US Masters 2023 Tips: Three-ball picks for the opening round at Augusta

• Round one of the 2023 Masters starts Thursday

• Jon Rahm can get off to a flier

• Shane Lowry to ride the wave after his 2022 third place

Rahm can make a fast start

Jon Rahm @ 5/4 (vs Justin Thomas, Cameron Young) (Starts 15.42)

Justin Thomas has a really quite bizarre record playing Augusta National on Thursdays in April. He did manage a 66 in the November Masters of 2020 but has never broken 73 in six April tournaments.

Cameron Young, meanwhile, endured a tough Masters debut last year carding two 77s.

Both are high-class performers, of course, so are likely to improve on these returns in the long run but take them on in the first round with Jon Rahm who has a solid Augusta record and is the only player in Masters history to have played more than 20 rounds, have a scoring average below 71 and not have yet won. He's a solid selection.

Lefty lean for Harman

Back Brian Harman @ 11/4 (vs Tyrrell Hatton, Joaquin Niemann) (Starts 18:00)

Each of these three players have had their problems at Augusta National.

Englishman Tyrrell Hatton has never hid his dislike of the course: 15 of his 20 rounds have been over-par and he closed last year's tournament with 79-80.

Last year the Chilean Joaquin Niemann got off to a fine start but then his own long-standing problems with the course re-emerged: seven of his 10 laps have needed 74 strokes or more.

And then lefty Brian Harman also has seven scores of 74+ in his 12 rounds. But he also has a trio of 69s including during the first round in 2021.

Take the Ricky Ponting lookalike to win a battle of the Augusta frowns.

Take on Sergio

Back Keith Mitchell @ 11/10 (vs Sergio Garcia, Kazuki Higa) (Starts 14:12)

It's entirely possible that some LIV golfers will respond positively to the challenge this week of facing a hostile environment. But will Sergio Garcia be among them?

Since joining LIV whenever he has returned to the traditional tours he has struggled, possibly because of the hostility. His first round scores in the four such events he played last year were 74-73-75-76.

He has also mostly played poorly at Augusta since he won the tournament in 2017.

Kazuki Higa is an in-form Japanese but this week is a big task for him and Keith Mitchell has only played Augusta once but he beat par once and equalled it twice. A repeat is a good chance of winning this three ball.

Lowry leads

Back Shane Lowry @ 5/4 (vs Thomas Pieters, Mackenzie Hughes) (Starts 14:36)

Thomas Pieters and Mackenzie Hughes have odd records at Augusta.

Pieters finished fourth on debut but has then missed two cuts and his last three rounds read 78-79-80. It's surely unlikely that the trend will continue but he's not had the brightest start in LIV and he might be forcing it a bit this week.

Hughes has played 10 rounds at Augusta. Six of them needed at least 75 blows and he has never broken 72.

Lowry's recent excursions at the course have been much improved.

In his last three starts he has finished 25-21-3 with four of the 12 rounds in the 60s.

Abraham the Ancer

Back Abraham Ancer @ 9/5 (vs Keegan Bradley, Chris Kirk) (Starts 15:06)

There is some risk built in with backing Ancer in the Masters. A little like the girl in the nursery rhyme he is either very, very good or very, very bad.

He played 10 rounds, breaking 70 four times but also needing 75+ shots four times.

If he has a good day it might help him to victory in this three ball.

Bradley has played the Masters six times and never gone sub-70 in the first round, doing so only once before Sunday.

Kirk has played three times at Augusta, making 10 circuits of the course, and he is yet to break 70. He's in great form but Ancer's ability to find the hole when his eye is in is persuasive up against Bradley's favouritism.