US Masters Top Debutant: Gary Woodland

For the first major of the season the bookmakers have gone to town with the number of markets. With the outright betting hard to call in such a competitive field, it is sometimes worth looking deeper.

Top debutant is a little easier to predict with only 21 runners. Two big names make the market - Rickie Fowler and Martin Laird. They share favouritism at 5/1 but both are opposable.

Fowler is a promising young talent, recognised for his garish dress sense as much as his golf. It is not just style over substance, as he showed during the Ryder Cup. The problem is for all the hype he is yet to win on tour and until he does, I will be against him. For now, he seems priced more on his visibility than anything else.

Martin Laird has taken a somewhat quieter route to the top. The Scot came through the US collegiate system and broke his maiden tag in 2009. Despite the win, his profile never took off this side of the Atlantic. It all changed a week ago , when he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Finally, he made the back pages in the UK and the bookmakers were alerted to him. His odds on winning the Masters halved and quite simply all value has gone.

At more than double their odds, Gary Woodland is having an even better season. Lying third in the FedEx standings, the young American is over the shoulder injury that blighted his early career. He ranks eighth in driving distance so he should handle Augusta’s 7,435 yards, but don’t think he is just a bomber - Woodland ranks 16th in greens in regulation and 25th in putting average.

With four top tens, including one win this season, Woodland is one of the hottest players on tour this year. Although not a ‘name’ player, this is to our benefit, as the bookmakers seem happy to lay him at 12/1.