Out of the Rough: Masters Tournament (2025)

To most, the beginning of April marks the unofficial beginning of Spring.

Warmer weather, longer days and greener grass. These are all things we associate with the beginning of April.

However, for those like myself, the beginning of April brings something much more important; The Masters.

‘A Tradition Unlike Any Other.’ The Masters is finally here.

For months, we’ve endured the tantalizing Masters’ commercials. The sound of birds chirping, the imaging of pristine golf architecture and the date, ‘April 10th, 2025.’ After months of seeing that on our television screens, the time has finally arrived.

This year marks the 89th playing of The Masters at Augusta National.

The storylines are endless. Is this finally the year that Rory McIlroy wins The Masters and joins the storied list of PGA Tour golfers with the Career Grand Slam? Will Scottie Scheffler become the ninth golfer to win three-or-more Green Jackets? Will Ludvig Aberg use Augusta to claim his first Major title after being runner-up a season ago? Will Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka or Bryson DeChambeau claim victory for LIV? The list goes on-and-on.

Is there much else to say about this week? Let’s just get into things!

The Field

As previously mentioned, this week’s field offers plenty of storylines that can not only cement a golfer among the greats as a winner of The Masters, but also into golf immortality.

The biggest storyline, as has been the case since 2015, is can McIlroy finally get over the hump and join golf’s most exclusive club; the Career Grand Slam.

Only five golfers in history have completed such a feat, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. The closest McIlroy has come to becoming the sixth name on that list was 2022 when he was the runner-up here at Augusta.

Currently, there is arguably no one better in the world of golf than McIlroy. 

Scheffler, the defending champion, looks to become the ninth three-time-or-more winner of The Masters.

Also winning in 2022, Scheffler would join Phil Mickelson, Sir Nick Faldo, Gary Player, Sam Snead and Jimmy Demaret as three-time Green Jacket winners.

A victory would have him trail just Arnold Palmer (4,) Tiger Woods (5) and Jack Nicklaus (6) as the winningest golfers at Augusta.

With a victory this week, Xander Schauffele would quickly find himself just one tournament (the U.S. Open) away from completing the Career Grand Slam. Schauffele is the defending PGA Championship and The Open Championship champion.

In the same sense, a victory this week for Collin Morikawa would also propel him one step closer to the Career Grand Slam as he’s won the PGA Championship (2020) and The Open Championship (2021.)

Rahm, the 2023 champion, returns this week looking to claim his second Green Jacket and in doing so, would become the first LIV Golfer to do so. He would join the likes of Koepka (2023 PGA Championship) and DeChambeau (2024 U.S. Open) as members of LIV Golf to win a Major.

Koepka, a five time Major champion (2018, 2019 & 2023 PGA Championship and 2017 & 2018 U.S. Open,) would also take one more step towards golf immortality with a victory this week.

Phil Mickelson, also of LIV Golf, would find himself with four Green Jackets with a victory this week. A victory would tie him with Arnold Palmer for the third most Masters’ victories.

Other notable LIV golfers teeing it up this week include Sergio Garcia, Tyrrell Hatton, Dustin Johnson, Joaquin Niemann, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel, Cameron Smith and Bubba Watson.

Additionally, a slew of golfers will look to use the 2025 Masters as their first Major victory. That list includes Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Tommy Fleetwood, Will Zalatoris, Sahith Theegala, Niemann and Hatton.

One of the most notable absentees for this year’s 89th playing of The Masters is five-time-champion Tiger Woods who is covering from a ruptured achilles. 

In year’s past, there would be multiple spots reserved for full time DP World Tour members. With the new agreement between the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour, there is no full-time DP World Tour golfer playing this week.

Here is a full breakdown of where each of the 96-member field are associated with:

• PGA Tour: 73

• LIV: 12

• Amateurs: 5

• Senior past champions: 6

The full list of former Masters’ Champions teeing it up this week includes Scheffler (2024 & 2022,) Rahm (2023,) Hideki Matsuyama (2021,) Johnson (2020,) Reed (2018,) Garcia (2017,) Danny Willett (2016,) Spieth (2015,) Watson (2014 & 2012,) Adam Scott (2013,) Schwartzel (2011,) Mickelson (2010, 2006 & 2004,) Angel Cabrera (2009,) Zach Johnson (2007,) Mike Weir (2003,) Vijay Singh (2000,) Jose Maria Olazabal (1999 & 1994,) Bernhard Langer (1993 & 1985) and Fred Couples (1992.)

The Course

Augusta National Golf Club is the definition of pristine golf courses. As previously mentioned, it is the most pristine and manicured golf property on the planet. There simply is nothing like Augusta National.

Augusta National was designed by Dr Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones in 1933 with re-designs in 2008. 

It plays as a traditional par-72 and lists its yardage at 7,545 yards.

Although the yardage on paper is listed at 7,545 yards, the course plays more to the tune of 7,900 yards. Pure yardage is way more important than creating the right angle into the flag.

Water is in play on five of the holes as well. Water is in play more so on the back nine with the three key holes, also known as Amen Corner, featuring water.

The greens are a Bentgrass that play both firm and past. The average square footage of the greens is 6,486 feet. These greens are crazy fast and undulating.

The greens are also very large and contoured in a way to be some of the toughest on all of the Tour. This is where course history comes into play as these greens have been known to bamboozle the inexperienced and poor putters alike. 

I know I’m going on-and-on about these greens but boy are they challenging. They rate up to 14-plus on the Stimpmeter if Mother Nature allows. These sub-air fuelled greens are unlike anything that the world’s best golfers face across the rest of the season.

Birdie chances are reduced to the smallest of target areas. Many of these areas are only accessible by using the natural contours of the greens. The difficulty of these greens don’t stop there as they also offer Augusta’s infamous run-off areas which surround all green complexes. This makes around-the-green stats and scrambling that much more important.

The lack of rough around green complexes also creates indecision when greens are missed. Scrambling percentages take a hit due to this. When given too many options, golfers and caddies alike become confused. Again, this is where course experience comes into play. A patient outlook too is very important in this instance.

Augusta National is known for the topography of its fairways that forces uneven fairway lies.

To go along with the long list of defenses that this course features, swirling winds will cause fits to golfers all tournament long.

Augusta National annually yields the lowest penalty for missing fairways among major Tour venues. On seven of the 14 holes (par-fours and par-fives) there is a difference of less than 10-percent in birdie-or-better percentages depending on whether a player hits the fairways or not. 

Distance off the tee will be important this week but not necessarily hitting the fairway.

Any hopeful winner of the Green Jacket must be aggressive on the four par-fives this week. 

The par-five 15th and par-three 16th must be taken advantage of this week as well as they offer scoring opportunities. These holes help offer an exciting finish as ground can be made up if leaders take an errant shot off the tee.

Golfers too will look to minimize bogeys across the rest of the holes. To minimize bogeys, golfers will have to seek greens-in-regulation, scramble and have a solid short-plus-distance-lag-putting.

Although the course hosts this event year-in-and-year-out, it does a bit of tinkering almost every year to change some aspect of the course. 

Augusta National did some major tinkering prior to the 2023 playing to one of its most iconic holes. The change was implemented to combat the insane distance of today’s Tour pros.

The par-five 13th, also known as Azalea, now plays significantly longer. Thirty-five yards were added to this hole. For the long bombers off the tee, the hole had become a driver and a seven, eight or nine iron, removing what was once a true risk-reward of going for a par-five in two.

Thirty-five yards may not sound like much, but it is. Prior to the 2023 event, McIlroy played a few practice rounds at Augusta and while he said the drive was easier than past years, the second shot was not. He was using an eight iron in recent years but in his practice rounds, was using a five-iron.

To make room for the additional 35-yards, trees were removed and a new tee box was installed. The 13th now plays at 545-yards. In Tour comparison, 545 yards is not a long par-five but the hole features a hard dogleg left and with Rae’s Creek guarding the green, the additional 35-yards will make the decision to go for the green in two more difficult.

In 2021 we saw more changes to the course that we saw in the 2021 edition of this event.

The par-five 15th, also known as Firethorn, was extended by 20 yards and led to more forced layups. The fairways too were re-contoured with usage of short grass replacing the first cut. 

The replacement of the first cut to short grass was implemented on holes nine and ten, also par-fours. 

The par-four 11th, also known as White Dogwood, was lengthened by 15 yards last year.

White Dogwood also received a new tee box, lengthening the par-four to 520 yards. The fairways were re-contoured and widened by up to 15-yards as trees to the right of the hole were removed. 

The first cut was removed on the right hand side as well and replaced by more fairway short grass. This caused errant drives to roll out into more disadvantageous positions due to the amazing topography of Augusta National.

New green surfaces were added to holes three, 13 and 17 in 2022 as well.

Last year saw the lengthening of the second hole by ten yards. The added yardage won’t offer a significant difference but it was implemented to add a bit more bite to what is the easiest hole on the golf course.

For this year’s playing, the course lost some trees at the hands of Hurricane Helene. Due to the loss of these trees, there will be fewer shadows cast during the later rounds on Hole 16’s green. The 16th green too was redone but left essentially unchanged.

Additionally, course history is abslutley crucial here. Of courses regularly played on the PGA Tour's schedule, Augusta National tops the list when it comes to course history being an indicator of any winner.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, Friday calls for the highest chance of precipitation at 40-percent. Noon marks the highest chance of precipitation for Friday as it is set to taper off into the evening. Thursday is calling for just a ten-percent chance as Saturday calls for a five-percent chance and Sunday a zero-percent chance. Winds too will be at the highest on Friday at 12 miles-per-hour. Winds are set for nine miles-per-hour on Thursday, seven miles-per-hour for Saturday and six miles-per-hour on Sunday. Temperatures will be at the highest on Thursday at 73-degrees before dipping to 65-degrees for both Friday and Saturday. Temperatures will then rebound to 70-degrees for Sunday. 

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (SG: TTG)

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Par Five Average Scoring

• Scrambling

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Bogey Avoidance

• Par Four Birdie or Better Percentage

• Strokes Gained: Around the Green

• Average Driving Distance

• Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)

• Three-Putt Avoidance

• Proximity to the Hole from 200-plus Yards

DFS Suggestions

$10,000+

Here we go! My first play is none other than Rory McIlroy ($11,100.) This one is straight forward. Who is currently playing the best golf in the world? McIlroy. Who typically wins The Masters (at least as of late?) The one who is playing the best early season golf coming in. Scheffler won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and THE PLAYERS Championship coming into The Masters a season ago. Rahm won The Sentry Tournament of Champions, The American Express and The Genesis Invitational coming into the 2023 Masters Tournament. I can go on-and-on with this. McIlroy has won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and THE PLAYERS Championship coming into this year’s installment. Rory also placed fifth in his last outing at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, 15th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and 17th at The Genesis Invitational as well this season. He is currently second on Tour in SG: TTG, fourth in both par-five average scoring and scrambling, sixth in average driving distance, tenth in both SG: PUTT and bogey avoidance, 19th in SG: APP, 26th in proximity to the hole from 200-plus yards, 31st in SG: ATG, 33rd in par four birdie or better percentage, 53rd in GIR% and 172nd in three-putt avoidance. The three-putt avoidance figure is scary but being tenth overall in SG: PUTT makes up for that. Over the past six seasons at The Masters he placed second in 2022, fifth in 2020 (fall), 21st in 2019 and 22nd in 2024. He did miss the cut here in 2023 and 2021. Per my stats based model, he’s far-and-away my favorite to win this week. I really wanted to single-bullet him to win this week but with futures already on my board, it wasn’t logical. So if you are to be one to single-bullet him, I’m all for it! Also consider Jon Rahm ($10,400.) Rahm has done everything except win on the LIV Golf Tour so far this season. Through the first five events of the season, he has an average finishing placement of 5.6. He’s placed second at Riyadh, sixth at Adelaide, sixth at Hong Kong, fifth at Singapore and ninth at Miami. Over the past six seasons at The Masters, he won in 2023, placed fifth in 2021, seventh in 2020 (fall,) ninth in 2019, 27th in 2022 and 45th in 2024. He’s currently first on LIV in birdies, third in GIR%, eighth in putting average, ninth in scrambling and 11th in average driving distance. He is also on my betting card at +2000.

$9,000-$9,900

Justin Thomas ($9,600) leads the charge in this second price range. He is currently fourth on Tour in par-four birdie or better percentage, eighth in both SG: APP and par-five average scoring, 12th in SG: TTG, 18th in three-putt avoidance, 32nd in SG: ATG, 40th in SG: PUTT, 41st in bogey avoidance, 48th in average driving distance, 51st in GIR%, 53rd in proximity to the hole from 200-plus yards and 124th in scrambling. Of golfers who have played eight-or-more tournaments to start this season, no one has a better average finishing placement than Thomas. Of golfers who have played six-or-more tournaments, only Scheffler, Russell Henley and Patrick Cantlay have a better average finishing placement. He was the runner-up in his last outing at the Valspar Championship. He also placed second at The American Express, sixth at the WM Phoenix Open, ninth at The Genesis Invitational, 26th at The Sentry Tournament of Champions, 33rd at THE PLAYERS Championship, 36th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and 48th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this season. Outside of back-to-back missed cuts at The Masters over the past two seasons when he was in his slump, he placed eighth in 2022, 21st in 2021, fourth in 2020 (fall) and 12th in 2019. Also consider Joaquin Niemann ($9,300.) Niemann has already won twice on LIV this season. He won at Adelaide and Singapore. He also placed 12th at Hong Kong, 33rd at Riyadh and 33rd at Miami. He’s currently third on LIV in birdies, fifth in average driving distance, and seventh in all three of scrambling, GIR% and putting average. He’s played here each of the past four seasons, placing 22nd a year ago, 16th in 2023, 35th in 2022 and 40th in 2021. Also consider Xander Schauffele ($9,700.) I won’t bore you with his stats so far this season as he missed the better part of two-months recovering from a rib injury. However, despite the injury and the rust, he’s still third on Tour in SG: APP and ninth in proximity to the hole from 200-plus yards. That speaks volumes. He did place 12th in his last outing at the Valspar Championship as well. Schauffele has also been fantastic here at Augusta over the last six seasons. He has four top tens and five top 17’s over that time span here. He placed eighth a season ago, tenth in 2023, third in 2021, 17th in 2020 (fall) and second in 2019. He did miss the cut here in 2022. As most may be scared off from his slow start and the injury he continues to recover from, now’s the time to play Schauffele, as this will be the last Major you’ll see him in the $9k price range. 

$8,000-$8,900

Leading off this price range is the recent Texas Children’s Houston Open Champion, Min Woo Lee ($8,500.) Outside of winning in Houston, he also placed 11th at the Cognizant Classic, 12th at the WM Phoenix Open, 17th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, 20th at THE PLAYERS Championship and 48th at The Genesis Invitational on the season. He’s now played The Masters each of the past three seasons, placing 22nd a season ago, missing the cut in 2023 and placing 14th in 2022. Lee is currently third on Tour in average driving distance, fifth in SG: PUTT, seventh in both par-four birdie or better percentage and SG: ATG, 18th in scrambling, 22nd in bogey avoidance, 53rd in SG: TTG, 69th in par-five average scoring, 71st in three-putt avoidance, 80th in GIR% and 122nd in SG: APP. The approach number is not where we’d like it to be but he did gain 0.995 strokes-per-round on approach at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, 0.549 strokes-per-round at THE PLAYERS Championship and 0.264 strokes-per-round at the Cognizant Classic. The irons are coming around, which was evident in his recent victory. Also consider Russell Henley ($8,400.) Of golfers who have played at least seven events so far this season, no one on Tour has a better average finishing placement than Henley. Only Scheffler has a better average finishing placement of those who have played at least six events. Henley won the Arnold Palmer Invitational this season and also placed fifth at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, sixth at the Cognizant Classic, tenth at the Sony Open in Hawaii, 30th at The Sentry Tournament of Champions, 30th at THE PLAYERS Championship and 39th at The Genesis Invitational. Henley is currently third on Tour in GIR%, 14th in par-four birdie or better percentage, 16th in all three of  bogey avoidance, SG: ATG and SG: TTG, 19th in SG: PUTT, 22nd in SG: APP, 31st in par-five average scoring, 57th in proximity to the hole from 200-plus yards, 74th in three-putt avoidance, 94th in scrambling and 174th in average driving distance. He placed fourth here in 2023, 30th in 2022 and 38th a season ago as well. Also consider Robert MacIntyre ($8,000.) MacIntyre has quietly had a great start to his 2025 campaign. He placed sixth at the WM Phoenix Open, ninth at THE PLAYERS Championship, 11th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 15th at The Sentry Tournament of Champions, 40th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and 53rd at the Sony Open in Hawaii on the season. He is currently fifth on Tour in SG: TTG, sixth in GIR%, 12th in par-five average scoring, 15th in bogey avoidance, 21st in SG: APP, 64th in par-four birdie or better percentage, 67th in SG: ATG, 70th in scrambling, 83rd in proximity to the hole from 200-plus yards, 94th in three-putt avoidance, 107th in average driving distance and 137th in SG: PUTT. The putting figure is a bit worrisome but he did gain 0.402 strokes-per-round putting at THE PLAYERS Championship and 0.181 strokes-per-round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational across his last two outings. He hasn’t played here since 2022 where he placed 23rd and he also placed 12th in his debut here in 2021. MacIntyre is also on my betting card at +6000.

$7,000-$7,900

My first play in this price range is LIV Golf’s and 2018 Masters Champion Patrick Reed ($7,300.) Honestly, criminally underpriced. He’s fresh off a seventh place finish in his last outing on LIV in Miami. He also placed 25th at Singapore and tenth at Hong Kong across his last three outings. Reed also saw some action on the DP World Tour earlier this season where he placed T8th at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship and T10th at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. Reed is currently 19th on LIV in scrambling, 30th in putting average, 33rd in average driving distance, 34th in GIR% and 38th in birdies. Over the past six seasons here at Augusta since his win, he has a top five, three top tens and four top 12s. He placed 12th here a season ago, fourth in 2023, 35th in 2022, eighth in 2021, tenth in 2020 (fall) and 36th in 2019. Also consider Sepp Straka ($7,600.) Of golfers who have played at least ten tournaments so far this season, no one has a better average finishing placement than Straka. Additionally, only Henley, Cantlay and Thomas have a better average finishing placement of those who have played at least seven tournaments. Straka won The American Express earlier this season and also placed fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, seventh at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, 11th at the Cognizant Classic, 14th at THE PLAYERS Championship, 15th at The Sentry Tournament of Champions, 15th at the WM Phoenix Open, 28th at the Valspar Championship and 30th at the Sony Open in Hawaii. That’s two top-fives, three top tens and seven top-15s on the season. He is currently second on Tour in both par-five average scoring and GIR%, fifth in SG: APP, sixth in SG: TTG, seventh in bogey avoidance, 15th in par-four birdie or better percentage, 19th in proximity to the hole from 200-plus yards, 47th in three-putt avoidance, 76th in scrambling, 53rd in SG: PUTT, 92nd in SG: ATG and 140th in average driving distance. Straka has played here each of the last three seasons, placing 16th a season ago, 46th in 2023 and 30th in 2022. Also consider Wyndham Clark ($7,770.) Clark placed fifth in his last outing at the Texas Children’s Houston Open. He also placed 15th at The Sentry Tournament of Champions, 16th at the WM Phoenix Open, 22nd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and 31st at The Genesis Invitational on the season. Clark is currently fifth on Tour in par-four birdie or better percentage, 16th in average driving distance, 25th in GIR%, 29th in both par-five average scoring and bogey avoidance, 39th in SG: ATG, 61st in both SG: TTG and proximity to the hole from 200-plus yards, 62nd in SG: PUTT, 74th in three-putt avoidance, 82nd in scrambling and 111th in SG: APP. That approach number is not where we expect the 2023 U.S. Open Champion to be. He did gain 0.465 strokes-per-round in his last outing in Houston and 0.083 strokes-per-round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The irons are coming around for Clark. Clark made his debut here a season ago where he missed the cut.

$6,900-

We’ll kick things off in this final price range with J.J. Spaun ($6,800.) Spaun is currently second on Tour in SG: APP, seventh in both SG: TTG and GIR%, tenth in bogey avoidance, 34th in par-four birdie or better percentage, 48th in three-putt avoidance, 54th in average driving distance, 55th in par-five average scoring, 69th in scrambling, 89th in proximity to the hole from 200-plus yards, 95th in SG: PUTT and 102nd in SG: ATG. Although he missed the cut in his last outing at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, Spaun has a series of runner-ups and top three finishes on the season. He was most notably the runner-up to McIlroy at THE PLAYERS Championship where he ultimately fell in a playoff and was essentially one revolution of the golf ball away from winning on the 18th green. He too was the runner-up at the Cognizant Classic and also placed third at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Spaun also placed 15th at the Farmers Insurance Open, 29th at The American Express, 31st at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 33rd at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and 34th at The Genesis Invitational on the season. He’s played The Masters just once prior, placing 23rd in 2022. Also consider Nick Taylor ($6,400.) Taylor is currently fourth on Tour in GIR%, ninth in SG: APP, 12th in bogey avoidance, 25th in scrambling, 26th in SG: TTG, 39th in both par-five average scoring and par-four birdie or better percentage, 98th in SG: PUTT, 99th in SG: ATG, 110th in three-putt avoidance, 115th in proximity to the hole from 200-plus yards and 172nd in average driving distance. Taylor may have missed back-to-back cuts coming into this week but there is a direct correlation between Augusta National and Waialae Country Club (host of the Sony Open in Hawaii) and Taylor won that event earlier this season. He also placed ninth at The Genesis Invitational, 12th at The American Express, 25th at the WM Phoenix Open, 31st at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 33rd at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and 48th at The Sentry Tournament of Champions. Taylor missed the cut here a season ago and placed 29th in 2020 (fall.) Also consider Nicolai Hojgaard ($6,900.) Hojgaard is currently 15th on Tour in both GIR% and three-putt avoidance, 24th in average driving distance, 28th in SG: APP, 35th in bogey avoidance, 43rd in SG: PUTT, 62nd in SG: TTG, 66th in proximity to the hole from 200-plus yards, 82nd in par-five average scoring, 118th in par-four birdie or better percentage, 126th in SG: ATG and 140th in scrambling. The scrambling number does worry me some but he scrambled to the tune of 80-percent at Cognizant Classic. Now, he has missed three-consecutive cuts coming into this week but did place eighth at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld, 18th at the Cognizant Classic and 36th at the WM Phoenix Open on the season. He also placed 16th here a season ago. Hojgaard is also on my betting card at +20000.

Betting Card

• Ludvig Aberg (+2000)

• Jon Rahm (+2000)

• Hideki Matsuyama (+3000)

• Robert MacIntyre (+6000)

• Will Zalatoris (+6500)

• Nicolai Hojgaard (+20000)

Ludvig Aberg (+2000)

Winning The Masters is no small feat. Doing so in your debut is almost unheard of. That is what Aberg almost accomplished a season ago, finishing runner-up to Scheffler. Although Aberg finished four strokes behind Scheffler on the leaderboard, it was much closer than that figure may suggest. An error beginning the back-nine as he pressed the issue in an attempt to close the gap on Scheffler took Aberg out of it. Now, he’s returning with the experience of last season and his first ‘big-boy’ PGA Tour victory under his belt at The Genesis Invitational. It’s time Aberg takes the next step in his unlimited-potential career. Aberg missed the cut last week at the Valero Texas Open and also missed the cut at THE PLAYERS Championship but those missed cuts are the reason we’re seeing a 20 next to Aberg’s name. I told myself when he won The Genesis that if I saw a 20 next to his name again this season, I’m playing it, and here we are. Aberg also placed fifth at The Sentry Tournament of Champions, 22nd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and 42nd at the Farmers Insurance Open on the season to go along with his victory at The Genesis Invitational. He is currently 1st on Tour in proximity to the hole from 200-plus yards, 31st in par-four birdie or better percentage, 36th in average driving distance, 56th in SG: TTG, 63rd in par-five average scoring, 99th in SG: APP, 110th in GIR%, 120th in SG: PUTT, 130th in scrambling, 141st in SG: ATG, 160th in bogey avoidance and 180th in three-putt avoidance. 

Hideki Matsuyama (+3000)

I don’t play futures all that often unless I see some great value. They can go wrong in a hurry and fill up your betting card by the time you get to an event. However, I placed this one on Matsuyama after he won The Sentry Tournament of Champions to start the 2025 season. Like Aberg, Matsuyama has missed back-to-back cuts coming into this week. Along with winning The Sentry Tournament of Champions, Matsuyama placed 13th at The Genesis Invitational, 16th at the Sony Open in Hawaii, 22nd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 25th at the WM Phoenix Open, 32nd at the Farmers Insurance Open and 48th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the season. He is currently second on Tour in both par-five average scoring and scrambling, third in SG: ATG, 11th in SG: TTG, 20th in bogey avoidance, 32nd in proximity to the hole from 200-plus yards, 34th in SG: APP, 79th in par-four birdie or better percentage, 82nd in SG: PUTT, 94th in average driving distance, 116th in GIR% and 176th in three-putt avoidance. Matsuyama won his Green Jacket in 2021. He also placed 38th here a season ago, 16th in 2023, 14th in 2022, 13th in 2020 (fall) and 32nd in 2019. 

Will Zalatoris (+6500)

If you haven’t picked it up by now, course history is absolutely crucial here at Augusta National. With that being said, Zalatoris has some of the best course history of anyone teeing it up this week. Over the past six seasons, of those who have played at least three Masters Tournaments, no one has a better average finishing placement than Zalatoris. He placed ninth here a season ago, sixth in 2022 and second in 2021 on his debut. Zalatoris is currently 19th on Tour in GIR%,  20th in SG: APP, 22nd in three-putt avoidance, 24th in SG: TTG, 35th in bogey avoidance, 46th in par-five average scoring, 69th in proximity to the hole from 200-plus yards, 80th in SG: ATG, 81st in par-four birdie or better percentage, 112th in average driving distance, 129th in scrambling and 132nd in SG: PUTT. We know Zalatoris to be a historically bad putter. However, he is also 22nd on Tour in three-putt avoidance. He’s not getting the first putt to drop being 132nd in SG: PUTT, but he’s leaving himself simple clean-ups and avoiding the big numbers on the greens. That is absolutely crucial here at Augusta as his course history proves. Zalatoris has played in seven events so far this season and hasn’t missed a cut yet. He placed 12th at The American Express, 22nd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 24th at The Genesis Invitational, 26th at The Sentry Tournament of Champions, 30th at THE PLAYERS Championship, 47th at the Valspar Championship and 48th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.