The rolling green fairways, the blooming azaleas, the delicious pimento cheese sandwiches—indeed, it’s time for The Masters yet again. And both betting odds and recent results point to the potential for a long-awaited showdown between Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy in the first major championship of this PGA Tour season.
World No. 1 Scheffler opened as the +450 favorite at FanDuel at Augusta National, followed by world No. 2 McIlroy at +650, and nobody else in triple figures. Scheffler and McIlroy finished T2 and T5, respectively, in their most recent tune-up two weeks ago in Houston. Both have played very well this season—McIlroy owns an average finish of 9.5 that includes a victory in a Signature Event at Pebble Beach, while Scheffler has an average finish of ninth over his last four starts.
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But when it comes to track records at Augusta, Scheffler stands alone. His average finish of 9.8 over five career Masters starts is better than all but one player will multiple appearances in the event (the mercurial Will Zalatoris at 5.7). Scheffler has also never finished worse than T19 at Augusta National, going Win-T10-Win his last three seasons with just one over-par round during that span.
The Masters Odds
| Golfer | Odds |
|---|---|
| Scottie Scheffler | +450 |
| Rory McIlroy | +650 |
| Jon Rahm | +1400 |
| Ludvig Aberg | +1600 |
| Collin Morikawa | +1600 |
| Xander Schauffele | +1800 |
| Bryson DeChambeau | +2000 |
| Justin Thomas | +2200 |
| Joaquin Niemann | +2800 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | +2800 |
| Brooks Koepka | +3000 |
| Jordan Spieth | +3300 |
Odds as of Apr. 7 at FanDuel
The Masters Picks
Scottie Scheffler To Win (+450) at FanDuel
By this time last year, Scheffler had already recorded two victories in what would be a historic season, and was about to notch his third. BY that standard, his winless 2025 so far might seem a cause for concern. But Scheffler’s stats remain very good: second on tour in scoring average, 12th in greens in regulation, third in scrambling. Could he make a few more birdies? Absolutely. But Augusta is a second-shot golf course, and nobody is better than dialing in the irons than Scheffler—as his two green jackets would attest.
Rory McIlroy Top-5 Finish (+115) at FanDuel
Once again, McIlroy’s quest for the career slam—not to mention his first major championship in a decade—resumes. The Northern Irishman is having the most statistically dominant season on tour this season, leading the pack in scoring and in the top 10 in nearly every other category that matters. His Masters record, though, is all over the place, with a MC and T22 since his runner-up finish in 2022. Rory’s seven career top-10s at Augusta are most among players in the field under 50, but his average finish of 30.3 shows just how hit-and-miss he can be. Still, his excellent play this year makes him worth a shot.
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Collin Morikawa Top-10 Finish (+115) at FanDuel
Augusta sets up very well for a player with Morikawa’s skill set, and that match has been evident in three consecutive top-10 finishes including a career-best T3 last year. The Californian has also played very well so far this season, with a T10 at The Players and a runner-up result and a T5 in two Signature Events. But Morikawa is also struggling to close the deal—he hasn’t won anywhere since late 2023, and hasn’t won on U.S. soil since February of 2021. As his Masters track records shows, his excellent iron play makes him good enough to contend. But as far as winning goes, we’re worried about what’s between the ears.
The Masters Betting Tips
Scheffler and McIlroy will get most of the attention, but it’s also impossible to ignore that the LIV boys will be rolling down Magnolia Lane. How to handicap LIV players in majors, given that their starting fields aren’t nearly as deep as what we see on the PGA Tour, and their courses typically aren’t as difficult? There have been 12 majors played since LIV debuted in 2022, and two players—Brooks Koepka in the 2023 PGA in 2023 and Byron DeChambeau in last year’s U.S. Open—have successfully crossed over to win.
That doesn’t seem to bode well for the Masters, where Jon Rahm bombed to a T45 finish in his first start as a LIV player last year. But three LIV players—Cameron Smith, DeChambeau and Tyrell Hatton—finished in the top 10 at Augusta last year, and Koepka and Patrick Reed crashed the top five the year before that. Augusta is so familiar to so many elite players, it seems the one place where the differences between the tours melts away. That puts a spotlight on options like Joaquin Niemann, winner of two of the last four LIV tournaments, and Smith, who’s been top-10 in four of his last five Masters starts.
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It certainly helps the LIV players (and everyone else) that the Masters has the smallest and weakest field of the four majors, despite its reputation as the greatest golf tournament on the planet. Ludvig Aberg showed up last year and went T2 in his first major start. Zalatoris, ranked No. 66 in the world, has never finished out of the top 10. Jordan Spieth despite his injuries and struggles has been top-four there in two of the past four years. For sports bettors, there’s definitely a side of opportunity served along with that pimento cheese.
