2022 Masters Tournament: Round One Breakdown and Picks

We are just hours away from the 86th playing of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National. Excitement is at an all-time high as Tiger Woods makes his return to action after his horrific accident in 2021. Meanwhile, final picks to win this year’s Masters are being turned in, fantasy golf lineups are being finalized, and people are preparing for one last sleep before the 2022 Masters is here!

The action gets underway tomorrow with the first group of Jose Maria Olazabal, and last week’s Valero Texas Open winner J.J. Spaun, beginning proceedings at 8 am EST.  Let’s take a look at some of the first-round matchups for Thursday’s action and see if we can’t pick some winners.

First Round Matchups at The 2022 Masters Tournament

(Odds Courtesy of WynnBet)

Justin Rose (-105) vs Gary Woodland (-115)

Very few have gotten off to faster starts around Augusta National than Justin Rose and yet he comes into this matchup against Gary Woodland as a slight underdog. Sure, Gary has been marginally better in round one scoring average this year, but the Englishman has the edge when it comes to round one average at The Masters Tournament. Rose has gained over three strokes on average during previous round one performances, and he was the first-round leader here last year. I’ll side with the underdog in this spot.

Pick: Justin Rose (-105)

Will Zalatoris (-140) vs Billy Horschel (+120)

Zalatoris will be a popular pick this week after his performance at the Masters Tournament last year when he finished solo 2nd at Augusta in his debut. He is a pretty sizable favorite in this round-one match against Billy Horschel, but I feel like he is the type of favorite we should be looking to pick for Thursday. Will not only had a great tournament in 2021 overall, but he also got off to a quick start as he gained over four strokes during his first round.

Conversely, Billy Horschel has found things pretty tough during previous Masters Tournament showings. Horschel has finished inside of the top 30 at the Masters just one time since 2014 and unlike Will, he has some of the worst first-round numbers at Augusta amongst the entire field. Willy Z has to be the pick here.

Pick: Will Zalatoris

Sergio Garcia (-120) vs Harold Varner III (+100)

Harold Varner will be making his debut at the 2022 Masters Tournament this week and has been matched by the oddsmakers against the 2017 Masters winner in round one. Garcia hasn’t been great at the Masters in recent years, in fact, since his win in 2017 he has since gone on to miss his last three cuts at Augusta National.

The Spaniard hasn’t been great in first rounds at Augusta since 2017, but prior to that, he had some great first-round showings at the Masters Tournament, including in 2014 when he was the overall first-round leader. Garcia has a decent history of starting fast, and so far this season on the PGA Tour he has averaged a 69.33 scoring average during the first round.

Garcia is worth taking a chance with here, with the hope being that he returns to some form at Augusta and gets off to another fast start as he has been known to do. Against someone that will be making their Masters Tournament debut, I like his chances.

Pick: Sergio Garcia