Eighty-eight golfers are set to tee it up Thursday for the first round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Dustin Johnson looks to defend his 2020 title from just five months ago and enters the week as the favorite at +900. Below, we search for better value and target 5 sleepers and long-shot picks to win the 2021 Masters.
Johnson, who’s No. 2 in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings, is closely followed by Bryson DeChambeau (7), Jon Rahm (1), Jordan Spieth (43) and Justin Thomas (9) by the betting odds at +1100. Spieth is fresh off a victory at last week’s Valero Texas Open.
There will be a limited number of patrons allowed on the grounds of ANGC this week. The fall tournament was held completely without spectators; as a result, several debutants had strong finishes and nearly cashed long-shot bet slips.
Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Tuesday at 1:09 p.m. ET.
2021 Masters long-shot picks to targets
Gary Woodland (+10000)
The 2019 US Open champion is just 127th in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, but he’s back to 53rd in the Official World Golf Ranking following a T-6 finish at the Texas Open. It was his first top-10 showing in 17 events while battling injuries over the better part of the last year.
More impressive than the T-6 finish in a considerably weaker field was Woodland’s 1.22 Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green per round for the tournament. His strong short game and iron play are well-suited for Augusta National.
New to sports betting? A $100 bet on Woodland to win the Masters would return a profit of $10,000 with a victory.
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Shane Lowry (+10000)
Lowry, the still-reigning 2019 Open Championship winner, had a delayed start on the PGA Tour in 2021. He made his calendar year debut with a lackluster T-48 at the WGC-Workday Championship but just two weeks later finished eighth against most of this same top competition at The Players Championship.
Carlos Ortiz (+12500)
Ortiz gained entry to the Masters by getting his first career PGA Tour win at the Vivint Houston Open in the fall and will make his Augusta National debut ranked 47th by the OWGR. He’s tied for 10th on Tour in par 5 scoring, and he’s 13th in both 3-putt avoidance and bogey avoidance.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+12500)
Bezuidenhout was one of those impressive debutants in the fall, as he finished in a tie for 38th but made an early appearance on the front page of the leaderboard with an opening-round of minus-3, 69. He since has two victories on the European Tour and is up to No. 49 in the Golfweek rankings.
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Ryan Palmer (+15000)
Palmer makes his first Masters appearance since a T-33 finish in 2015, but he was 10th in 2011. He tied for 17th in each of his last two stroke-play events, and he’s fifth on Tour in par 5 scoring, 23rd in scrambling and tied for 27th in bogey avoidance.
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