Updated Masters 2022 Odds & Outright Betting Pick: Cameron Smith Favored After Round 1

2022 Masters Odds

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Sungjae Im has the lead after the first round at the 2022 Masters, although there isn't a shortage of elite players near him on the leaderboard.

Im shot a 5-under 67, and he’s one stroke ahead of Cameron Smith. The Aussie looked like a sure thing to sit atop the leaderboard after one day at Augusta National, but a double-bogey on 18 ruined those hopes. Smith was stellar on Thursday, but he doubled both the first and 18th holes.

Dustin Johnson bogeyed No. 17 and finished at 3-under, alongside fellow former Masters champion Danny Willett, Joaquin Niemann and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

Popular pre-tournament picks Corey Conners and Will Zalatoris are joined by Patrick Cantlay and Jason Kokrak at 2-under.

The biggest story of the day was the 1-under round posted by Tiger Woods. In his first competitive round since the November 2020 Masters, golf’s greatest showed a lot of grit and put himself in position to contend.

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The Board

Im might have the lead on the actual leaderboard, but he’s fourth on BetMGM’s odds board.

The Korean trails Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson and Scottie Scheffler, which makes sense. All are in contention with 54 holes to play, and the aforementioned trio has more history of winning, two of them in 2022.

Smith played 16 stellar holes, going 8-under from hole Nos. 2-17. The problem is he double bogeyed both the first and last holes of his round.

In-Tournament Outright Pick

Matt Fitzpatrick +3500

Jason Sobel: If your favorite pre-tournament outright plays aren’t near the top of the leaderboard through one round at the Masters Tournament, I’ve got some good news for you — and some bad news.

First, the good: Over the next 48 hours, temperatures here in Augusta are forecasted to drop, while some gusting winds are supposed to whip around this golf course. While Sunday sounds perfect for the final round, we should expect very difficult conditions for the next two.

In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if Thursday’s lead of 5-under turns into something in the 4-under to 2-under range by Saturday evening. That means there should be plenty of live outright betting possibilities.

Now the bad news: As my ex-pod partner Justin Ray of the Twenty First Group tweeted Thursday, each of the last 16 Masters champions were T11 or better after the first round. That statistic is less coincidence than trend and should have us thinking against straying too far down the leaderboard.

All of which leads me to Fitzpatrick, for a few different reasons.

The first is that Fitz is known for playing his best golf in difficult conditions, when pars can help gain ground on the field instead of lose it. In fact, I spoke with him about this recently and it’s not just the numbers which show this; he told me that tougher tests tend to hold his interest more.

Then there’s the fact that following an opening-round 1-under 71, the Englishman is currently T10 on the leaderboard, which also fits that recent trend.

For a player who currently leads the PGA TOUR in total strokes gained, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he’s continued his strong play into this week. Just as it shouldn’t come as a surprise if he continues to grind out pars in difficult conditions over the next 36 holes, giving him a chance to win heading into Sunday’s final round.

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