We’ve been tipping up winners and returns all year on this site, including a 100-1 place in the Portuguese Open last week, but now the serious business starts as the first major of the season tees off at Augusta on Thursday.

It’s no surprise that Tiger Woods heads the field in the betting for this years Masters. Not only has he won the tournament four times, he’s also finished in the top three on the last three occasions. Despite his recent comeback win at the Bay Hill he represents no value at all at the 13/8 on offer by totesport and there’s plenty of other players in with a decent shout.

Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington make up the next two in the betting at 13/2 and 12/1 respectively. Mickelson missed last week’s cut in Houston but has two wins to his name already this year, including a fine performance winning the WGC-CA last month. He has of course won the masters twice before but it’s actually Harrington who we’d prefer to be on if they were coming down the back nine on Sunday at the head of the field.

Padraig Harrington is a grafter, he may not be as stylish as Mickelson or as explosive as Woods, but with three wins to his name in the last five major tournaments he shouldn’t be underestimated. The Irishman has been playing some solid if not spectacular golf in the Sates this year but add his ruthless major form to some very solid Masters form (top ten finish last year) he’d be our pick at the top end of the betting at 12/1 with totesport.

Further down the betting we’ve picked out golfers with good Masters form, after all there really isn’t any other course like it on tour. A few months back we wouldn’t have backed Retief Goosen with your money but he seems to have come into some good form and has an excellent record at Augusta. Goosen had been struggling for a couple of years before finishing third in the AT&T at Pebble Beach in February and winning the Transitions Championship last month. He comes to Augusta having finished second, third and third in his last three visits and at 22/1 looks a good each-way bet to finish in the frame again in 2009.

With a strong European contingent, the prices of Paul Casey and Rory McIlroy look a little stingy to me. Casey’s been clipped into 25/1 with totesport after his win in Houston last week but this seems like an over-reaction to his chances here. McIlroy plays his first Masters this week and however well he’s played in 2009 we couldn’t back him at 28/1.

So where is the value? Well we tipped up Lee Westwood at a big price last week in Houston and had he shot a level par round on day four he’d have finished in the places. Westwood will be setting out his whole season around the majors this year and he comes here in good nick and finished 11th last year. There’s been question marks over his putting in the past and rightly so, but the super fast greens will help him due to the reduced backlift he needs to get the ball moving and at 60/1 he looks a very big price.

Finally in the Masters outright market you might want to have a small each-way bet on 100/1 South African Tim Clark. Clark has been a consistent performer on the US Tour over the past few seasons and has two top ten finishes to his name this year. Add to this a very good Masters form and there are worst 100/1 shots. Clark has finished in the top twenty three times in the last five years, including a second spot finish in 2006 and looks the best of the outsiders.

Totesport have plenty of other markets on offer this week, including group and match betting and some Tiger specials. A couple of bets have caught our eyes in particular. Justin Rose is an 11/2 shot in the Top Englishman market. Rose is returning to form in 2009 and finished fifth here a couple of years ago. If he can bring his a-game he’s definitely worth an each-way bet to nothing in this market.

The same could be said of Stuart Appleby in the Top Australian market. Appleby is a 5/1 shot with only Adam Scott and Geoff Ogilvy ahead of him in the betting. Appleby’s actually a 66/1 chance in the outright opposed to Scott’s 80/1 and with the latter well out of form Appleby could challenge Ogilvy in this market. Add to this a top ten finish last year and it might also be worth doubling up on the Top Rest of the World market as well where he’s 20/1.

You can now bet each-way on the outright market of any European or PGA Tour golf event and if your selection finishes sixth, on his own, totesport will refund the place part of your stake with a free bet on the following week’s tournaments!

For all your golf betting on the US Masters this week visit totesport.