Steve Palmer's Masters matches predictions and free golf betting tips

Where to watch the Masters

Sky Sports Main Event and Golf, from 2pm Thursday

Best bets

Xander Schauffele to beat Jason Day
3pts 5-6 bet365

Justin Thomas to beat Cameron Smith
3pts 5-6 bet365

Brooks Koepka to beat Will Zalatoris
2pts 21-20 BoyleSports

Masters matches predictions

Xander Schauffele is experienced enough and confident enough to see a Masters threeball date with Tiger Woods as a positive rather than a negative – and the X-man is the most appealing 72-hole match-bet option against Jason Day.

Schauffele has such a solid all-round game that it is difficult to see him failing to feature on the Masters leaderboard at some stage this week. He proved in 2019, when sharing second place behind Woods, that he could handle Augusta – and he has grown even more comfortable in Major arenas in the last four years.

Schauffele has posted 15 top-20s in his 22 Majors, finishing third in the 2021 Masters. He was third in The American Express at the end of January and has been in rock-solid form since, narrowly defeated by Rory McIlroy in the quarter-finals of the WGC-Match Play last time out.

Day, as highlighted in the Match Play, remains much more difficult to trust. He suddenly developed allergies in that event which meant he lost his form, with injuries and illness providing a constant blight on his career for many years.

Day has missed the cut in his last two Masters starts and, despite some decent 2023 efforts, seems far less likely to contend than Schauffele.

Another 5-6 chance to trust is Justin Thomas, who skipped the Match Play to keep himself fresh for the Masters, an event in which he boasts respectable form figures of 39-22-17-12-4-21-8. Given the relentless quality of his iron-play, another Masters threatening the Green Jacket seems on the cards, and he can leave Cameron Smith behind in the process.

Smith has shone at Augusta in the past, but his form has been poor on the LIV circuit, and he tailed off in his latest event in Orlando on Sunday. Thomas has been playing in a higher grade and doing well, finishing fourth in the Phoenix Open in February and tenth in the Valspar Championship last time out.

Complete a trio of match-bet investments with Brooks Koepka to defeat Will Zalatoris. Koepka, victorious in LIV Golf Orlando on Sunday, has said he is teeing up fit at the Masters for the first time since 2019, when he tied second. Given the way Zalatoris has performed over the last month – 53rd at Bay Hill, 73rd at Sawgrass, winless in the Match Play – the 21-20 about Koepka winning this match seems full of juice.

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