The Masters Tournament begins Thursday at Augusta National Golf Club. We continue poring over the odds and lines at BetMGM Sportsbook while searching for the best value bets. Below, we look at the odds and lines for 2021 Masters placings, groups and first-round leader and make our PGA Tour picks and predictions.
Dustin Johnson is back to defend his 2020 title from the fall. He’s No. 2 in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings while looking to be the first back-to-back Masters champ since Tiger Woods in 2001 and 2002. Woods, the 2019 Masters champion, isn’t playing this year after he was involved in a single-vehicle accident in late February.
Augusta National is expected to play considerably tougher this week than it did in the fall when Johnson won by 5 strokes at a record of 20-under par.
Also see:
2021 Masters picks: Placings
Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Wednesday at 9:41 a.m. ET.
Top 5: Matt Kuchar (+1400)
Kuchar struggled upon the PGA Tour’s mid-June restart in 2020. He won the Asian Tour’s SMBC Singapore Open in January but had just one top-10 finish on American soil the rest of the year.
He recently resurfaced with a third-place finish at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and followed it up with a T-12 at last week’s Valero Texas Open. The nine-time PGA Tour champ has three career top-5 finishes at Augusta National with the most recent being a T-4 in 2017.
Top 10: Francesco Molinari (+900)
Molinari missed the cut at the fall Masters following a career-best T-5 finish in 2019. The former Open Championship winner is better suited for the firm and fast conditions expected this week, and he showed glimpses of his old form early this year with a T-8 at The American Express and a T-10 at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Also see: Bet Slippin’ Podcast with Tim Schmitt of Golfweek
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2021 Masters picks: Top player
Top European: Matt Fitzpatrick (+1200)
There are plenty of betting options available for Fitzpatrick, who enters Masters Week with a Tour-best 2.56 strokes gained on the average pro per round over his last 20 rounds.
The 12-1 payout for Top European is the most profitable bet for the Englishman (outside of the +4500 odds for him to win), but he can also be backed as Top English (+400) and Top GB and Ireland (+650).
Top left hander: Robert MacIntyre (+400)
There are only five lefties participating in the 2021 Masters with 2012 and 2014 champ Bubba Watson the clear favorite at +200. There’s value on the Scotsman off an impressive run at the WGC-Match Play.
He can also be backed for Top Debutant (+275) and Top Scot (-150).
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2021 Masters picks: First-round leader
Jon Rahm (+2000)
Rahm is seventh on the PGA Tour with a Round 1 scoring average of 69.00 through 10 events. That’s the same score with which he began each of his last two Masters appearances in the fall and in 2019.
Anecdotally, he and his wife, Kelley, welcomed a baby boy last weekend. It could be an added early boost for Golfweek’s top-ranked golfer.
Will Zalatoris (+5000)
Zalatoris is the favorite for the aforementioned Top Debutant group at +110. Golfweek’s ninth-ranked golfer already recorded two top-10 finishes in his rookie season on Tour. He’s in Thursday morning’s fifth group off the tee and will be hitting Augusta National in peak conditions.
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