Masters 2024 Picks: Augusta National Golf Club Favors These 3 Golfers

The Masters is the lone major championship in golf played at the same venue every year, and thus, course history is a great place to start when putting together your Masters predictions. 

So much so that DataGolf ranks Augusta National as the most predictive course on the calendar when using course history as your primary metric.

That means the Augusta National course horses should be at the top of your betting card as they are the Masters odds board — find out who those guys are in my free golf picks below.  

2024 Masters odds

What to expect at Augusta National Golf Club?

Success at Augusta National so often comes with experience, excellent ball-striking, and scrambling out of trouble when you inevitably get in it. Hitting greens is the priority and usually the biggest indicator of success for those in contention. 

The tricky, undulating greens usually even out everyone's flat sticks. Being a great putter helps when betting Masters props but only a handful of recent Masters winners have been elite putters. 

Debutants almost always struggle and fail to make the Masters projected cut, so your attention should be on guys with 5+ years of course experience and a decent level of success in those starts. Here are the key stats to consider: 

• Greens-in-regulation percentage (GIR%)
• Strokes gained approach
• Strokes gained tee-to-green
• Scrambling & strokes gained around-the-green
• Bogey avoidance

Augusta National course horses

Jon Rahm (+1,200)

Jon Rahm’s road to winning his first Green Jacket was just what the Masters trends imagined: gain the necessary Augusta experience by playing it often and playing it well, then... strike while the iron’s hot.

Four straight finishes of T9 or better between 2018 and 2021 preceded Rahm winning his second major championship at the 2023 Masters, a title he’ll be eager to defend this week. 

His move to LIV Golf has been met with five straight Top-8 finishes but the fact he hasn’t won has him being ever-so-slightly overlooked this week, sitting third on the board behind Scheffler and Rory.

However, this is the exact position he was in a year ago. He had won at Riviera last February but went T39-WD-T39 in three starts leading into the Masters. All that to say: don’t get caught looking past the defending champ.

Pick: Jon Rahm to win outright (+1,200 at SportsInteraction)

Xander Schauffele (+1,600)

I’m not breaking news by propping up Xander Schauffle’s game. He’s a course fit here at Augusta but he’s a course fit just about anywhere he plays.

With that said, his stellar all-around game and elite ball-striking play particularly well here at Augusta. He’s second in total strokes gained this season but more specifically ranks seventh in GIR% — maybe the most important data point of the week. 

That’s manifested itself in T2, T3, and T10 finishes over his last five Masters starts and while elite putting is far from a requirement, Xander has room to grow considering his putter’s been just average over his last three tries.

Pick: Xander Schauffele to win outright (+1,600 at DraftKings)

Jordan Spieth (+2,500)

They say creativity and imagination — specifically in the short game — are critical to having success at Augusta National and that just so happens to be what Jordan Spieth is best at.

In 10 Masters tries, the 2015 Green Jacket winner has finished worse than T11 just three times — one of which was the 2020 November edition — in a resume that includes his 2015 win and five additional Top 5s. 

His short-game wizardry can often be thanked for that: he gained 3.48 strokes around the green last season, 6.32 strokes in 2022, and 7.08 strokes in 2021.

His form has been hit or miss this year, but a T10 at the Valero is just what we needed to see ahead of Spieth’s favorite week of the year.

Pick: Jordan Spieth to win outright (+2,500 at DraftKings)

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