Weekly Fantasy Golf Preview: The Masters

The Masters

Augusta National Golf Club
Augusta, GA

It's Masters week, so in keeping with tradition, I'm going to limit my recap of the previous week's event to one sentence. Nice win J.J. Spaun!

Okay, let's get into it. Storylines for this week's Masters…

Scottie Scheffler – is he done? Will he ever break out of this "slump"? Does he care? I joke of course because he's not done, it's only a slump vs. expectations and of course he cares, but not in the way that we might care or in ways that those before him care, it's kind of difficult to explain or understand, but after reading Kevin Van Valkenburg's piece on him at the Fried Egg, I walked away with a slightly better understanding of how he operates. I don't think we'll ever have to worry about him not caring on the golf course, he just has a different way that he cares if that makes sense. As long as he's out there, he's playing to win, there might come a time however when he chooses not to be out there.

Rory McIlroy – how does he follow up last year's gigantic win? Well, there's really nothing he could do to match what happened this past year. Even if he were to go back-to-back, it wouldn't have nearly the impact that last year's win had. With that said, it would surely put an exclamation point on his win a year ago and it would be major number six. Rory was stuck on four for so long that we all kind forgot about his standing on the all-time list, but if he were to win this week, we'd start talking about how far up the list he could go.

Bryson DeChambeau/Jon Rahm – will one of the LIV golfers grab the green jacket? Yes, it's down to two options. Brooks Koepka is back on the PGA Tour and Patrick Reed is homeless, so it's up to these two. They are good options though as I could see either one winning this week.

Tiger Woods – no question here, it's just unfortunate that he's not in a place where he could tee it up this week.

A new major winner? There aren't many high-end players without a major right now, but there are still some that could make noise this week. Ludvig Aberg needs to figure out how to play well all the way through the weekend. Cameron Young needs to carry over his form from The PLAYERS and Tommy Fleetwood needs to rediscover that form from late last year.

So many other storylines that I can't get to, well, actually, there aren't that many more at the moment, but you know that some will develop as the week wears on. And even if we don't have a great story on Sunday, who cares? It's Augusta National and it's the Masters!

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LAST YEAR

Rory McIlroy shot a final round 73 on his way to a playoff victory over Justin Rose. 

FAVORITES

All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook as of 11:00 AM ET Wednesday.

Scottie Scheffler (5-1) 

It's because of the previously mentioned "slump" that you can now get Scheffler at the very generous price of 5-1. Previously, he was entering most week at 4-1 or less. Do the odds provide enough value to make the leap here? Probably not, but I do think he plays well enough this week to find himself in contention on Sunday. Normally I would say that all the time off he's had recently is a bad thing and I've seen the stat floating around about those that haven't played in the weeks leading up to the Masters, but for Scheffler, he likely needed this time off. No, he's not really in a slump if you look at his results this season, but there's no denying that something was off when we last saw him. My guess is that he's resolved whatever issue he had earlier this season and we'll see something resembling the old Scotty this week.  

Jon Rahm (10-1)

I'm a little surprised to see Rahm in the second spot this week instead of McIlroy, but the odds are pretty close, so they're essentially interchangeable. This is the part where I'm forced to do some research because I have no idea how he's played on LIV this season, but as my colleague Len Hochberg points out in his preview, Rahm has played exceptionally well this season. However, how much stock can we put into results from LIV. After all, that league is as weak now as it's ever been. With that said, Rahm is a proven major winner who knows how to get around this course, so yes, he's definitely in the mix this week.

Bryson DeChambeau (10-1)/Rory McIlroy (13-1)

I feel like the odds are short for everyone at the top this week. If you've got one guy at 5-1 and another two at 10-1, then one guy at 13-1, shouldn't the next group be near 20-1? I can't claim I know how that works exactly, but it just feels like we're getting the short end here. As for these two, both with enough game to win here. Heck, both were in the final group on Sunday this past year. McIlroy has a higher mountain to climb as the defending champ, but that mountain is nothing compared to the one he scaled this past year. DeChambeau is always tantalizing at the majors because he often brings his best game to these events. I'm sure he's thinking about the missed opportunity from this past year and as long as he doesn't see that as a negative, he should be a factor this week.  

Visit our golf betting section for the latest PGA odds and finishing props from multiple sportsbooks.

THE NEXT TIER

Tommy Fleetwood (22-1)

This is actually a perfect scenario for Fleetwood. He enters this week completely under the radar, so there won't be any pressure until the weekend—if he starts well enough. Fleetwood doesn't have a great track record here, but he's only missed one cut and he finished T3 here this past year. His form this year has been good, but not great, which is why there aren't many people looking his way yet. That will change if he gets off to a hot start however as there are many golf fans that want to see Fleetwood win his first major now that he's got the first-win monkey off his back.  

Cameron Young (22-1)

Young won't be completely under the radar this week, after all, he won the biggest event of the season to date, but he's not a guy you associate with Augusta, like so many in the field, so while he is grabbing some attention, he's certainly not getting a large share of it. Do not underestimate that part of this either. It's one thing to get some attention on the weekend if you've played well during the first two rounds. It's another thing to get it the second you walk onto the grounds. Anyway, Young has a pretty good track record here, even if limited. He's played here three times and made the top-10 twice. He missed the cut in his first start here in 2022, but he's been pretty solid here the past two years.

Justin Rose (30-1)

This one has me a little worried because Rose is bound to grab some attention for nearly spoiling the storybook ending this past season, but the fact of the matter is that he did not win, yet he played extremely well. Hopefully he focuses on the latter and that drives him to finish this off finally. Rose has come very close here a couple times, this past year of course and in 2017 when he lost in a playoff to Sergio Garcia. Of, did I mention that he was also runner-up in 2015? Rose has played this event 20 and missed just three cuts. He has seven top-10s and as mentioned earlier, three runner-ups. As far as value, this might be the best value play on the board this week.

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LONG SHOTS

Patrick Reed (35-1)       

I'm not sure why Reed is further down the odds chart that some just in front of him, but whatever, it's better for us. Perhaps this has something to do with Reed having no home tour at the moment, or maybe it's because he hasn't played in a month, or maybe it's because he's not exactly the most popular player out there. Whatever the case, you can't deny his results at this event. Lost in the playoff with Rose and McIlroy this past year was Reed finishing inside the top-10 again. He was solo-3rd this past year, which was his 5th top-10 in his past eight starts. Reed would love nothing more than to spoil all the good storylines this week and pick up his second Green Jacket.   

Jordan Spieth (45-1)     

There are two ways to go with your longshots this week. Go with the golfers that have shown great form this year, but have yet to really prove themselves at a major, like say Akshay Bhatia (65-1) or go with guys that have shown the ability to win majors and also know their way around this course. Yes, there are actually several of these types to choose from. I'm going with Spieth as my longshot this week because of his knack for getting around this course. As you can tell by his odds, his form isn't the greatest right now, but he did land inside the top-12 in his past two signature events. Yeah, it's not a lot to go on, but as I mentioned, this pick is based on his track record here, which includes a win and top-10s in half of his 12 starts at this event.

ONE-AND-DONE LEAGUES

Highly-Chosen Pick: Jon Rahm/Bryson DeChambeau – OAD pools changed dramatically when the LIV golf tour formed. Once a handful of big names joined that tour and we all knew they'd play only four times in our pools, we knew that we had a limited window to use these guys. Everyone has caught on by now so you're bound to see a ton of ownership on both of these guys. It's almost a matter of which one do you choose? I'm giving a slight edge to Rahm because his overall track record here is better than DeChambeau. That and he doesn't have any scars from this past year. Not that I think DeChambeau will have a set back because he failed to close last year, but these two are so close, you have to take the smallest advantage.  

Moderately-Chosen Pick: Justin Rose – No matter where you go other than the top of the odds chart, it's going to feel like a risk. Rose seems like a safe play in this spot, but he's not exactly the force he once was. That being said, he has won this year already and you know all about the track record, so I fully endorse this pick. With most of the ownership landing on Rahm and DeChambeau, just about anyone outside of those guys should provide a nice gain on the competition should they perform well.     

Lightly-Chosen Pick: Jordan Spieth – Spieth lightly used at the Masters you say? Well, when you have 5-10 good options above him on the odds chart, yeah, I think he'll be lightly-owned this week. The question is, can you stomach going this far down the list and use a player of Spieth's caliber at the Masters? It would certainly be a leap of faith, you'd have to hope for Rahm, DeChambeau and a few others to come out flat this week, but if Spieth were to win this somehow, you'd skyrocket up the standings.   

Buyer Beware: Matt Fitzpatrick – I'll start by stating that it is really tough to find a top-tier guy to fade at the Masters because almost all of them have solid track records at Augusta National. Almost all of them. I think you know where I'm going here. Fitzpatrick has only missed the cut here twice in 12 starts, so he's not experiencing major difficulties getting around Augusta, but for some reason, he's never had a high-end finish. His best showing came in 2016, when he finished T7 and while he has a handful of top-25s in those 12 starts, there seems to be something keeping him from being in contention on a yearly basis. His form is great entering this week, so perhaps he figures it out this year, but with so many good options this week, I don't see the need to take a chance on a guy who has never finished in the top-5 here.      

My Pick: Jon Rahm – I thought hard about going with Patrick Reed in this spot because if he were to win, I'd probably vault into 1st-place in my league, but I decided that it has to come down to Rahm or Bryson DeChambeau because we only get four shots at these guys all season. If Scheffler were playing better coming into this week I'd certainly consider him, but since we have such good LIV options this week, I had to go this route. I went with Rahm over DeChambeau for a couple reasons. First is the track record here. While DeChambeau has played well here the past couple years, Rahm has played well here for the past decade. The second reason is that it seems like Rahm is finally at ease with where he's at and it's showing in his results on the LIV Tour. In previous years, it seemed like he was struggling coming into this week, but that's not the case this year.  

Previous Results

View the PGA earnings report to find total winnings and winnings per entry via our fantasy golf stats pages.

FANDUEL PICKS

Upper Range: Jon Rahm ($11,900)
Middle Range: Patrick Reed ($10,100)
Lower Range: Harris English ($8,900)

SURVIVOR LEAGUES

My Pick: Jon Rahm – Might as well use a LIV guy in this spot as well. Rahm not only has the high-end finishes here, he's also been very consistent. Rahm has yet to miss a cut in his nine starts here. If his form were in question coming in, I'd go a different route, but there's seemingly no reason to fade Rahm this week. 

Previous Results