Weekly PGA Preview: The Masters

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Preview series.

The Masters

Augusta National Golf Club
Augusta, GA

The PGA Tour heads to Augusta as the first major of the season gets underway.

It's Masters week, one that we've all been waiting on for several months now, so I'll say congrats to Brian Harman on a very nice win in Texas, but it's time to look ahead, its Masters week!

One thing I love about the majors and the Masters in particular are the storylines entering the week and as always, we've got a lot of them this year. 

Let's start at the top. Scottie Scheffler has been struggling (by his standards) for most of the season, but he looked to turn things around in his most recent start at in Houston. Is he going to pick up his first win of the season at a major?

Rory McIlroy will be going for the career grand slam…yet again and he'll be hoping for some better results. He's been playing very well this season, but there may be some injury concerns heading into this week. Can he overcome the injury and the pressure?

Xander Schauffele missed most of the first few months due to an injury, but he appears to be close to his old form. Is major number three in the mix?

Ludvig Aberg looks to capture his first major, just weeks after nabbing his first signature event. Does he take the next step and become a major winner this week?

LIV golfers aside from Bryson DeChambeau were largely absent at the majors this past season, but something tells me that won't be the case this year. Brooks Koepka is looking to bounce back from a subpar run at the majors in 2024 as is Cameron Smith. Jon Rahm was a non-factor as well in 2024, but that can't last much longer, can it?

Viktor Hovland was lost as recently as a few weeks ago, but now that he's back in the winner's circle, can he contend at a major again?

Jordan Spieth has been up and down in his return from injury this season, but will a return to Augusta help him put four rounds together?

Will Bernhard Langer make the cut in his final Masters appearance at the age of 67? Okay, so this one isn't a headliner this year, but I'm certainly curious to see if he can do it. Langer has been so good for so long, I think we overlook what he's accomplished at an advanced age. Augusta can be a maddening course, but it's also manageable for those that know where to hit the ball.

There are more that I'm forgetting or just aren't aware of, but you can be sure that whoever takes the early lead will have an interesting story. I can't wait to see what unfolds this week, so let's get to it.

All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook as of 7:00 PM ET Tuesday.

LAST YEAR

Scottie Scheffler shot a final round 68 on his way to a four-stroke win over Ludvig Aberg.

FAVORITES

Scottie Scheffler (4-1) 

If you gave me one pick to win this week, it would be Scheffler, but I still don't like these odds. Scheffler was in his same range entering the Masters this past year, but the difference was, he was playing out of his mind at the time. This year he's been okay, but he's yet to win and he's only come close just once. He's still the best player in the world, and his track record here is great, but there isn't enough value here. If you can wait to get odds after the event has started, that might be the way to go. If he starts slowly, you'll get better odds, if he starts well, your odds will undoubtedly be worse, but you'll be sure that he's locked in. Either way, there's more value to waiting on Scheffler this week.  

Rory McIlroy (13-2)

The biggest difference between this past year and this year is that the second-favorite's odds are much closer to Scheffler's. McIlroy has attempted to complete the career grand slam 10 times at Augusta and in half of those starts he's finished in the top-7. His form is as good as it's been in years, but there is some injury concern. Maybe that's just a smoke screen to take some pressure off however as there is always immense pressure on McIlroy at the Masters. As well as he's played this year, my thought has always been that if he's to win the Masters and complete the grand slam, he'll need to do it under the radar and that's just not possible this year.   

Collin Morikawa (16-1)

Morikawa has played his way into the third-favorite this week and that's quite the feat when you consider all the big names in the field this week that have great track records here. Here's the thing about Morikawa though, his track record here is really good, it's just that he's never really threatened to win, so his results have been a bit overlooked. Morikawa has finished in the top-10 in each of the past three years and two of those were top-5s as well. Considering his form this season, this may be his best chance for a Green Jacket yet. 

THE NEXT TIER

Xander Schauffele (20-1)

Speaking of overlooked track records at the Masters, does Schauffele come to mind as someone who has played well here in the past? It should because he has a runner-up, a 3rd-place finish and two additional top-10s in seven starts here. He's also entering the Masters as a major champion for the first time, make that two-time major champion. His odds this week are a reflection of his current state, which is one that is still making his way back from injury. Is he all the way back? No, but he's been playing for a month now and he could be closer than we think. Also, you won't see odds like this on Schauffele for much longer, especially at a major.

Brooks Koepka (33-1)

There was a time when Koepka goofed around most the year, only to hyper focus for four weeks each season and during that time, Koepka gobbled up several majors. Since his move to LIV, he has rarely shown this ability, but he was able to show well during the majors in 2023. That wasn't the case in 2024, but I have a feeling that this year could be different. What am I basing this on? Well, it's just a hunch at this point. I don't follow LIV golf, so I can't speak to his current form and quite honestly, I don't think LIV form matters much, so what I'm really going on here is knowledge of Koepka has operated in the past.  

Jordan Spieth (33-1)     

Spieth won his first Green Jacket in 2015 and finished runner-up the following year. He posted another top-3 two years later and at that moment, it appeared as though Spieth was going to be a factor at Augusta each and every year, but that hasn't been the case lately. The problem of course is that Spieth's game has been all over the place in the past six years, but even though he's lost his consistency on the whole, he's still had his moments here, posting top-5s in two of the past four years. As for this year, he's been all over the place, but he has shown a nice upside. If he can avoid the blowup round this week, he is capable of winning.   

LONG SHOTS

Russell Henley (50-1)  

I'm not looking at big longshots this week because quite honestly, there are too many top players with good track records here. Longshots rarely win this event, and I see no reason why a longshot will win this week. With that in mind, I'm expanding my definition of a longshot this week to include guys like Henley who isn't a true longshot because he won a signature event this past month.  As for his track record here, he has just one top-10, but he's also finished outside the top-40 just once. In other words, he knows how to get around this course and maybe the added confidence of winning a signature event can push him up the leaderboard.

Cameron Smith (55-1) 

I mentioned earlier that I don't put too much stock into LIV form and the reason is that it's so different from a PGA Tour event, let alone a major. With that said, Smith hasn't played well lately, and he hasn't been much of a factor at the majors lately, but he has managed to play well at Augusta a handful of times over the past decade. In fact, Smith has five top-10s in eight starts here and he's yet to miss a cut. His form is going to scare off a lot of people, but his form is why you're getting 55-1 on a guy who knows how to win big events.

ONE-AND-DONE LEAGUES

Highly-Chosen Pick: Scottie Scheffler – If you've managed to hold onto Scheffler this long, congrats, you've got a huge advantage over the field as Scheffler hasn't produced much of anything and his best days are in front of him this season. Whether or not he's going to get back on track this week is the question, but I can't argue with this pick. If I still had Scheffler I would think long and hard about using him here.       

Moderately-Chosen Pick: Collin Morikawa – If not for the two guys at the top, Morikawa would likely be very popular this week. Instead, he should be moderately owned, but this still looks like a good play. Morikawa has everything going for him this week and he doesn't have the expectations of Scheffler or the baggage of McIlroy.

Lightly-Chosen Pick: Russell Henley – Henley has an uphill climb to win this week, but as far as cashing a nice check he should have no problem. He'll be under the radar, but as mentioned before, he'll have a ton of confidence entering the week. Henley usually plays well here also and although he lacks the really high-end finishes, he's certainly capable of landing in the top-5.     

Buyer Beware: Bryson DeChambeau – 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.

This Week: Viktor Hovland – 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?    

Previous Results

FANDUEL PICKS

Upper Range: Collin Morikawa ($12,100)
Middle Range: Russell Henley ($9,900)
Lower Range: Phil Mickelson ($8,100)

SURVIVOR LEAGUES

This Week: Cameron Smith: There are a couple ways to go this week. One is to take a guy like Scheffler and essentially assure yourself of moving on to next week but burn a big chip or you could take a LIV guy, one that you'll only have three more chances to use for the remainder of the season. There is a little risk with Smith because he hasn't been playing well on the LIV tour, but he's never missed a cut here and I think he'll turn his game around come Thursday.