2026 Masters odds & DFS picks: Is Jon Rahm ready for his second green jacket?

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 Masters Par 3 contest. 

The calendar has flipped to April, and it’s time for the 90th edition of the Masters. The field will comprise 91 players hoping to don the green jacket on Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club.

This year’s field feels particularly strong, with Rory McIlroy ready to defend his title against the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. The field also includes a handful of in-form players — Cameron Young, Ludvig Åberg, Chris Gotterup, Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre — looking to win their first major championship.

There is no greater week on the golf calendar. Spring is in the air in the United States, and the Masters is the center of the sports universe. We are eagerly anticipating the voice of Jim Nantz, anchoring his 40th Masters Tournament, as the broadcast comes on the air on Thursday.

While the field is as strong as I can remember, there are some question marks at the top of the board. World No. 1 Scheffler hasn’t been as sharp leading into the tournament, while McIlroy and Collin Morikawa are both battling back injuries. McIlroy looks to be ahead of Morikawa in his recovery, but the rolling, difficult walk and lie angles on second shots at Augusta National Golf Club can tweak even a healthy player’s back muscles. The weather looks great this week with the course dry and firm from an unusually dry spring. It will be a little windy on Thursday, so indecision on the 12th tee will be something to look for.

Course history is incredibly important at the Masters, so it will be heavily weighted in the models for my betting slip and daily fantasy picks compared to other weeks. I will also concentrate on strokes gained on approach, strokes gained around the green, scrambling percentage, Par-5 scoring, Par-4 scoring and, to a smaller degree, distance off the tee.

Course information

• Course: Augusta National Golf Club
• Location: Augusta, Ga.
• Designers: Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie
• Par: 72
• Length: 7,545 yards
• Average green size: 6,486 sq. feet

Past champions

• 2025: Rory McIlroy
• 2024: Scottie Scheffler
• 2023: Jon Rahm
• 2022: Scottie Scheffler
• 2021: Hideki Matsuyama
• 2020: Dustin Johnson
• 2019: Tiger Woods
• 2018: Patrick Reed
• 2017: Sergio Garcia
• 2016: Danny Willett
• 2015: Jordan Spieth

Betting slip

Jon Rahm (+1100) struggled in his return to the Masters after leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in 2024. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship later in 2024 and has seemed to right the ship since then. He hasn’t finished outside of the top 10 on the LIV Golf Tour since the Ryder Cup in September and has been dominant in every phase of his game. With Rory coming off a withdrawal at Bay Hill and struggling a bit at The Players, I’m leaning toward taking Rahm at similar odds.

Xander Schauffele (+1800) has been trending lately and has five top 10s to his name at the Masters. He will need to gain some strokes on the greens at Augusta to finally get over the hump, but I like what I have seen lately with his putter, as he has gained more than 2 strokes on the greens in two straight tournaments.

Cameron Young (+2300) is fresh off a big win at the Players Championship, where he drove the ball incredibly well after finally settling on playing a draw. He has been knocking on the door of winning a major in his career and is coming off an incredible performance for the Americans in the Ryder Cup. Young will have to be better around the greens and avoid hitting it left on a few key holes to contend this week. He has two top-nine finishes in four trips to the Masters, a top-five finish in a U.S. Open and a second-place finish at St. Andrews in the Open Championship.

Robert MacIntyre (+3400) is trending after finishing fourth at the Players Championship and second last week at the Valero Texas Open. MacIntyre gained strokes across the board in his last two tournaments, and he has gained over 2 strokes around the green in each of his trips to the Masters. He has top-10 finishes in each of his last two majors.

Patrick Reed (+4300) has been on fire since leaving LIV Golf for the DP World Tour while he works his way back to the PGA Tour. He has been incredible at the Masters no matter what his game looked like on LIV Golf over the last few years and trails only Scheffler in strokes gained over the last three Masters.

Akshay Bhatia (+6000) was on an incredible hot streak before he went to India to help grow the game and struggled as he missed the cut, which I think he can be forgiven for. He has made the cut in each of his two trips to the Masters, but has had some issues with his approach play. Bhatia has gained strokes around the green and with the putter. He can work the ball in each direction, and his short game is among the best in the field.

DFS plays

Scottie Scheffler ($14,000) is the highest-priced player in the field for a very good reason. He has not been himself lately, but still finished inside the top 25 in each of his last three tournaments. He gained strokes across the board at the Players Championship, but didn’t excel in the areas he usually dominates. Scheffler has two wins and a fourth-place finish in his last four Masters. His dominance on this course can’t be overlooked, even at this price. The issue with playing him in a lineup is that you’ll have to get creative with your next highest-priced player to avoid any lineup holes.

Bryson DeChambeau ($10,200) is coming into this Masters in the best form of his career. He has two straight wins on the LIV Golf Tour and has two consecutive top-six finishes in his last two Masters. I want to be all in on Bryson this week, but I have a hard time looking at his approach numbers at Augusta National and thinking that his success can be sustainable. He has lost 8 strokes combined on approach in his last four trips to the Masters. He gained over 6 strokes around the green last year after losing over 15 strokes around the green in his five previous trips to the Masters. I might be making a huge mistake by limiting my exposure, but I’m in that boat right now.

Jon Rahm ($10,000) See above.

Ludvig Åberg ($9,800) is the best player on the PGA Tour on Thursday and Friday right now, but he has struggled to close out tournaments on the weekends. Åberg is coming off three straight top-five finishes and has gained over 9.6 strokes combined off the tee in those tournaments. He has excelled around the green this year, gaining almost 10 strokes over his last four tournaments combined. He has two straight top-seven finishes here and will be a very popular play this week. Rahm, Åberg and Schauffele being priced so closely together will make for some tough decisions this week. A lot of my early lineups have a combination of at least two of them.

Xander Schauffele ($9,600) See above.

Cameron Young ($9,200) See above.

Patrick Reed ($9,000) See above.

Hideki Matsuyama ($8,900) would have contended last week if he had his regular around-the-green game. He has been back to his best on approach over the last two weeks, gaining more than 6 strokes combined on approach. He finally got his driver worked out, gaining over 3 strokes off the tee at the Valero Texas Open. Matsuyama is a perfect pivot off of Reed in some lineups.

Matt Fitzpatrick ($8,700) is priced way too low for what he has done lately on the PGA Tour. He finished second at the Players Championship and won the Valspar all while driving it like a machine. He hasn’t finished inside the top 10 at the Masters since 2016, but Fitzpatrick has never been in this kind of form coming into this tournament. He and MacIntyre will feature heavily in my Scottie lineups.

Robert MacIntyre ($8,600) See above.

Chris Gotterup ($8,000) is a Masters debutante, but has already won twice this year on the PGA Tour and has the type of game that should play well here. He is priced so low that it sticks out when you go through the field. He got back to driving it well at the Houston Open, where he gained over 4 strokes off the tee and gained strokes across the board en route to finishing T6.

Russell Henley ($7,900) is going unnoticed at this price point, coming off of a missed cut. The course is a little long for the local guy, but he has three top-15 finishes here in his last six trips. I won’t be fading him and will pivot to him in some of my Min Woo Lee lineups. Henley has struggled on approach since the American Express, which is the only thing holding me back from really liking him this week.

Akshay Bhatia ($7,800) See above.

Si Woo Kim ($7,800) hasn’t missed a cut here since 2017, and he has been incredible from tee to green all year. I can forgive him for losing strokes at the Players Championship in the run up to this tournament. Si Woo feels like a solid cash-game option with some upside.

Min Woo Lee ($7,700) is driving the ball really well, and when he gains strokes on approach, it is in bunches. He has gained strokes around and on the greens since the Genesis Invitational. His best finish was in his first try when he finished 14th, but he looks to be turning a corner and has a lot of upside at this price.

Corey Conners ($7,700) struggled with his approach game after the Sony Open, but turned it around in a big way at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and has gained almost 15 strokes on approach combined in his last three tournaments. He has four top-10 finishes in his last six trips to the Masters and is priced in a nice zone where you might get him low-owned compared to Min Woo Lee.

Jacob Bridgeman ($7,400) is probably the best bet to lead the debutantes at Augusta National this week, but he has some warning signs in his game around the green. He hits it incredibly straight, and his 7-wood is a weapon on Par 5s, but he will need to be better at scrambling to make a dent this week.

Adam Scott ($7,200) is playing in his 98th straight major championship. The 2013 Masters winner has been very good this year with his approach play, gaining over 12 strokes combined in his last two tournaments, but struggles in a few different areas have kept him from contending. I like Scott this week, but I’m not hopeful for the 45-year-old to crack the top 10.

JJ Spaun ($7,200) is coming off an amazing win in difficult conditions on Sunday at the Texas Open. His eagle on the 17th was masterful, as was his par save on the 18th. He made the cut in his two trips to the Masters, and he gained strokes across the board in 2022. I like the way he is trending with his approach play, and he already has a major championship under his belt.

Daniel Berger ($7,100) has made five out of six cuts at the Masters in his career. He had a T10 in his first try in 2016, but hasn’t been able to best that since. He has gained over 15 strokes on approach combined in his last three tournaments.

Tom McKibbin ($7,000) has made three cuts in four major championship starts and is a debutante this week. LIV Golf signed McKibbin because of his immense talent at a young age. He had wins on the DP World Tour and LIV Golf in 2025, and he has played pretty solid golf so far this year without contending over the last few months. I’ll sprinkle him into a few lineups because of his immense potential.

Carlos Ortiz ($6,600) has two top-eight finishes in his last three starts on LIV Golf, and his game seems to be in good form. He hasn’t played particularly well at major championships over the years, but he finished T4 at Oakmont in 2025. I may use Ortiz in one or two lineups as a salary saver.

Nick Taylor ($6,500) has gained over 6.8 strokes combined on approach in his last three tournaments, and he has gained over 14 strokes combined around the green in his last five starts. He has two top-40 finishes here in three tries and could surprise with a top 20 if it comes down to approach play and around the green this week.

Sam Stevens ($6,400) has gained strokes off the tee in every tournament since the RSM Classic in November and has gained over 6.8 strokes on approach in his last two tournaments. He has made the cut in all five of his major championship starts. Stevens sticks out like a sore thumb in this price range as a value play.

Zach Johnson ($6,300) has been great this year on the PGA Tour Champions with a win and two top-three finishes. He finished T8 here in 2025 and knows this golf course like the back of his hand. He could become the new version of Fred Couples (of former winners); you may have to play him to save some of your salary.

One and done

My plan for this week was to use Morikawa, and that plan was ripped up with one practice driver swing at the Players Championship. My plans B, C and D are all in good form coming into this week, which is making the decision hard for me. Rahm is a former Masters winner playing great at LIV Golf. Schauffele is trending toward a win and has been close at the Masters before. Åberg is trending and played great in his first two starts at the Masters. I’m leaning toward Schauffele right now, but I can be talked into Rahm or Åberg at any moment. I will post in the comments who I finally locked in. Who are you going with and why?