US Masters Betting: Top South African market

US Masters / Steven Rawlings / 05 April 2010 /

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Retief Goosen – The Punter’s pick to be the Top South African

“In such strong current form Ernie’s a short-priced priced jolly but considering he’s missed the cut here the last three years, I think he’s worth opposing.”

The Punter takes a close look at this year's South African challenge at Augusta...

South African golf is in an extremely healthy state at present with Ernie Els, Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen all winning in 2010. South Africans also have a great recent record at Augusta, last year was the first time in six years that nobody from the Republic finished in the front three....

Of the seven that line up this time around, the only one to have experienced success at Augusta National is 2008 winner Trevor Immelman, but he's spent a long time out of the game through injury and he hasn't yet got close to rekindling his form of two years ago and has to be overlooked.

Rory Sabbatini is another that can be readily dismissed despite showing form here in the past. He was second to Zach Johnson three years ago but that was by far his best effort in seven attempts and he's also woefully out of form.

Tim Clark has a fair record for one so short off the tee. Not only was he runner-up to Phil Mickelson four years ago but he finished tied 13th on three other occasions. However, he's not quite in tip-top nick at present and I'm prepared to overlook him too.

Schwartzel and Oosthuizen are fascinating runners and either or both could well be future green jacket wearers but they're both making their course debuts this week and Augusta tends to be a place players need to get to know.

So that just leaves the old guard...Ernie Els and Retief Goosen. Both could have won here already; Els has been second twice, three shots adrift of 2000 winner Vijay Singh, then in 2004 he was cruelly denied by a late Mickelson rally. In such strong current form Ernie's a short-priced priced jolly but considering he's missed the cut here the last three years, I think he's worth opposing.

A straight forward lay of Els is one option but I prefer a modest back on Goosen. Already third twice and runner-up twice, he obviously has an aptitude for Augusta and he's also in pretty good current form himself. If he wasn't so poor in contention nowadays he'd be on my radar for the title and I think anything over [4.0] in this market is more than fair.

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