Masters Preview: Picks, Key Stats & Players to Watch

The best week of the year in the golf world is finally here – it’s time for the Masters. While many will be competing for the green jacket, only a handful of golfers are actually live to win this event and it’s our job to parse through and find the edges. 

 

Augusta National 

 

Par: 72

Yardage: 7,565

Greens: Bentgrass

 

Key Stats 

• Strokes Gained: Approach
• Strokes Gained: Off the Tee – long hitters 
• Strokes Gained: Around the Green 

 

Course history and recent form have been big indicators of success in the past and while I do think a lot of the popular trends are sticky for this tournament – a lot of the bigger name players have not played the two weeks leading up to this event so I think we could see that one in particular get broken this year. Here are a few other noteworthy nuggets: 

 

21 of the last 27 Masters winners had already won a major championship 

Nobody has won the Masters after a MC in their previous Masters since Patrick Reed in 2018 

Xander Schauffele

 

Xander is my overall pick to win this week – and I think he finally puts it all together and gets to wear the green jacket. His 2025 season was completely derailed due to injury – but it’s important to remember that he got over the hump and won two majors in 2024. If he’s able to win this week – a career grand slam is not out of the question and with the suspect recent form of the guys at the top this may be his best year to do it. He has an elite track record at Augusta and has been playing very consistently coming into this week. 

 

Patrick Reed 

 

I managed to grab a nice 75/1 number on Reed to win this event back in January – and he is well positioned for success as a former winner. We know that he will be headed back to the PGA Tour in due time – and a good performance here would really set the tone for his eventual return. He’s finished at least T12 in all of his last five Masters starts – and has some of the best stats year to year on this course in the field this week. He’s notched two wins on the DP World Tour so we should have no questions about recent form. I expect him to be in the mix this weekend. 

 

Akshay Bhatia 

 

Bhatia is my favorite “longshot” this week that I do think has a legit chance to win if he plays to his potential. He traveled to play in India for his last start, missing the cut, but has been remarkably consistent with his PGA Tour starts this season – picking off several top-20 finishes and one win in Florida at the API. You absolutely need to be good with approach to contend here and he has been this season. It’s true that Augusta sets up well for lefty’s as well – so he has that advantage working for him. He’s also been putting at an insane level this season, and I’m excited to see how he looks on these greens this week with it expected to play firm and fast. 

 

Harris English 

 

English has a sneaky strong track record at both Augusta and major championships in general. I don’t think he qualifies as someone that I actually think can win this tournament on a Sunday, but I think he is an elite value in both the DFS streets and on the odds board in each way or finishing position markets. He came T2 in the PGA Championship last season as well as a solo second at the Open Championship. He’s made the cut here in 5 of his 6 starts and is coming off a T12 a year ago.