Picks for 2026 Masters golfers and the Masters favorites to win ahead of the year's first major at Augusta National
By Ross Kelly Apr 8, 2026 at 1:16 pm ET • 4 min read 
Imagn Images The first golf major of the year has arrived, with the 2026 Masters starting in less than 24 hours at Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday morning. Tommy Fleetwood has been a mainstay near the top of major leaderboards in recent years, carding seven top-five finishes since 2017-the most by any golfer without a win in that span. However, he has finished outside the top 15 in eight of his nine career Masters starts, and he has been outside the top 15 in seven straight major starts since his T3 at the 2024 Masters. Should you fade Fleetwood with your 2026 Masters bets?
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the +550 favorite in the 2026 Masters odds, followed by Bryson DeChambeau (10-1), Jon Rahm (10-1) and defending champion Rory McIlroy (13-1). Chris Gotterup (55-1) has the shortest odds among four Masters rookies. Before locking in any 2026 Masters picks, be sure to see the golf predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
SportsLine's proprietary golf betting model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, simulates every PGA Tour event 10,000 times. This same model has also nailed a whopping 16 majors entering the weekend, including the 2025 Masters -- its fourth Masters in a row -- as well as last year's PGA Championship and Open Championship.
Now that the 2026 Masters field is locked in, the model simulated the tournament 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard.
2026 Masters predictions for Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm
One pick from the model for the Masters 2026: Rahm (+1000), the 2023 Masters champion and one of this year's favorites, makes another strong run at the green jacket, but ultimately falls just short. Rahm historically plays some of his best golf at Augusta, finishing in the top 10 five times since 2018. He already has one professional win this season and hasn't finished worse than fifth this year in any event, so the model is expecting him to contend at Augusta, giving him a 10.5% chance of winning it all and a 41.3% chance to finish top 5.
The model has also locked in its projection for Scheffler (+550), the favorite and a two-time Masters champion. Scheffler continuously finds himself in contention at Augusta National, recording two wins, a fourth-place, and a 10th-place finish over the past four years.
He's been able to secure those impressive results thanks to his elite ball striking ability. The No. 1 ranked player in the world currently ranks ninth in greens in regulation percentage (71.30%) and 11th in strokes gained: off the tee (0.623). He's also been extremely effective with a putter in his hands this season, entering the 2026 Masters ranked second in putting average (1.662) and ninth in putts per round (27.67).
The model has also examined McIlroy's (+1300) chances of becoming the fourth golfer to win back-to-back green jackets. McIlroy became the sixth golfer to complete the career Grand Slam when he won the Masters last year, but it took him 11 attempts compared to nine combined attempts for the other five golfers. His 11-year gap between major wins tied the longest gap by any golfer all-time.
He has an opportunity to make history again this year, as he can become the fourth repeat champion at the Masters. No defending champion has been within two strokes of the lead through 18 holes since Jordan Spieth in 2016. McIlroy is 20-1 to lead after the first round and 15-1 to lead after the second round. See the full Masters projections from the model here.
How to make 2026 Masters picks
The model is also targeting two longshots of +4000 or greater, including one who is going off around +8000, who could make a stunning run at Augusta this year. You can only see the model's picks here.
Who will win the 2026 Masters, which massive longshots will stun the golfing world, and where will Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy finish? Check out the 2026 Masters odds below and then visit SportsLine to see the projected leaderboard, all from the model that's nailed 16 golf majors, including three in 2025, and four straight Masters.
2026 Masters odds, favorites
Get full 2026 Masters picks, best bets 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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