Golf expert Sia Nejad has revealed his Masters 2026 picks and PGA best bets for Augusta National, beginning Thursday, April 9
By Ross Kelly Apr 8, 2026 at 9:13 am ET • 4 min read 
Imagn Images Augusta National Golf Club is hallowed ground in golf, and the exclusive private course will welcome 91 of the world's best players and tens of thousands of patrons onto the property this week for the 2026 Masters. Tournament play begins on Thursday morning at 7:40 a.m. ET, and the early Masters forecast is calling for dry weather that warms throughout the week. That usually means a firm and fast course on Sunday, potentially producing a leaderboard that can change rapidly.
Scottie Scheffler is a two-time green jacket winner and and he's the +550 favorite in the 2026 Masters odds after collecting his 20th career PGA Tour victory earlier this year at the American Express. He's followed on the Masters odds board by Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau at +1000, defending champion Rory McIlroy (+1300), Xander Schauffele (+1500) and Ludvig Aberg (+1700). Before making any 2026 Masters picks, you need to see the 2026 Masters predictions from golf insider Sia Nejad.
Nejad specializes in betting and DFS in golf, among other sports. He's had incredible success in the outright and first-round leader markets and in picking head-to-head matchups. He has been solid with his head-to-head matchups since the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge, going 52-37-5 and returning 11.67 units over that span. That's a return of more than 12 units in that span.
Nejad also nailed Wyndham Clark, a +7500 longshot, as the outright winner at the Wells Fargo Championship 2023. That year, SportsLine debuted "The Early Wedge," and in the first three months of the show, he hit two first-round leaders and three outright winners. Then, in February 2026, his betting advice for the Genesis Invitational enabled a Discord user to take first in a $100,000 DFS contest.
Now, Nejad has turned his attention to the 2026 Masters field and locked in his top sleepers and favorites to avoid. See who they are at SportsLine.
Top 2026 Masters expert picks
One surprise: Nejad is fading DeChambeau, even though he's finished top six in the Masters each of the last two seasons. He's coming off a career-best T-5 finish at Augusta National, but that result does come with a major caveat. DeChambeau looked primed for a final pairing duel with Rory McIlroy on Sunday, but wound up shooting a final round 75 to fall out of contention entirely.
The 16-time worldwide winner and two-time major champion had also finished outside of the top 20 in each of his previous seven Masters starts and missed the cut in 2022 and 2023. He's won his last two starts around the world via playoff and is certainly a threat given his talent and growing comfort at Augusta, but Nejad sees this price as a no-go and believes that he should be listed at closer to +1400. See who else to fade here.
Instead, Nejad is high on Schauffele, despite a rough stretch since winning two majors in 2024. "Xander is clearly starting to recapture some of the brilliant form we witnessed in 2024," Nejad told SportsLine. "The rise in recent form has culminated in finishing T7 or better in three of his last four tournaments, where he has specifically showcased his ball striking acumen."
Schauffele has also become a fixture near the top of the Masters leaderboard. He has three straight top 10s at the major, in addition to a runner-up (2019) and a third-place finish (2021). His recent form on tour has seen him rise up to 11th in strokes gained: total, with top-15 marks in SG: tee-to-green and SG: approach the green. See who else to back here.
How to make 2026 Masters picks, bets
Nejad has locked in his 2026 Masters picks, including a longshot who's priced at nearly 1000-1. Nejad says this player has the "short game magic and long iron game" for success at Augusta, so anyone who backs him could hit it big. You can only see the picks at SportsLine.
So, which players should you target for the 2026 Masters, and which golfer could bring a huge payday of nearly 1000-1? Check out the 2026 Masters odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Sia Nejad's top picks for the 2026 Masters, all from the expert who has returned more than 11 units since May 2023.
2026 Masters odds, field, favorites
Get full 2026 Masters picks and predictions here.
Odds via FanDuel (subject to change)
Scottie Scheffler +550 Bryson DeChambeau +1000 Jon Rahm +1000 Rory McIlroy +1300 Xander Schauffele +1500 Ludvig Åberg +1700 Matt Fitzpatrick +2200 Cameron Young +2200 Tommy Fleetwood +2200 Hideki Matsuyama +2700 Robert MacIntyre +2700 Justin Rose +3000 Min Woo Lee +3000 Patrick Reed +3500 Collin Morikawa +3500 Si Woo Kim +4500 Jordan Spieth +4500 Brooks Koepka +4500 Chris Gotterup +5500 Russell Henley +5500 Nicolai Højgaard +5500 Viktor Hovland +5500 Akshay Bhatia +6500 Maverick McNealy +6500 Jake Knapp +7000 Shane Lowry +7000 Patrick Cantlay +7000 Justin Thomas +7000 Adam Scott +7500 Jason Day +7500 Sepp Straka +8000 Tyrrell Hatton +8000 Corey Conners +8000 J.J. Spaun +8000 Jacob Bridgeman +8000 Sam Burns +10000 Harris English +10000 Rasmus Højgaard +10000 Cameron Smith +10000 Marco Penge +10000 Sungjae Im +12500 Gary Woodland +12500 Kurt Kitayama +15000 Daniel Berger +17500 Ben Griffin +17500 Alex Noren +17500 Ryan Gerard +17500 Sam Stevens +20000 Keegan Bradley +20000 Harry Hall +20000 Aldrich Potgieter +20000 Kristoffer Reitan +22500 Max Homa +22500 Ryan Fox +25000 Casey Jarvis +25000 Aaron Rai +25000 Wyndham Clark +25000 Brian Harman +25000 Sergio Garcia +30000 Dustin Johnson +30000 Nicolas Echavarria +30000 Carlos Ortiz +30000 Michael Kim +30000 Max Greyserman +40000 Nick Taylor +40000 Haotong Li +40000 Matt McCarty +40000 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +40000 Andrew Novak +40000 Tom McKibbin +40000 Sami Valimaki +50000 Michael Brennan +50000 John Keefer +50000 Bubba Watson +75000 Charl Schwartzel +75000 Zach Johnson +75000 Davis Riley +100000 Angel Cabrera +100000 Mason Howell +100000 Fifa Laopakdee +100000 Ethan Fang +100000 Brian Campbell +100000 Vijay Singh +100000 Jose Maria Olazabal +100000 Brandon Holtz +100000 Naoyuki Kataoka +100000 Danny Willett +100000 Jackson Herrington +100000 Fred Couples +100000 Mateo Pulcini +100000 Mike Weir +100000
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