Masters 2024: Odds, predictions, value picks for first major at Augusta National

The most amazing week on the golf calendar has arrived.

The Masters Tournament is here.

This year, 89 players will tee off at Augusta National, including 17 rookies, 13 LIV Golf players, and five amateurs from around the world.

Tiger Woods will also be playing in his first professional tournament since the Genesis Invitational, where he had to withdraw midway through the second round due to illness. His presence always creates excitement, intrigue, and a healthy dose of nostalgia.

Masters odds:

The current situation is as follows odds For players looking to win at Augusta, provided by DraftKings:

• Scotty Scheffler +400
• Rory McIlroy +1000
• Jon Rahm +1100
• Xander Schauffele +1600
• Brooks Koepka +1800
• Jordan Spieth +2000
• Joaquin Niemann +2500
• Ludwig Oberg +3000
• Wyndham Clark +3000
• Patrick Cantlay +3500
• Justin Thomas +3500

Masters predictions:

The Masters Tournament has the smallest field of the four major championships and is the only tournament with fewer than 100 players. This reality makes it even more difficult to pick who will make it, considering they are tied for the top 50 with a 36-hole cut.

Still, Cream most often comes out on top at the Masters, and the past two editions have only strengthened that feeling.

Scottie Scheffler continues to play great

Scottie Scheffler is playing in a league of his own, destroying golf courses from tee to green at a rate never seen since Tiger Woods did it in his prime. Back-to-back wins at Bay Hill and TPC Sawgrass, followed by a near miss in Houston, show Scheffler is the best and hottest player in the world right now.

Oddsmakers know this, too, considering Scheffler is -200 to finish in the top 10. That ridiculously low value should be avoided, but Scheffler’s top-5 finish will return positive winnings.

Considering he won the 2022 Masters and tied for 10th a year ago, we believe Scheffler will at least finish in the top five.

Photo credit: David Cannon/Getty Images

3 LIV Golf players finish in the top 10

No LIV Golf player had a better 2024 season than Chile’s Joaquin Niemann. He started the year with a score of 59 at the Mayakoba tournament in Mexico, where he won in a playoff, and then again in Saudi Arabia. Niemann is a great ball striker and his game suits Augusta well.

We hope Niemann improves on his tie for 16th place from a season ago and breaks into the top 10 at +240.

But Niemann wasn’t the only LIV athlete to post a top-10 finish at Augusta this year.

Brooks Koepka, who faced Jon Rahm a year ago, will again be in the top 10, maybe top 5. Knowing that Koepka is only focused on majors, we can see that the guaranteed value for a top-five finish is +360. Five-time major champion.

augusta national

Another LIV golfer to watch is Dustin Johnson, who won the 2020 Masters in the fall. DraftKings lists Johnson as a top-10 prospect at +330.

From 2015 to 2020, Johnson had five top-10 finishes, including a win at Augusta. His only outlier came in 2017, when he injured his back and had to withdraw. But since 2020, Johnson has missed out on a tie for 12th and a tie for 48th, but this week shows he has rediscovered his late 2010s form.

Shane Lowry claims again

Shane Lawrie has the chance to win his second major championship and I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes the first Irishman to win the green jacket.

The 2019 Champion Golfer of the Year is great iron playerhas an exquisite short game, a stable putter, and has all the attributes needed to be a Masters champion.

Since 2020, Lowry has tied for 25th, 21st, 3rd and 16th. He started a year ago with a 4-under 68, but faltered a bit over the weekend. Still, he could have done better in 2023 if not for a stumble on the 14th and 15th holes of Sunday’s final round. Lowry bogeyed the 14th hole and hit a double on the 15th, leaving him outside the top 10.

This time, Lowry hopes to continue his strong play at Augusta and move onto page one of the leaderboard. Winning at +5500 is a bit far away, but we don’t disagree with that value. But we want Lowry to finish inside the top five at +800. This would mark his third top-five finish in his last four starts.

Patrick Cantlay’s extraordinary value play

If there’s one play that provides a ton of value on the board and can net you a lot of money, it’s going to take Patrick Cantlay to win at +3500.

Despite not being at his best throughout his career at Augusta National (one top-10), he fits the bill as a winning mid-level pick.

he played well this year All 7 cuts Going wire to wire at the Genesis Invitational may have been sick.

As much as people love favorites to win, the average odds for winning the Masters in the 21st century are +3300. On top of that, Americans, who have seen international players almost always win the green jacket over the past two decades, have changed this trend since 2000.

Cantlay has been knocking on the door to major tournaments in the past and is undoubtedly one of the best players in the world.

At 35-1, you’d be hard-pressed to find better odds for someone with a legitimate chance of winning.

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.