The 2025 Masters is quickly approaching as Augusta National Golf Club gets set to host the world’s top golfers beginning on Thursday, April 10. It has been a 2025 season marked by golf longshots finding success, with players like Joe Highsmith, Brian Campbell and Thomas Detry having secured their first career PGA Tour victories. Will another longshot find success at the Masters 2025, or should you back a major champion like Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm or Xander Schauffele in the 2025 Masters field?
According to the latest 2025 Masters odds, Scheffler is the +490 favorite (risk $100 to win $490). Scheffler is the defending champion and if he can finish on top of the 2025 Masters leaderboard, he’ll be the first repeat champion since Tiger Woods in 2001-02. The No. 1-ranked player in the world is followed by McIlroy (6-1), Ludvig Aberg (12-1), Schauffele (13-1), Rahm (13-1), and Collin Morikawa (17-1) on the PGA odds board. Woods, who was 140-1, likely won’t play after undergoing surgery for a ruptured Achilles. Which golfers should you back with your 2025 Masters bets? Before making any 2025 Masters picks, you need to see the 2025 Masters predictions and best bets from golf insider Patrick McDonald.
McDonald joined CBS Sports as a golf writer in 2022 after stops at NBC Sports and RyderCup.com. Covering the sport from a broader perspective, he still likes to dip his toes into the betting pools on a weekly basis between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and more. Featured weekly on the Early Wedge, he gave out numerous winners in 2024, including Jake Knapp (50-1) at the Mexico Open and Xander Schauffele (20-1) at the PGA Championship. He already nailed Sepp Straka as a 66-1 longshot in The American Express this year. Anyone who followed his betting picks could have been way up on betting apps and sportsbooks.
Now, McDonald has focused his attention on the 2025 Masters field and locked in his best bets and top longshot sleepers. You can only see them here.
Top 2025 Masters expert picks
McDonald loves the value of Sepp Straka at 80-1 (risk $100 to win $8,000) in the first major of the year. Straka has been playing some exceptional golf early in the 2025 season. He finished on top of the leaderboard at The American Express and T15 or better in five of his first seven starts overall.
He’s been able to secure those positive results thanks to his consistent iron play. The 31-year-old entered the month of March ranked second in greens in regulation percentage (76.50%) and 11th in strokes gained: approach to green (0.867). In addition, Straka has never missed the cut at Augusta National and is coming off his best-ever Masters finish, a T-16 showing in 2024.