McIlroy to follow European precedent to unseat Spieth at Masters

Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth will tee off together in the third round of the Masters after finishing second and first respectively in the second round.

Spieth picked up the joint-record best score ever in this competition when he won the tournament last year, but has set a much slower pace this round and is four under par.

McIlroy is just behind on three under par as he seeks to win the Masters for the first time ever and complete a clean sweep of golf’s four majors.

The Northern Irishman would also become the first European to don the green jacket this century and is on course to make history.

Jose Maria Olazabal was the last European to win the Masters and did so all the way back in 1999.

McIlroy will be encouraged to know that the Spaniard did this after finishing the first round on two under par, something which the 26-year-old managed this year.

Olazabal went on to win the tournament with a score of eight under par, something which could be doable this time round following the high scores in the second round.

Furthermore, recent history has shown this can still be enough to win the Masters, with Bubba Watson emerging victorious in 2014 with the same result.

McIlroy is the slight favourite for his match up with Spieth, coming in at 10/11, while the American is priced at 11/10 so backing him for victory further down the line would more sensible.

The Norther Irishman is priced at 15/8 to be the third round leader, which is definitely plausible considering he would overtake his counterpart if they matched their third round performances.

Furthermore, he is priced at 2/1 to win the Masters as a whole and backing him to do so based on this European precedent would make a lot of sense.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.