The Masters: Early betting favourites

There is one man everybody has to beat.

It’s officially under one month until the 2024 Masters gets underway and finishes, but one player has emerged as the most likely winner.

No prizes for guessing that man is Scottie Scheffler.

Back-to-back titles at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and PLAYERS Championship, surpassing $50 million PGA Tour earnings and logging 27 consecutive rounds under par.

It’s fair to say the 27-year- old’s Masters preparations are going well, and given he’s already slipped on the green jacket before, bookmakers are taking no chances.

As players headed down Magnolia Lane last April, Scheffler had Rory McIlroy for company at the top of the market, but he’s all alone this time around.

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A general 5/1 shot, Scheffler is priced up at half the odds of current second favourite McIlroy, as the Northern Irishman bids to win his first major in ten years.

The pair have been duelling over the top spot in the Official Golf World Rankings, but former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley has warned that McIlroy’s faults have been ‘exposed’.

He said: “He’s well capable of something but the problem is not getting to nine, it’s the quality of players ahead of him.

“They’re all going to go forwards and certainly one or two are probably going to get in the 60s, so I would say his race is run.”

Last year’s Masters champion Jon Rahm is instilled as third favourite according to the bookmakers, available at odds of 12/1 to retain his crown.

The LIV Golf star would become the fourth player to successfully defend the green jacket and walk away from Augusta National as a back-to-back champ.

Other past winners near the top of the market include Jordan Spieth, currently around 20/1, and Hideki Matsuyama, around 28/1.

At the opposite end of the sportsbook, firms have two-time champion Jose Maria Olazabal as the outsider of the field, available as big as 5,000/1 in places.

Debutant Ludvig Aberg is expected to be up there and at odds of around 22/1 is reckoned to have comfortably the best chance of those teeing it up in Georgia for the first time.

As always, eyes will be on Tiger Woods, with the 15-time major champ set to compete on tour for the first time since the Genesis Invitational in February. Woods is a general 125/1 shot.

According to odds comparison site Oddschecker, Scheffler, McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Will Zalatoris and Brian Harman rate the current five most popular bets for this year’s edition of The Masters.

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The Masters betting favourites

Scottie Scheffler 5/1

Rory McIlroy 10/1

Jon Rahm 12/1

Jordan Spieth 20/1

Brooks Koepka 20/1

Viktor Hovland 20/1

Xander Schauffele 22/1

Will Zalatoris 25/1

Ludvig Aberg 25/1

Patrick Cantlay 25/1