Rory McIlroy Finds Form Ahead Of US Masters Bid

Former World Number One Rory McIlroy has found form at exactly the right time of the season with victory coming in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which is a good sign for the Northern Irishman ahead of his bid to win the US Masters at Augusta next month.
McIlroy shot a round of 64 on the final day in Florida, as he pegged backed the overnight leader Henrik Stenson to prevail by three shots. He had eight birdies, five of which came in the last six holes, as he produced some fantastic golf to top the tournament leaderboard ahead of some big names, including Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler and Tiger Woods.

Three-time major winner McIlroy is looking to score in the Masters to complete the set of the four major championsips. His maiden major win came in the 2011 US Open. The 28-year-old then added the US PGA Championship in 2012, while he lifted the Claret Jug at the 2014 Open Championship from Royal Liverpool.

McIlroy has four top ten finishes at Augusta in the last four years, so has gone very close to getting his hands on the Green Jacket on more than one occasion. The Arnold Palmer Invitational winner can now be backed at 10.0 in the outright market for the Masters, where tips on the best bets for this year's tournament can be found from Champion Bets.

Woods Goes Close To Tournament Success
14-time major winner Woods has gone close on the PGA Tour over the last weekends, with strong performances coming at the Valspar Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, a golf course he has had so much success at over his career so far.

Woods had to settle for second place at the Valspar Championship as he finished one shot behind the winner, Paul Casey. It was the first time that the American had been challenging for a title for a number of years though and therefore there was a huge audience waiting to see the former world number one produce some of his best golf again.

A week later and Woods was once again safely into the weekend and in contention on the Sunday. At one point in the final round at Bay Hill, he was one shot off the lead with two holes to go. Sadly for the former winner of the event, he finished his round with two bogeys, while McIlroy went out of sight from his rivals to land the trophy.

Woods is a four time winner of the Masters but he has not prevailed at Augusta since 2005. At the age of just 21, he won there to land his first ever major with a dominant performance to score by 12 strokes. Since then, he has rarely been outside the top ten at a golf course which has suited his game perfectly. The 42-year-old remains four wins behind Jack Nicklaus in the all-time major championship tally list, so a victory next month will help him close that gap behind the man considered to be the greatest to ever play the sport.