{"id":545043,"date":"2026-03-16T23:55:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T23:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/545043\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T23:55:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T23:55:21","slug":"our-13-best-bets-to-win-at-augusta-national-australian-golf-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/545043\/","title":{"rendered":"Our 13 best bets to win at Augusta National \u2013 Australian Golf Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>And just like that, we\u2019re onto the Masters! And there\u2019s no debating about whether this one\u2019s a major. The game\u2019s biggest event will have the attention of all golf fans\u2014and even many of their family members and friends who normally wouldn\u2019t be watching CBS on a Sunday afternoon in April.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: 9 things Augusta National doesn\u2019t want to talk about<\/p>\n<p>Of course, we\u2019ll have plenty of coverage of the year\u2019s first men\u2019s major, but before we get there, it\u2019s time for our annual Masters gambling ranking. Here\u2019s a rundown of our top picks (with odds via DraftKings) to slip on the green jacket this year.<\/p>\n<p>  1. Xander Schauffele (18\/1)  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2026\/3\/xander-schauffele-players-friday.jpeg.rend.hgtvcom.966.725.suffix\/1773426764260.jpeg\" alt=\"2266324062\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Richard Heathcote<\/p>\n<p>Reason to pick: Schauffele has five top-10s at Augusta National in his past seven starts, including the last three years. And he looks to be back near top form after finishing third at the Players.<\/p>\n<p>Cause for concern: The putting (currently 53rd in strokes gained) is not nearly where it was during his two-major season of 2024.<\/p>\n<p>  2. Bryson DeChambeau (10\/1)  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2023\/1\/GettyImages-2229442264.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.644.suffix\/1758550478852.jpeg\" alt=\"2229442264\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Patrick McDermott<\/p>\n<p>Reason to pick: The big hitter has clearly flipped a switch when it comes to playing Augusta National the past two years with back-to-back high finishes. And he\u2019s coming off a LIV victory in Singapore.<\/p>\n<p>Cause for concern: There are some big bunkers at Augusta National for Bryson to fall into like he did in Singapore.<\/p>\n<p>  3. Rory McIlroy (7\/1)  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2025\/12\/rory-mcilroy-masters-green-jacket-2025-denton-side-scheffler.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.644.suffix\/1766517964860.jpeg\" alt=\"Masters 2025\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Photo by Stephen Denton<\/p>\n<p>Reason to pick: He\u2019s finished in the top 10 in eight of his past 12 Masters starts, not to mention winning last year to complete the career Grand Slam.<\/p>\n<p>Cause for concern: How do you follow-up the greatest moment of your career? Also, that nagging back injury. <\/p>\n<p>RELATED: A non-gambler\u2019s guide to winning (or surviving) your Masters pool<\/p>\n<p>  4. Scottie Scheffler (3.5\/1)  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2026\/3\/scottie-scheffler-ted-scott-players-championship-2026-friday.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.644.suffix\/1773433399486.jpeg\" alt=\"2266360367\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Kevin C. Cox<\/p>\n<p>Reason to pick: The World No. 1 has won two of the last three of these things.<\/p>\n<p>Cause for concern: Dare we say Scheffler is in a slump? His five-tournament losing streak actually feels that way. And, as always, you\u2019re not exactly getting a lot of bang for your buck betting on him.<\/p>\n<p>  5. Jon Rahm (11\/1)  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2026\/3\/GettyImages-2265386633.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.644.suffix\/1772973743281.jpeg\" alt=\"2265386633\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Kate McShane<\/p>\n<p>Reason to pick: The 2023 Masters champ (finally) ended his LIV losing streak earlier this month. <\/p>\n<p>Cause for concern: The 2023 Masters win was the last time he seriously contended on Sunday at a major.<\/p>\n<p>  6. Ludvig Aberg (16\/1)  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2023\/260315-aberg.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.644.suffix\/1773617014149.jpeg\" alt=\"2266084618\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Ben Jared<\/p>\n<p>Reason to pick: Man, the 2025 Masters runner-up looked so good for 64 holes at the Players Championship.<\/p>\n<p>Cause for concern: Man, he didn\u2019t look so good for those final eight holes at the Players Championship.<\/p>\n<p>  7. Cameron Young (27\/1)  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2026\/3\/cameron-young-players-2026-trophy.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.644.suffix\/1773614357209.jpeg\" alt=\"2266698987\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Kevin C. Cox<\/p>\n<p>Reason to pick: After winning golf\u2019s unofficial fifth major, it might be time for this young star to finally win an official major after coming so close at both the 2022 PGA Championship and Open Championship.<\/p>\n<p>Cause for concern: None really, but you probably wish you bet him before he won the Players given his odds were 40-to-1 at Augusta National.<\/p>\n<p>  8. Brooks Koepka (22\/1)  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2023\/GettyImages-2265774508.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.644.suffix\/1773155901084.jpeg\" alt=\"2265774508\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Orlando Ramirez<\/p>\n<p>Reason to pick: After coming back to the PGA Tour, Koepka flashed signs of a return to top form with a T-13 at the Players. <\/p>\n<p>Cause for concern: This is still the only U.S. major Koepka has yet to win, despite close calls in 2019 and 2023.<\/p>\n<p>  9. Tommy Fleetwood (18\/1)  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2025\/12\/newsmakers-2025-tommy-fleetwood-bunker.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.644.suffix\/1765382734528.jpeg\" alt=\"2237364605\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Andrew Redington<\/p>\n<p>Reason to pick: After finally winning a PGA Tour event at the Tour Championship, the Brit feels overdue already for another, especially a major where he finished T-3 in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Cause for concern: Since that T-3, Fleetwood has failed to finish in the top 15 in seven consecutive majors. <\/p>\n<p>  10. Patrick Reed (30\/1)  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2026\/2\/GettyImages-2260517823.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.690.suffix\/1770559223583.jpeg\" alt=\"2260517823\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Stuart Franklin<\/p>\n<p>Reason to pick: Reed may have left the PGA Tour, but the 2018 green jacket winner never left as a Masters contender, finishing in the top five in two of the past three years, including a solo third last year. He\u2019s also won twice already on the DP World Tour in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Cause for concern: Is his globe-trotting gap year between LIV and the PGA Tour going to catch up with him?<\/p>\n<p>  11. Justin Rose (30\/1)  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2026\/2\/justin-rose-rory-mcilroy-augusta-masters-2025-18th-green-playoff-handshake.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.690.suffix\/1770051758986.jpeg\" alt=\"2210126697\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Harry How<\/p>\n<p>Reason to pick: The Englishman is in the conversation with Greg Norman and Ernie Els as having the best track record at Augusta of any non-winner.<\/p>\n<p>Cause for concern: Is the scar tissue here of two playoff losses, including last year, too much to overcome for the 45-year-old?<\/p>\n<p>  12. Collin Morikawa (22\/1)  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2025\/11\/cm_players26.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.644.suffix\/1773360700690.jpeg\" alt=\"2266122221\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Kevin C. Cox<\/p>\n<p>Reason to pick: His strong start to the year, including a win at Pebble Beach, had seemingly everyone picking him to win the Players \u2026 <\/p>\n<p>Cause for concern: Where the heck did that back injury at TPC Sawgrass come from? We\u2019ll have to monitor his health, but his backers that week might be wary of going down that route again.<\/p>\n<p>    13. Jordan Spieth (40\/1)  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2023\/260313-spieth.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.644.suffix\/1773425599971.jpeg\" alt=\"2265795367\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Icon Sportswire<\/p>\n<p>Reason to pick: Going to give the edge to Spieth over guys like Justin Thomas and Robert MacIntyre because of the 2015 champ\u2019s impressive course history at Augusta National, where he\u2019s finished in the top five in half of his 12 career starts.<\/p>\n<p>Cause for concern: There\u2019s a lot to list here, but we\u2019ll start with the fact that it\u2019s been nearly four years since his last win anywhere.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: 15 people who wound up in Augusta National\u2019s penalty box<\/p>\n<p>This article was originally published on golfdigest.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And just like that, we\u2019re onto the Masters! And there\u2019s no debating about whether this one\u2019s a major.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[4225,64,63,21944,755,138747,44,85],"class_list":["post-545043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-article","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-gambling","tag-golf","tag-golf-digest","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}