This article is part of our Golf One and Done Pool Expert Picks series.
The Masters
The first major championship of the year, and that means that all OAD players will have a big decision to make. Do you use one of the two heavy favorites of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy if you have saved them to this point, or do you take a stab with a LIV Golf player knowing that they will only be available for four events this year? Even though this is a major, the purse is basically on par with the eight signature events and FedExCup Playoffs events, so it is a valid discussion on whether to save some of the top PGA Tour players for those and use a Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau or Brooks Koepka this week. That being said, our RotoWire OAD pool has a bonus to the top cumulative earner of the four majors. In that scenario, you probably just lean towards whoever your top play is regardless of tour, especially if you are a ways back in the standings.
Course Tidbits
- Course: Augusta National Golf Club (7,555 yards, par 72)
- Location: Augusta, Georgia
- Purse: $20 million ($3.6 million to winner)
- Defending Champion: Scottie Scheffler (-11)
- 2024 Scoring Average: 73.91
- Average Winning Score Last 4 Masters: -10.75
Augusta National is a beast unlike any other. There are so many intricacies that challenge a player mentally more than any other on Tour. Players will always talk about knowing where to miss it on certain holes to certain pin locations. Sometimes that's more important than executing a perfect shot, because it is so easy to make a big number on really any hole. At the end of the day, however, Augusta is a second-shot course. There's room to spray it a bit off the tee and get away with it, but the second-shot is the most impactful of any. Just a slight miss can easily put you in a spot where you have a near impossible up-and-down. On the other hand, a well judged shot can get you up onto one of the tiny tiers where a hole might be cut and lead to you gaining a lot of strokes on the field.
Some people think that because of how fast and undulating the greens are at Augusta that the best putter is likely to win, but SG: Putting is not correlated very highly to success here. Really it goes back to hitting quality approaches and missing in the correct spots. That will give players easier putts and easier up-and-downs. Par-5 scoring is another defining stat at Augusta given how difficult the rest of the course is. Those four par-5s can all be reached in two shots for the majority of the field, and generally having a great short-game makes a big impact in whether or not a player is able to take advantage of the par-5s and make a birdie.
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The Masters: One and Done Picks
Targeting the LIV golfers in majors is the logical choice considering we only get four tournaments to use them. We'll certainly want to use Rahm in one of them, and I think it makes the most sense to use him at Augusta where he has five top-10s since 2018. The 2023 event champion has finished in the top-10 of all five LIV events this year and will be plenty motivated after a disappointing 2024 major campaign. --Ryan Pohle
Let me start by stating that if I had my pick of anyone, I'd go with Scheffler or McIlroy and if I were in a better spot in the standings, I might lean towards Morikawa, but in my current state, Hovland appears like the right play. Hovland doesn't seem to have the short game to win here, but his short game and putting were just fine a few weeks back at the Valspar. If he continues to play like he did down the stretch at the Valspar, he's going to have a chance this week. That's a big if, but we all know he's got a ton of talent, so why can't he keep it going? --Greg Vara
Already took Scottie Scheffler, so Morikawa is the pick. Only two golfers have had top-10s each of the past three years at the Masters, and both were in my first sentence. Morikawa tied for third a year ago despite being uncharacteristically unsharp with his irons all season. He is sharp once again, leading the Tour in both SG: Approach and Tee-to-Green. Morikawa hasn't won in 18 months, since the 2023 ZOZO, and only once in four years. And that is a concern, for sure. It definitely appears that Morikawa is having trouble closing when he's in position, and that's not the best position to be in at Augusta. --Len Hochberg
Not going to overthink this one. Taking the No. 1 ranked player on his best course. Scheffler and caddie Ted Scott, who won two more Masters with Bubba Watson as well, have such a great feel and gameplan on how to attack Augusta National in any condition. When he's on, Scheffler is the best ball-striker in the world with a terrific short game, and he has gained strokes on the greens in seven of his last eight starts. While he may not have won yet in 2025, he's silenced the doubts from the freak hand injury on Christmas, finishing T9-T25-T3-T11-T20-T2 in six starts this season. He's still the man to beat here. --Ryan Andrade
Many entrants in these pools either have too much LIV Golf hatred in their hearts by choice, or they simply haven't yet caught onto the fact that you only get a maximum of four chances throughout the entire year to deploy alphas like Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, because their OAD ownerships in majors should be even more inflated than they've been and currently are, in order to optimize usage of the PGA Tour studs like Scheffler/McIlroy/Aberg when Signature Event purses come around. Appearing in the No. 3 spot on the outright odds board, a possibly sub-20 percent owned Rahm seems like a Plus-EV spot, especially considering there'd only be three other chances to click on him in 2025. Not to mention, he's already felt the weight of a green jacket on his shoulders. --Bryce Danielson
The Masters: One and Done Fades
It's easy to be drawn towards Aberg since he was the runner-up here last year, but he also led the field in putting and came into the tournament in much better form. This time around, he's coming off back-to-back missed cuts and has struggled mightily with his short game. His approach and driving accuracy numbers have dipped this year, and I need to see a bit more before I use him at potentially the Memorial or one of the other majors. --Ryan Pohle
DeChambeau was the guy for LIV golf at the majors this past season, but I'm a little wary of him this year. The reason? Well, I just kind of mentioned it. He was the guy in 2024 and now everyone expects him to be the guy this year and that just doesn't work out all that often. Though he played well here this past year, his track record prior to that was not very good and I think his T6 this past year was a result of him being locked in. Odds are he's not going to be locked in all year in 2025. --Greg Vara
Niemann has been the top golfer on LIV this season, winning twice. Phil Mickelson boasted last month that Niemann is not only the best on LIV but in the world. We admire Mickelson's loyalty to a golf tour, for once. But Niemann has never done a thing in any major, not just the Masters. He's played in 22 of them and never so much as cracked the top-15, much less contended. He's finished top-25 at the Masters the past two years, which is not nothing, but not enough for this week. --Len Hochberg
Just keep holding onto Schauffele this week. He will continue to get his game more sharp and likely be a threat down the line this season, maybe even at another major again later in 2025. But for the first major of the year, I don't think it's a prudent play to burn a player who has just one finish better than T30 this season. Schauffele has lost strokes in two straight starts off the tee, something that basically never happened over the last several years. His putting and short-game haven't been sharp since last season either. --Ryan Andrade
He obviously already owns massive wins at a Signature Event and THE PLAYERS Championship, so it's even more paramount to nail your McIlroy pick in an effort to claw back into contention for a OAD victory this season, but I'll let a large chunk of my pool competitors burn him at Augusta National where he faces the added pressure of completing the career Grand Slam while also being introduced to a field that includes a few formidable LIV contenders. I'm not typically a "save for later" philosophist when guys are truly feeling it, because things like regression/injuries/etc. are realistic outcomes, but McIlroy's in the small batch of elites that can maintain this impressive form throughout a summer as I look ahead to more comfortable spots for him with equally huge purses like a Signature Event, Quail Hollow or Royal Portrush at similar, if not reduced ownership compared to this week. I'd rather find unique ways to build around McIlroy as a DFS anchor than eat his OAD chalk at Augusta. --Bryce Danielson
