The Masters betting storylines: Scheffler, McIlroy, LIV headline intriguing field

Over the decades, The Masters has carved out a special place in the world of professional golf. Its majesty and mystique, guided by its official slogan, “a tradition unlike any other,” have allowed it to become one of the most popular and prestigious golf tournaments in the world.

For bettors, both those who wager on golf every weekend and those who do it only once a year, the event is also a betting tradition unlike any other.

“The Masters is kind of in its own rarefied air regarding golf tournaments,” Caesars Sportsbook’s lead golf trader Anthony Salleroli told ESPN. “It’s yearlong action that accumulates, and then the week of the Masters, it just spits hot fire. Everybody’s involved, everybody has their horse. It’s exciting.”

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Salleroli elaborates that the Masters does double the handle of any other golf event every year, and compares it to “a full slate of a baseball day” or “maybe three days of hockey.” ESPN BET VP of sportsbook strategy and growth Adam Landeka says it brings in “more than double the amount of bets and handle as the next biggest event, the U.S. Open, and several times more than an average PGA Tour event.”

The annual tournament at Augusta National Golf Club is also unique in that it is the only major played on the same course each year, but it will attract a much more competitive field than any PGA Tour or LIV Golf regular-season event, which are generally played on the same courses year after year. Thus, bookmakers use all of their abilities to find the players with the correct course fit and form to properly handicap them for the biggest golf betting event on the calendar.

Here are some of the most prominent betting storylines to watch going into the 2025 Masters.

The phenomenal favorites

Going into the 2024 Masters, Scottie Scheffler was very clearly the man to beat, having won two events already that year and being the only golfer with odds shorter than +1000 to win the tournament headed into Round 1. He would go on to claim his second career green jacket that week.

One year later, it’s a more unfamiliar story for Scheffler. After injuring his hand in December around Christmas, the 28-year-old has yet to win a professional golf event in 2025. That’s the first time that’s happened heading into Masters week since 2021, which was before his first career PGA Tour win of any kind.

2025 Masters betting odds

And yet, Scheffler sits atop the Masters odds board once again, showing similar odds (+475) as he did going into the 2024 tournament, per ESPN BET. Although he hasn’t won yet this season, bookmakers recognize the perennial threat he poses at Augusta and that his current form, which includes five top-20s in six events, could be good enough to get the job done.

“Scottie hasn’t won, but he’s sniffing around all the time,” DraftKings head of sportsbook Johnny Avello told ESPN. “When he loses, it’s close. Now he goes into this tournament, which he’s only played five times but has won twice… You can’t expect him to fade, because he never misses a cut.”

“Scottie on the charge on Sunday, that’s something that makes you bite your nails,” Salleroli said.

The difference this year is that he’s not alone atop the odds board. Rory McIlroy — riding an impressive run of form that has seen him win two tournaments and finish 17th or better in all of the others this year — is right behind Scheffler at +625, a vast improvement from the +1100 he showed with the second-shortest odds going into the 2024 event.

Bettors seem to be buying into McIlroy finally completing the career Grand Slam, as he’s attracted the highest percentage of tickets at ESPN BET, DraftKings and BetMGM, which counts him as the second-largest liability. However, sportsbooks are maintaining their usual healthy dose of skepticism until he proves he can get it done at a major once again.

“We have him priced fairly close to Scheffler, and if you look at the recent form for both golfers, you can make an argument that Rory could be the favorite entering the week,” Landeka said. “However, his majors drought and the pressure of chasing a green jacket need to be considered, especially as Scottie has shown up better in big moments recently.”

LIV on the edge

Just past Scheffler and McIlroy on the odds board lies a recent Masters champion that might actually be flying under the radar.

Similarly to Scheffler, Jon Rahm has not won an event with LIV Golf this season, but he has placed ninth or better in all five and he finished 2024 strong with two LIV wins and a seventh-place finish at The Open Championship. That has him +1400 on ESPN BET, tied with Collin Morikawa for third on the odds board.

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Even so, Rahm has not been a popular play with the betting public, ranking ninth for tickets at BetMGM and falling outside the top 10 at DraftKings. Instead, his LIV colleague Bryson DeChambeau (+1600) has proven to be one of most popular bets in the field, attracting the second most at DraftKings, ahead of Scheffler, and the third most at BetMGM to be its largest liability.

Among the LIV players, the public is apparently infatuated with those with more recent major victories, which would also explain why five-time major champion and two-time Masters runner-up Brooks Koepka (+3000) is making noise.

“DeChambeau’s going to take money, there’s no doubt about it. He’ll probably be a loser for us if he ends up winning this whole thing and Koepka will probably be the same,” Avello said. “They are playing in a different golf league, but it doesn’t matter because they’re very familiar with this course.”

To some extent, the same logic applies to Sergio Garcia (+8000) and Phil Mickelson (100-1), both past Masters champions who are actually in decent form at LIV. Landeka said there has been significant line movement on Garcia in recent weeks, while Avello describes Mickelson as a sort of nostalgia play with Tiger Woods not in the field.

One other name to watch is Joaquín Niemann (+2800), LIV Golf’s standings leader who is looking to finally make his major breakthrough.

“I think LIV has a really good shot this year and I hope that merger never takes place between LIV and PGA because I love the heads-up competition coming into majors. It just makes it that much more exciting,” Salleroli said. “You get the true golf testament when it comes to the majors because they’re all out for it.”

Longer shots and live bets

The Masters’ popularity among bettors dictates that it will see action all year long. In addition to adjustments to power rankings by bookmakers, this causes much of the movement from the opening lines that went up in April 2024.

“The thing about leaving yearlong outright out there is it’s great to see the posturing of betting,” said Salleroli. “Whoever wins a tournament, you’re going to see some Masters bets come in. Whoever is in good form, you’ll see the bets sort of sprinkle in.”

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Among 2025’s PGA Tour winners, no one has been more popular with the public than Ludvig Åberg (+1800), who has attracted the fifth-most bets and handle at DraftKings, and is the third-largest liability at BetMGM behind DeChambeau and McIlroy.

Other winners who have gotten boosts from the market as they’ve won tournaments include Russell Henley (+4500), Min Woo Lee (+4500) and Sepp Straka (+6000).

There have also been several non-winners down the odds board who have been receiving action, most notably Akshay Bhatia (+6600), who is already turning into one of the sport’s brightest young stars. Corey Conners’ odds (+5000) have also shortened on some early action at both Caesars and ESPN BET. Avello says DraftKings has a surprising amount of liability on amateur Noah Kent (1,500-1).

He also says he worries about the liability on favorites like Scheffler and McIlroy only if bettors take advantage of potential slow starts from them with live betting. This in-play wagering, particularly for this huge first tournament of the year, is a massive piece of the overall pie.

“The public is backing that popular name that you know, and you know that he can get there because he’s got nerves of steel and has won so many majors,” Salleroli said. “We pretty much expect it every week, but it’s just magnified when it comes to the Masters.”