead over Jon Rahm, who is halfway through his second round. Koepka is one of the big names that jumped over to LIV Golf, and there is a ton of animosity towards all the guys that went to the Saudi-backed league. But that’s what now makes this weekend so interesting — especially with Rory McIlroy, one of LIV Golf’s most outspoken haters, having missed the cut.
One of the main sentiments on the PGA Tour was that the LIV Golf players were simply going to vanish, as there isn’t much incentive to win over there. Well, Koepka is now throwing it in the face of everybody that doubted these guys — and it was two victories on the LIV Golf tour that put him back on the map. Will he find a way to hold on and win? We’ll see about that. But it’ll be fun to follow this throughout the course of the weekend, and it’ll also be interesting to see whether Tiger Woods ends up making the cut. Tiger, at +2, was right near the cut line when the bad weather in Augusta forced everybody to stop playing.
The forecast for Saturday, April 8th calls for more rain, but tournament officials seem confident play will be wrapped up by Sunday. If that’s the case, we should see golfers playing at some point on Saturday, and we’re not going to leave our golf bettors hanging. With that said, keep reading for some live betting tips from our golf experts.
MORE: Check out what our experts are betting with our Pro Picks page!
These are the Masters plays our golf experts are looking at after Friday, with odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook:
Matt Youmans, host of VSiN Tonight
A nightmare is unfolding at Augusta National. The last thing PGA Tour officials, Masters executives and most golf fans want to see is a LIV player putting on the green jacket while his crew of Saudi-league sellouts celebrate like it’s a frat party around the 18th green. Brooks Koepka, up three strokes through Friday, is close to making the worst-case scenario a reality.
Jon Rahm might be the last hope. If this were a movie, “Rahmbo” would roar back to win. Rahm will be teeing off early Saturday and has nine holes left to play in his second round. Before our Friday night show, my VSIN co-host, Wes Reynolds, took a drag from a lung dart and said he thinks Rahm is going to win. Let’s hope he’s right.
Eight players at 5-under par or better have a decent shot to catch Koepka by the time this tournament ends Sunday or Monday. Of those eight, I have some financial stock in five guys (Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth and Cameron Young.) I have nothing riding on amateur Sam Bennett, Viktor Hovland and Jason Day. It’s too difficult and risky to hedge at this point, but I bet one unit on the Circa Sports adjusted price of +195 on Koepka for a few reasons — it’s the best price available in the market, with most books offering around +140; if Koepka collapses, there’s a good chance one of my five guys will beat him; and I would like to win back a couple units from a tournament that could be a financial fiasco.
Koepka, 118th in the Official World Golf Ranking, would be the lowest-ranked player to ever win the Masters. He’s showing no signs of backing up to the pack, but much can change over 36 holes.
If Tiger Woods makes the cut Saturday morning, when it’s expected to be cold and raining, look to bet against Woods in any third-round or fourth-round matchups that will be posted. Woods will have a tough time walking 27 holes on Saturday, weather permitting, and his back and leg injuries from the past will become more problematic in colder temperatures.
Kelley Bydlon – Producer, A Numbers Game & Co-host of the Long Shots VSiN golf podcast
Aaaaand the weather strikes at the Masters. A couple of players, most notably Brooks Koepka and amateur Sam Bennett, were able to post some low scores early before the weather started to cause delays. Jon Rahm is in the middle of his second round, trying to make up ground on Koepka. Play is “scheduled” to resume at 8:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, but heavy rain looks to be in the forecast for most of the day. With no matchups to look forward to betting, and those big names sitting atop the leaderboard, there aren’t any bets I’d be looking to make at this time. I’d suggest waiting for the second round to finish until you examine bets going forward.
