89th Edition of The Masters, April 10-13, 2025

Photo by Allan Nygren on Unsplash

Now that the college hoops season has concluded, we get one of the best sporting events of the calendar year - The Masters.

The course is the constant and the star of the show, but the 95 player field is filled with very capable golfers.

Since this is the one major played at the same venue annually, there are tons of statistical trends worth noting that can help bettors quickly distill the 95 player field down to a cluster of 24 players who can realistically win. Through that process, players who are still solid bets to land in the top 10 or top 20 will be revealed. Lastly, the derivative markets provide some fun novelty bets to sprinkle in some action for the weekend.

Notable Winner Trends the last 12 Masters

• 10 of the last 12 winners were age 27 or older

• The last 12 winners were ranked in the OWGR Top 25*

  * LIV players don’t receive OWGR points from their Tour, so the data golf rankings are a more reliable measure of a true world ranking

• The last 12 winners were in the Top 11 after Round 1 and were in the Top 8 after Round 2

• The last 12 winners had at least 4 career wins entering the tournament

• The last 12 winners played in at least one previous Masters tournament

• 11 of the last 12 winners placed 22nd or better in their previous Masters career appearances

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We’ve filtered the players who are likely to win this week from 95 down to just 24 players

1. Eliminate all the debutantes (21 players): Jose Luis Ballester, Evan Beck, Brian Campbell, Rafael Campos, Laurie Canter, Thomas Detry, Nico Echavarria, Max Greyserman, Justin Hastings, Joe Highsmith, Rasmus Hojgaard, Noah Kent, Thriston Lawrence, Matt McCarty, Maverick McNealy, Taylor Pendrith, Aaron Rai, Davis Riley, Hiroshi Tai, Davis Thompson, Kevin Yu

2. Eliminate all the Senior Golfers (6 players): Angel Cabrera, Fred Couples, Bernard Langer, Phil Mickelson, Jose Maria Olazabal, Mike Weir

• Phil Mickelson is the odds on favorite in this prop market and the best price is -150 at BetMGM if you are inclined to fire on this player market

3. Eliminate all the players ranked outside the current OWGR Top 25 & outside the Data Golf Top 40 (44 players)

Your 2025 Masters champion will be among the remaining 24 players listed below

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Current OWGR Top 25 with the 20 players who qualify plus the 4 qualifying LIV Tour players based on our criteria:

1. Scottie Scheffler (18 wins)

2. Rory McIlroy (43)

3. Xander Schauffele (12)

4. Collin Morikawa (7)

5. Ludvig Aberg (5)

6. Hideki Matsuyama (20)

7. Russell Henley (8)

8. Justin Thomas (17)

9. Viktor Hovland (11)

10. Maverick McNealy (Debutant)

11. Wyndham Clark (only 3 wins) - missed cut in only Masters appearance (2024)

12. Tommy Fleetwood (10)

13. Shane Lowry (9)

14. Sepp Straka (4)

15. Keegan Bradley (12) - barely qualifies with his best Masters finish T22 (2015 & 2024)

16. Patrick Cantlay (9)

17. Robert McIntyre (5)

18. Tyrell Hatton (13)

19. Bryson DeChambeau (13) (Data Golf ranks him #10)

20. Billy Horschel (11) - barely qualifies with a T17 at the 2016 Masters

21. Corey Conners (only 2 wins)

22. Brian Harman (4)

23. Min Woo Lee (5) - only 26 years old

24. Akshay Bhatia (only 3 wins) - best Masters finish is T35 and is only 23 years old

25. Sungjae Im (7)

Four LIV Players outside the OWGR Top 25 who qualify

• Sergio Garcia (Data Golf #19 & 38 career wins)

• Brooks Koepka (Data Golf #40 & 21 career wins)

• Joaquin Niemann (Data Golf #11 & 17 career wins)

• Jon Rahm (Data Golf #4 & 22 career wins)

2025 Masters Betting Card

Here are the wagers we’re tipping this week that include an outright and a placement market offering.

*All prices are subject to change so shop around*

Collin Morikawa To Win 18/1 (Draftkings) & Top 10 (including ties) +125 (Draftkings)

• Morikawa has been the snake bitten golfer on the Tour the last few years with a ton of near misses since his last win in 2023 (Zozo Championship)

• Despite not winning since 2023, Morikawa has been especially consistent at Augusta National with three straight Top 10 or better finishes (5th in 2022, T10 in 2023 and T3 in 2024)

• Augusta National is a second shot golf course and Morikawa is a Top 5 iron player in the world

• Morikawa is 1st on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained Approach & Proximity to the Hole while rating 2nd on Tour in Total Strokes Gained

• He fits the profile of a golfer who should be in contention on Sunday

• Morikawa has 2 majors (2020 PGA Championship & 2021 Open Championship) so capturing the Masters would leave him just a US Open win away from the career grand slam at age 28

• The bugaboo for Morikawa since his last win has been very average play in final rounds of PGA Tour events and recent majors (2024 PGA Championship he was T1 entering final round)

• His elite iron play on approach between 150 and 200 yards will give him good looks all 4 rounds

Justin Thomas Top 10 (including ties) +188 (BetMGM)

• Thomas, like Morikawa, is primed for a breakout performance this week despite a rather lengthy victory dry spell

• Thomas is 8th in Total Strokes Gained and SG Approach this season

• He’s 32nd in Proximity which paired with his length off the tee, should allow him to beat up the Par 5s

• Thomas has two Top 10 finishes at The Masters (2020 & 2022), but has missed the cut the last two years

• His last PGA Tour win was a major - the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills CC in Tulsa, Oklahoma in a playoff over Will Zalatoris

• Thomas fits the ball striking profile of players who perform well at Augusta National and 2025 should be a strong result for the 8th ranked player in the world

• We don’t need JT to win this week, just land in the Top 10

Here are is a fun novelty bet to consider for the weekend:

Top Debutant - Nico Echavarria +1800 (ESPNBet)

• Echavarria enters in solid form with two Top 25 finishes this season - a playoff loss in January’s Sony Open to JJ Spaun and a T16 at the Valspar Championship three weeks ago

• He finished T32 at the Houston Open two weeks ago

• The Colombian ranks 1st on Tour in Strokes Gained putting and 21st in Proximity to the hole which bode well for a first time participant’s success at ANGC

A few other players we’re bullish on this week and shop around for the best number:

• Robert McIntyre for a Top 20 finish

• Shane Lowry for a Top 20 finish

• Jose Luis Ballester (2024 US Amateur Champion) to make the cut

Enjoy The Masters this week and best of luck with all your bets!