The first round is in the books at Augusta National and Side Hustle Bets is once again in the driver’s seat. We’re currently +1.616 units after going 4-2 with our first round bets and virtually every futures bet we placed is looking QUITE solid currently. If you didn’t call in sick today, Friday’s your moment. Keep enjoying the Super Bowl of golf, tail our second round bets and always remember to bet smarter, not harder.

1st Round Recap

• 4-2 record overall (66.67% hit rate).
• +1.616 units on the day.
• Sungjae Im missed the Top 20 by 1 stroke.
• Phil Mickelson had an out of body experience today.
• Outright Winner Futures: 5 out of 6 picks are currently within the Top 17 (4/6 are inside the Top 13 and Rahm is tied for the lead).
• Top 20: 5 out of 7 picks are currently inside the Top 20 (Homa/Im are both only 1 shot outside of the Top 20 currently).
• Top 30: 2 out of 4 picks are currently inside the Top 30.
• Top LIV Golfer: Koepka (T1), Cameron Smith (T17), Dustin Johnson (-1, which makes him T3 out of LIV golfers)
• Top Great Britain/Irish Player: Justin Rose is 1 shot off of Shane Lowry (and you know Rory is bound to stage a comeback).
• Top Continental European Golfer: Viktor Hovland and Jon Rahm are currently TIED FOR THE LEAD.
• Top Amateur Golfer: Sam Bennett currently holds a 7 SHOT LEAD compared to the rest of the amateur field.

2nd Round Bets

3 Ball Matchups

Jason Day (-135) (0.75 units) vs Gordon Sargent (+225) (0.25 units) vs Zach Johnson

Jason Day showed up just like we said he would on Thursday, finishing the day T4 and posting an opening round of 67. Sargent? Not so much… Don’t get me wrong, we did hedge our Top Amateur prop bet with Sam Bennett (who just posted one of the best opening rounds for an Amateur at Augusta ever), but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised by Sargent’s debut. That said, he’s 19 years old and he’s probably the best collegiate golfer on the planet right now… There’s a great chance the young gun will right the ship on Friday regardless of the weather conditions. Backing the clearly superior golfer of the group but hedging a bit with a potential future super star looking for a bounce back.

Viktor Hovland (+150) (0.75 units) vs Xander Schauffele (+145) (0.75 units) vs Tiger Woods

I love Tiger but Hovland is playing lights out right now and Schauffele is playing exactly how we expected him to (elite). The weather report looks like rain tomorrow which is bad news for Tiger and his knee. Hedging our Tiger parlay a bit here by backing the clear favorites to win the trio tomorrow.

Tom Hoge (+190) (0.5 units) vs Si Woo Kim (+260) (0.5 units) vs Phil Mickelson 

Calling Phil’s bluff here and doubling down on our first round bet for this trio. Hoge is still the field leader in Strokes Gained: Approach, Si Woo Kim started to piece it together on the back nine today and the crowd still hates Phil regardless of how he plays (if we’re being totally honest). There’s a chance this group will avoid the rain tomorrow given their early tee time so I’m very comfortable backing the horses. Happy to eat crow on Saturday, but I don’t think that’ll be necessary.

Props

Lowest 2nd Round Score – Rory McIlroy (+1800) (0.15 units)

Rory fumbling all over himself in the first round at a major is a story as old as time. Another consistent storyline throughout the Northern Irishman’s career? An aggressive comeback the following Friday… Rory is currently 11th in the field for 2nd Round Scoring Average (69.00 strokes) and that number only improves when zeroing in on major tournaments specifically. Rory tees off relatively early tomorrow so there’s a chance he beats the poor weather conditions and posts a low score before play is potentially halted.

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