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US Masters Betting: Conditions and nerves can play into Tiger's hands

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Our man in Augusta Bill Elliott tells us why leader Trevor Immelman is unlikely to still be there at the end of day three and why Tiger Woods isn't out of this yet

One thing is now certain at this Masters...the winning score is already on the leaderboard here and it is not Trevor Immelman's eight under par.

My own instinctive feeling that this surely will be the outcome in Georgia was reinforced when I bumped into Lee Westwood in the clubhouse shortly after his round had turned a bit pear-shaped when he dropped two shots at the long 13th after finding Rae's Creek twice.

"That was a bad couple of errors but I'm still two under and the way this course is now playing and the weekend weather forecast for deteriorating weather, I'd take six under par now and sit here with you and wait for someone to place a Green Jacket on my shoulders, " said Lee.

Windier, possible thunderstorms, turning relatively cold as well on Sunday, this is a forecast that is music to the ears of guys like Westwood, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and, say, Padraig Harrington.

Immelman, a young South African I have applauded and punted on for the last three years, is going to find it awfully difficult to defend the lead his stunning play has given him over the first two days. It is, I suppose, possible for him to move forward even from this high point but the smart money would bet he will now go into reverse. So, too, will the majority of the 45 players who have survived the cut here.

Augusta is presently as dry as a prairie dog's mouth in high summer. Maybe a bit of rain will fall later today but it would take a lot to make a big change to this place. This dryness has been topped off with a wind that has taken even more moisture than usual away and left dangerous greens even more potentially lethal.

An example: Yesterday I watched as Mickelson, 10ft above the flag at the 18th, had to make four attempts before he managed to replace his ball without it threatening to slide off down the hill.

I've seen this sort of thing before over the decades at Augusta but not for several years. When you factor in the pin positions that can be used by the Marquis de Sade Committee members who decide these things here then you begin to get some idea of the level of examination that is about to be unveiled.

And, yes, when the going gets tough, the very best get going. Woods, so far, has been a strangely lacklustre force but he surely will not continue this way. His early boast that, sure, the Grand Slam for him was "easily doable" looks at present like the demented ranting of a half-blind idiot.

To put it another way...if he fails to win this Masters then he will be seen, temporarily at least, as a big-mouthed failure. Well, Tiger Woods does not do humiliation, not to himself anyway. This, ladies and gentlemen, may be the moment to fill your boots again on him. We'll see...