US Masters Betting

The US Masters is always the first of the four Majors on the annual golfing calendar, played in the first week of April each year. As the only professional golf tournament always played at the same venue - the prestigious Augusta National Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia - it is the one tournament that most professional golfers hanker to win.

A four-day stroke play invitation only tournament that attracts the cream of the golfing world with a whopping $8 million prize pool (2013), a global TV viewership of millions, and US Masters betting fans from all four corners of the world, the Masters Tournament has a long and illustrious history, which dates back to the inaugural event in 1934.

US Masters Background

Augusta was the brainchild of New York investment banker Clifford Roberts and highly successful amateur golfer Bobby Jones, who sought to design an elite private golf club, which is what they did. And to showcase the club, they devised the Masters tournament to attract the most successful golfers and avid golfing fans of the era to Atlanta.

That tradition has continued until today, where the US Masters attracts the very best golfers from all over the world for a shot at winning not only a prestigious Major, but to be awarded the coveted "green jacket". It has become something of a tradition for the previous year's Masters winner to help the current year's winner into his green jacket.

The Masters Green Jacket

The tradition started when members of Augusta used to don their green (sports) jackets so that Masters spectators could easily recognize them and ask them any questions about the tournament. It wasn't until 1949 that the club started to award winners of the Masters a prestigious green jacket, to make them an "honorary" member of the club.

Today, winners get to keep their green jackets for a year before they are required to return them to the club, where they are safely kept and made available to their worthy owners whenever they return to the club.

In terms of noteworthy winners over the years, Jack Nicklaus (US) has won the Masters a record six times, followed by Arnold Palmer (US) and Tiger Woods (US) with four wins each, and Jimmy Demaret (US), Sam Snead (US), Gary Player (ZAF), Nick Faldo (ENG) and Phil Mickelson (US) with three wins each.

Growth of Masters Betting

One aspect of the Masters tournament that has grown dramatically in recent years is US Masters betting, mostly due to the evolution of online sports betting. Thanks to online sportsbooks, golf betting fans can now wager on the Masters at a multitude of safe, secure and reliable sites with the most competitive Masters odds.

In fact, Masters Tournament betting has become a multi-million dollar business, as each year hundreds of thousands of betting fans back who they think will sport the world's most hard-to-come-by green jacket. Masters betting fans who backed Bubba Watson to win in 2012, were well rewarded when the Florida-native beat South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen in the second hole of their sudden death playoff.

2013 Masters Odds

With Tiger Woods having reclaimed the world number one spot in March after spending a few rough years in the "golfing wilderness," it's no surprise that he will start the 2013 Masters as the betting favorite - ahead of Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose and Charl Schwartzel. If Woods wins, it will be his fifth US Masters.