Every week the latest Ones to Watch Extra email is posted here, containing tennis tips and free betting advice...
Notes from the Tour: Masters picks at 66/1 and 110/1...
Thursday 9th April 2026
Spring is in the air this week - with a glorious sporting calendar to match…
I love this time of year. The Boat Race, the Snooker World Championships… the London Marathon, the Grand National (more on that below)... the tennis season gearing up for the French Open…
And the first golf Major on the calendar: The Masters at Augusta National…
Yes, Ones to Watch is a tennis service. But if you’re a long-time reader and follower, then you’ll know we also like to occasionally apply our big-odds, Each Way tournament approach to the annual golf Majors…
In fact, here is this column, you and I have a decent record when it comes to turning a profit in the most prestigious golfing events…
For example, we’ve landed The Open winner in two of the last four years (Cameron Smith @ 28/1, Xander Schauffele @ 14/1)...
As well as bagging an Each Way return from 2nd-place debutant Ludvig Aberg at The Masters in April 2024 (25/1)...
With other ‘ones to watch’ names listed in recent years, such as Viktor Hovland, Cameron Young and Matt Fitzpatrick, all proving to be future winners on the tour.
The Masters at Augusta is one of the highlights of the sporting calendar. It’s a beautiful, iconic location. Over the years I’ve enjoyed some great Sunday nights watching the final-round drama pan out. Sometimes going my way (Adam Scott in a playoff in 2013, which paid for my next holiday). Other times not so well, such as Jordan Spieth finding the water in 2016…
When it comes to Augusta, the stats and the history books say we shouldn’t veer too far from Americans… that we should largely stick to players ranked inside the Top 25 of the Official World Golf Rankings… and that previous course form counts for a lot here…
73% of all Masters champions have been from the USA
Each of the last 13 Masters winners were ranked inside the world’s Top 25
10 of the last 13 Masters champs had posted a Top 10 finish at Augusta before
Those key-stats nuggets should help inform your choices. And as is the Ones to Watch way, I’m taking on the favourites, and going after some big prices…
Previous Masters picks in these pages have seen us follow the likes of Aberg (16/1 this time), Cameron Young (20/1 here), Hovland (50/1), Hideki Matsuyama (28/1), and Brooks Koepka (40/1). This week, these three names take my fancy:
Justin Rose @ 25/1 (Bet365 - 8 places, 1/5 odds Each Way). World ranking: no.9. The 3-time Masters runner-up is always capable of conjuring up something special on this course (like his 10 birdies in the final round last year). The Englishman has that mixture of maturity & experience, talent & determination that will have him believing this could finally be his year…
Sepp Straka @ 66/1 (Bet365 - 8 places, 1/5 odds Each Way). World ranking: no.13. The Austrian has made the cut in 3 of his 4 previous visits to Augusta, with a Tied 16th his best result to date. Age 32, he’s the youngest player on our list today - with his best career moments likely still to come. I have Straka down as the kind of player to follow at big prices, with the potential to outperform his odds…
Gary Woodland @ 110/1 (Bet365 - 8 places, 1/5 odds Each Way). World ranking: no.52. A former Masters pick for us at 100/1 back in 2022, since then, Gary has had a remarkable story: returning to the tour after having surgery to remove a brain lesion, he produced a magnificent, emotional win at Houston last month. At big prices, this is more than just a romantic pick: he’s an American worth following here…
I’ve quoted the Bet365 prices and place terms there. Shop around for your preferred combination of odds and enhanced Each Way places.
The action tees off this afternoon, live on Sky Sports. And concludes on Sunday night…
P.S
Now for the Grand National…
From Augusta to Aintree now, with the biggest horse race of them all coming up this Saturday afternoon…
Our resident racing analyst Nick Pullen knows a thing or two about picking the Grand National winner (he’s done it at 100/1 and 25/1 before…). Nick has put together this easy-to-follow three-step guide to narrowing down the 34-horse field.
And if you’d like to get ALL of Nick’s members-only advice for the Aintree meeting this week, which starts with his first selection running this afternoon. Get onboard Nick’s esteemed Against the Crowd service with a one-off no-strings-attached membership here:
The only place to get Nick’s Grand National picks - join now >>
Enjoy the golf, enjoy the racing, and as always - enjoy the tennis…
I’ll be back next week with four clay-court tournaments taking place, in Barcelona, Munich, Stuttgart, and Rouen…
Best wishes,
Oliver Upstone