The Official Barstool 2024 Masters Tournament Betting Guide
It's the best time of year baby.
Welcome to the official 2024 Barstool Masters Tournament betting guide. Please take a moment and press play on the video below and enjoy the smooth, sultry sounds of Augusta while you read the finest piece of golf blogging this side of ever.
Hello friends.
We're back at the crowned jewel of the golf world, Augusta National Golf Club. It really doesn't get any better than this. We spend weeks and months counting down the days for the Masters to arrive and it's finally here. And better yet, it comes at a time when the golf world may be fractured… but this week? Not so much. Whole gang is back together. And hell, we've got another year with the best to ever do it teeing it up, something that has looked like a longshot at times during his career. Always a blessing.
Last year's tournament was a duel between heavyweights. Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm each shot Thursday 65's alongside Viktor Hovland. Koepka kept his foot on the gas with a 67 on a messy and rainy Friday, with Rahm not far behind with a 69. Oh yeah, some trees fell too. Saturday was even wetter and messier, and the two only got 6 holes in. Koepka managed to extend his lead and sleep on a 4 shot lead with 30 holes left to play.
Sunday was all Rahm. Fella absolutely took it to Koepka. He shaved two more strokes off Koepka's lead to finish off the 3rd round and they turned right back around and went back out there. Rahm fired another crispy 69, while Koepka just simply did not have it. His 2 shot lead had turned into a 2 shot deficit by the turn and the back 9 basically became a coronation for Rahm. Koepka fell back far enough for Phil of all people to backdoor a T-2. Wild.
Last year's leaderboard and recent winners of The Masters Tournament.
2023 Leaderboard
Recent Masters Champions
The Course
Come on y'all. We know what this course is all about. It's the only major that's played at the same course every single year. That's what makes this such a treat. It's a course that measures about 7,555 yards depending on the tee boxes on a given day, but can play a lot longer due to the massive elevation changes around the course. It's a course that rewards distance off the tee, but does not penalize accuracy as much as some others. There's no 2nd cut of rough anywhere on this course. You can find yourself in plenty of trouble in the trees, but a little creativity and patience can help you avoid a big number. Water is the one place where you can find yourself in trouble, and that exists over in Amen Corner and on the par 3 16th. We all saw what kind of role Rae's Creek can play a couple years ago when everybody but Tiger put one in the drink on 12, and then we saw it bite Tiger himself in the ass the next year when he made a 10.
The thing that makes Augusta National what it is is the undulating nature of the entire place. Without any gnarly rough, the bumps and slopes are one of the few ways this place protects itself, which it's done pretty well for itself going on 86 years now. The greens are traditionally some of the fastest and most challenging on Tour. And the hills aren't just obstacles around the greens. There's hardly an even lie on the entire course that isn't a teebox. So these guys are going to be dealing with all sorts of side lies, downhill lies, uphill lies, and everything in between. Ton of shelves on this golf course so making sure you put the ball in the right spot is absolutely key here.
Most years there are a handful of tweaks to the course. This year there's a subtle change to the 2nd teebox. It's juuuuuust a smidge further to the left and 10 yards further back to bring the hole to 585 yards. The slight alteration will make it just a little more challenging for those who typically fade the golf ball to feel comfortable on the tee, which may encourage more players to try to force a draw. That's a win in my book - anything that forces these guys to have to hit the ball both ways and get out of their comfort zone is an improvement in my book, even if some players have been underwhelmed by the changes.
There are slight alterations to the 2nd, 4th, and 6th greens that should help feature a new pin position at each as well.
If you're looking for some historical data on the holes themselves, here ya go.
The Format
89 golfers at this year's edition with a 36 hole cut for the Top 50 and ties. For a long time this Tournament had a rule where anyone outside the Top 50 that were within 10 strokes of the leader would also make the cut. They ditched it for the COVID-delayed Fall Masters a couple years ago (presumably due to daylight issues) and haven't brought it back since. Kinda a shame, sometimes it was fun to see how far out in front a leader could get on Friday and effectively boot guys out of the Tournament. Regardless, barring inclement weather, everybody goes off of 1 at Augusta National. No split tees.
The Conditions
It feels like weather has been way too disruptive to the Masters recently. This year may prove to be no different. Thunderstorms and heavy winds are expected to hit on Thursday and surely looks like a delay waiting to happen. That may push the 1st round into Friday, which inevitably pushes the 2nd round back too. The upside is that the weekend looks immaculate, which has not been the case more recently. I love a good QZ or hoody out there, but not at Augusta National.
By the way, rain has been experienced during 48 of the 87 Masters Tournaments. The Media Guide literally has a round by round detail of how weather has affected the Masters. Incredible.
TV Coverage
Courtesy of the Masters website, here is your schedule for wall to wall coverage the Masters Tournament.
The Field
Thursday and Friday Tee Times
Fresh off the presses, here are your tee times. I'll save you a click - Tiger goes off with Jason Day and Max Homa at 1:24 PM Thursday and 10:18 AM Friday.
The Board
Here is the full board compliments of the Draftkings Sportsbook (as of Monday night at 10 pm) #DKPartner
Every year I compile a nice little cheatsheet with the entire field's career results at ANGC. I haven't seen this type of thing anywhere on the internet (or at least not behind a paywall), so you're welcome.
The last few years I've categorized the field along with a blurb about anyone who has a fighting chance to put on the green jacket. Our guy Dan Rapaport already blurbed every damn golfer in the field, so for brevity's sake I am dropping the blurbs. You can read his fantastic work here:
The Past Champions
These 6 guys have zero shot at winning and are simply cashing out their rightful prize of a lifetime spot in The Masters. Jack Nicklaus was the oldest Masters champion in 1986 at 46 years young. Most these guys are well past that age and these guys ain't Mr. Nicklaus. As a note, this was supposed to be Bernard Langer's final Masters, but he tore his achilles back in February… so he'll be giving it one last go in 2025.
Mike Weir (2003)
Vijay Singh (2000)
Jose Maria Olazabal (1994, 1999)
Fred Couples (1992)
Zach Johnson (2007)
Charl Schwartzel (2011)
The Amateurs (pronounced "Am-a-toors")
Santiago de la Fuente (Latin America Amateur Champion)
Christo Lamprecht (British Amateur Champion)
Neal Shipley (US Amateur Runner-up)
Jasper Stubbs (Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion)
Stewart Hagestad (US Mid-Amateur Champion)
Thanks For Coming Out
This is a pack of guys who are very likely not factors in this year's Masters. These guys qualified by one of these 4 ways:
1. Winning a PGA Tour event between last year's Masters and now
2. Making the Tour Championship back in September
3. Placing in the Top 12 at last year's Masters
4. Being in the World Top 50 at calendar year end 2022.
Some caught fire one week and were able to steal a PGA Tour win to get into this field. Some had a good 2022 and managed to maintain their spot in the OWGR at year-end. Other guys just found really great form in the early FedEx Cup playoff events and earned their way into the field at East Lake and subsequently Augusta. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be factor on golf's biggest stage versus the world's very best. For guys I'm stuck on what category to put them in, I close my eyes and think about whether I can envision them slipping on a green jacket. Sorry, but these guys aren't winning the 2024 Masters, period.
| J.T. Poston |
| Taylor Moore |
| Nick Dunlap |
| Austin Eckroat |
| Ryo Hisatune |
| Lee Hodges |
| Stephen Jaeger |
| Jake Knapp |
| Peter Malnati |
| Grayson Murray |
| Adam Schenk |
| Byeong Hun An |
| Cameron Davis |
| Luke List |
| Erik Van Rooyen |
The Little Known Internationals
These guys are unknowns to general sports fans, but if you follow golf closely you've probably heard of them. Each of these guys have played enough golf on the world's biggest stages to not be phased by the bright lights of Augusta National. I would be shocked if one of these guys nabs a green jacket but hey, nobody saw Danny Willett coming either. He would have been firmly in this group had I been writing this blog in 2016.
| Ryan Fox |
| Adrian Meronk |
| Nicolai Hojgaard |
| Matthieu Pavon |
| Thorbjorn Olesen |
The Veterans
These guys have been around the block before. Some are former major winners. Others are just Tour (or LIV) regulars whose games just aren't at the level it takes to win a green jacket. All have played the Masters and a few have even won it. But these guys aren't likely to win. A couple may contend, but this ain't their year. Sorry.
| Billy Horschel |
| Chris Kirk |
| Adam Scott |
| Gary Woodland |
| Sergio Garcia |
| Bubba Watson |
| Lucas Glover |
| Emiliano Grillo |
| Adam Hadwin |
| Nick Taylor |
| Camilo Villegas |
Veterans With A Chance
These are guys I can actually see putting together 4 rounds and winning the 2024 Masters… they are certainly longshots and each of them have numerous reasons why they won't, but each of them also have a thing or two working in their favor that keeps me from ruling them out entirely.
| Tyrrell Hatton |
| Keegan Bradley |
| Shane Lowry |
| Justin Rose |
| Sepp Straka |
| Jason Day |
| Russell Henley |
| Si Woo Kim |
| Harris English |
| Patrick Reed |
| Bryson DeChambeau |
| Denny McCarthy |
| Rickie Fowler |
| Kurt Kitayama |
The Young Guns
This is a group of studs who may or may not find themselves in contention, but are ones to monitor for years to come. And yes, Niemann has been in this category a few times before and went on an absolute heater on LIV a couple months ago and maybe should be further down in this blog… but so be it.
| Tom Kim |
| Joaquin Niemann |
| Sahith Theegala |
| Min Woo Lee |
| Ludvig Aberg |
| Akshay Bhatia |
The 2nd Tier
This is a mish mosh of guys who have been bona fide studs on Tour for extended periods of time. Most are multiple time winners, some of them even major winners. Many are guys who have firmly been in the heavyweights category in years' past, but are simply playing bad golf as of recent. But all are certainly talented of flipping the switch during golf's biggest week and stealing this thing.
| Max Homa |
| Sam Burns |
| Justin Thomas |
| Tony Finau |
| Cameron Young |
| Matt Fitzpatrick |
| Sungjae Im |
| Hideki Matsuyama |
| Tommy Fleetwood |
| Brian Harman |
| Corey Conners |
| Dustin Johnson |
Who The Hell Knows?
These two… man idk what the hell to make of either of them. Tiger is out there puring balls on the range as he tends to do, but it's always going to be about how he handles the walk of 36 or hopefully 72 holes. The weather is forecasted to be warmer than the last couple of years and that should be helpful for him and his ailing back, but his issues with his foot are still there. He had goals to play once a month and it's April and he's played once all year. It'll be a grind for him to make the cut. Obviously I hope he does.
Phil on the other hand…. there's nothing about his recent golf game that suggests he is going to be a factor. In the 25 LIV events he's played since the league's inception, he's only had 3 Top 10's and that was an 8th place in Chicago 2 years ago. The guy is 53 going on 54 in June and is totally washed. You could say the same going into last year. YET…. the scary motherfucker somehow pulled a T-2 out of his ass last year. Obviously he knows his way around this place and he's got the Mickelson magic going for him. So who the hell knows what's going to happen with him. Nothing should shock anybody.
The Heavyweights
These guys are the backbones of their respective Tours. There are a couple names on here that maybe aren't playing to the best of their ability, but their history at Augusta National puts them over the top and into this category. The big storylines within this group are the following:
How will Rahm look in his title defense after playing less competitive golf than he has in years?
Can Rory finally break through?
After a bounceback year at Augusta with a T-4 following his first missed cut in 2022, does Spieth still have the Augusta secret sauce after all?
Will Brooks Koepka flex his muscles at a major yet again?
Of course, at least one of the other guys in this group is sure to contend and may damn well get the job done as well. Wyndham Clark is a fascinating one - it's fucking CRAZY that this is his first Masters, but it tracks given his big breakthrough was at Quail Hollow last May.
| Rory McIlroy |
| Jon Rahm |
| Patrick Cantlay |
| Cameron Smith |
| Xander Schauffele |
| Will Zalatoris |
| Viktor Hovland |
| Collin Morikawa |
| Jordan Spieth |
| Brooks Koepka |
| Wyndham Clark |
The Favorite
Everything points to Scottie winning this thing. The odds reflect it. The run he is on is virtually unparalleled by anyone other than Tiger Woods (or maaybe Vijay in 2004) in the last 40 years or so. Tee-to-green he is just an absolute savage. The putting is talked about relentlessly and rightfully so. But it's certainly trending in the right direction. He's gained strokes on the field putting in each of the last 3 events. He won 2 of those and had 6 feet to send the other one to a playoff. And baaarely gained strokes putting in that one. Translation: if this guy does what he does on a weekly basis tee-to-green and merely putts a smidge above average, he's going to be right there at the end. And if he putts better than above average, you might as well pack it in. He knows these greens well at this point, so I'd bet on him doing his job and at least cleaning up a Top 5.
The Card
Outrights & Top Finishes
Scottie Scheffler To Win +450/Top 5 +105
Brooks Koepka To Win +2000/Top 10 +190
Patrick Cantlay To Win +4000/Top 10 +300
Cameron Smith To Win +4500/Top 5 +850
Corey Conners Top 10 +450
Denny McCarthy Top 20 +240
Sungjae Im Top 20 +260
Props
Phil Mickelson Top Senior -140
Wyndham Clark Top Debutant +330
Corey Conners Top Canadian +110
Cam Smith Top Oceania +260/Top Rest of World +900
Playoff +1200
Tournament Matchups
Wyndham Clark over Tony Finau +100
Collin Morikawa over Justin Thomas -110
Will Zalatoris over Jordan Spieth +145
Phil Mickelson over Bubba Watson +125
Tom Kim over Harris English +100
That's what I got! Enjoy the best tournament of the year…… The Masters.