2024 Masters Picks & 1st Round Bets

You can just smell the Azaleas and pimento cheese sandwiches in the air… The greatest week in golf is back and we’re ready to make it a memorable one. Enjoy our favorite Masters week picks and don’t forget to check out our top bets on a per round basis throughout the tournament. Always remember to bet smarter, not harder.

Futures

Outright Winner

PlayerOddsUnits
Scottie Scheffler+4500.6
Brooks Koepka+20000.3
Hideki Matsuyama+25000.25
Matt Fitzpatrick +40000.2
Cameron Young+50000.15

Ah yes everyone’s favorite bet slip of the week… our outright winner picks. Some players may come as no surprise here, others might catch you off guard a bit.

Pretty impossible to bet against Scottie right now… While he’s not Tiger Woods, he sure is playing like it right now. Even throughout his putting struggles over the past year, Scottie has always been able to stay in the mix due to his elite ball striking (and really every other facet of his game). Scary part? Seems that he’s found his putter again as well. If Scottie keeps this hot streak rolling then he’ll be virtually impossible to beat this week.

Taking a cautious approach with Brooks this week. I can’t fade him since he’s super human in majors, but it also feels like he’s being set up to be one of the week’s biggest busts. That said, after his performance in majors last season (and really his entire career) coupled with his meltdown at Augusta last year, which he would surely like to avenge, have to include him on the Outright Winners slip this week.

Now for one of my favorite picks of the week, the cut master Hideki Matsuyama. The former Masters champ is one of the best ball strikers in the world, his play around the greens is immaculate as of late and he’s played lights out since the Phoenix Open in February (T22, 1st, T12, T6, T7 finishes in his last 5 tournaments). Hideki’s putter can get him into trouble at times but he’s even gained strokes on the field in that regard over that same stretch. Hideki’s playing great golf right now and a course he knows and a stage he isn’t afraid of. Watch out.

Somewhat surprised at how much Fitzpatrick is flying under the radar this week. The former US Open champion is putting well this season and his approach game as well as his play around the greens is trending upwards over his last two tournaments (5th and T10 finishes). Can’t pass up his value at +4000 considering how world class his game really is and his confidence to contend at major championships.

Cameron Young is our shot in the dark pick of the week. It feels like this guy has truly contended at multiple majors now throughout his career but just hasn’t been able to break through yet. He’s also one of the best ball strikers on the planet (common theme here) and he’s coming off arguably his best performance of the season at the Valspar Championship (2nd place finish) so we could be catching him at the right time with massive value if he can keep his putter in check.

Top 10

PlayerOddsUnits
Rory McIlroy+1100.5
Jon Rahm+1200.5

Rory has forsaken me in majors too many times to count so he’s only landing in our Top 10 territory this week. I would’ve faded him even further but I just don’t see him playing terribly after missing the cut at last year’s Masters. Expecting a bounce back for the all time great but more likely once again the contention bridesmaid vs the bride. He obviously has the tools to excel at Augusta National but unfortunately it’s impossible to quantify what’s going on in his head at any given time.

Taking a cautious approach with the defending Masters champ Jon Rahm this week as well. I love fading the defending champ in the following year’s tournament but Rahm recently joining the LIV tour will likely fire him up to play well to silence the haters and he’s absolutely torn up the LIV tour since joining so it’s not like he’s playing poor golf right now. That said, also hedging this future a bit with Jon Rahm to miss the cut in case the noise does get to him.

Top 20

PlayerOddsUnits
Xander Schauffele-1651
Hideki Matsuyama-1401
Joaquin Niemann+1050.5
Cameron Young+1400.5
Sahith Theegala+1400.5
Russell Henley+1600.25
Patrick Reed+1750.25

Spending the majority of our futures capital on the Top 20 wagers this week, I highly suggest you follow suit.

Schauffele is a Top 20 machine in majors and Augusta is no different. Xander has 4 top 20 finishes in his last 5 tournaments (3 of which were top 10 finishes) and he has all the skills to win at a course like Augusta National. His ball striking alone should have rendered him multiple majors already but at this point I’ve lost faith in his ability to break through ultimately on the big stage. That said, all the faith in the world for him to comfortably land inside the top 20 this week and flirt with contention throughout the tournament.

Already spoke volumes about Hideki for our Outright Winner picks so I’ll save you some reading. Red hot right now at a course that suits him beautifully.

Niemann is one of our sleeper Top 20 picks of the week as he’s on an absolute heater on the LIV Tour right now and he’s proven to be able to compete at Augusta finishing T16 last year. I’m expecting a surprising number of LIV guys to contend this week and Niemann’s game is consistent enough across the board right now (especially his Strokes Gained: Approach and Strokes Gained: Around the Green) that I fully expect him to find himself towards the top of the leaderboard. As long as he can avoid too many of his patented blow up holes (and keep his driver in check), Top 20 is well within range.

See Outright Winners breakdown for our Cameron Young take.

Very bullish on Sahith this week. He’s coming off 3 Top 10 finishes over his last 5 tournaments and he even finished 9th at the Masters last year. He’s money off the tee and he’s putting great right now so I was surprised to see this much value for him simply to crack the Top 20. I was tempted to throw him into the Outright Winners slip for awhile but opting to back just the Top 20 instead to be safe (only his second time playing at Augusta).

Seeing a ton of value on Henley in the Top 20 range this week as well considering he’s coming off of two 4th place finishes over his last 3 tournaments, he finished T4 at Augusta last year (3 Top 20 finishes at the Masters in his last 4 tournaments) and there’s seemingly no glaring issues with his game anywhere at the moment. If he can be consistent with the driver this week then he should be a true threat to compete.

Had to throw Patrick Reed’s name in the Top 20 hat this week (don’t love it, just business). Reed is tearing it up on the LIV Tour as of late and we’ve all seen what he can do at Augusta. Might not love the guy, but Augusta definitely seems to. Can’t pass up this value at +175.

To Miss Cut

PlayerOddsUnits
Tiger Woods+1500.5
Cameron Smith+2000.2
Sam Burns+2500.15
Brooks Koepka+3000.15
Jon Rahm +5500.15
Scottie Scheffler+9000.1

Contrary to common belief, there’s much more value on betting on guys to miss the cut than to make it. Golf is hard, side with the value.

Love Tiger and it pains me to put him on this list but he’s simply very old at this point and hasn’t shot under par at Augusta in his last 6 rounds there. I’d love to be wrong here but he’s probably more likely to withdraw from the tournament at some point than to actually make the cut. Again, would happily lose money on this one.

Cameron Smith is coming off of food poisoning that made him have to withdraw from his last tournament and he also fell during his practice round on Tuesday and landed on his back. Seems to be ok but feels like he’s not all there or 100% health wise this week so decent value on him to fold early if there’s something we’re missing there.

Simply adding Koepka and Rahm to this list as a hedge. The public loves Koepka so much that it’s only right to fade him a touch and it’s virtually impossible to repeat as Masters champ unless your last name is Woods. If things don’t go right early, things could go south quickly for both of these studs given their high expectations.

Finally, throwing a baby hedge on both Burns and Scheffler. Not so much to miss the cut but to withdraw from the tournament if their super pregnant wives go into labor. Both players already confirmed they would make an early departure to be with their wives if that is indeed the case.

1st Round Bets

1st Round Top 10

PlayerOddsUnits
Scottie Scheffler+1500.5

Scottie is Scottie and he ranks towards the very top of the tour in First Round Scoring Average. Top 10 feels almost too cautious but who knows… it is the Masters.

1st Round Top 20

PlayerOddsUnits
Tony Finau+1950.5
Bryson DeChambeau+1950.5

Can’t believe Vegas keeps letting us cash in on Finau’s early success at Masters tournaments… Since 2018 Finau has finished (T2, T21, T18, T30, T10 and T13) after the first round. His game might fall apart throughout the tournament but he definitely likes to start hot and at +195 odds just to break the Top 20 I’m going back to the well with this one.

Call me crazy but I have this feeling that DeChambeau might be the surprise LIV contender this week. He’s coming off 4 Top 10 finishes in a row and he’s shown glimpses of greatness at Augusta multiple times over the past few years. Is this the year that he breaks the “Par 67” curse? At +195 I’m willing to chance it.

1st Round 3 Ball Matchups

Adrian Meronk (+130) (1 unit) vs Lee Hodges vs Grayson Murray

If you’re looking for a way to bet on Meronk without having to tie yourself to him for the entire tournament, look no further. Meronk has been lighting up the LIV Tour lately and although he missed the cut at his first Masters appearance last year, all signs point to a bounce back performance in 2024. He’s also facing off against two average PGA Tour Masters debutants in Hodges and Murray so I expect Meronk to have a better hold on his emotions on Thursday than his two playing partners. I almost took some futures on a truly breakout performance from Meronk this week but opting to play it safe for now and see how he performs on Thursday first. Hodges and Murray will both be lucky to make the cut.

Shane Lowry (+130) (1 unit) vs Akshay Bhatia vs JT Poston

Pretty simple play here, experience takes the day. Lowry is a majors veteran who is no stranger to success at Augusta and he’ll be facing off against a debutant (Bhatia) and a player who has never shot under par at Augusta through 6 rounds (Poston). Bhatia may be coming off a victory last week but it’s highly likely he struggles to begin the tournament given he’s never played on this stage before. Happy to back Lowry in this threesome, especially since we project him to fare well throughout the week in general.

Disclaimer: SidehustlebetsMJQ.com is not an online gambling operator or a gambling site of any kind. Our insights about sports/sports betting are purely for entertainment purposes only.

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