It’s officially Masters week.
Ahead of play beginning on Thursday morning, it’s a good time to take a look at what prediction markets like Kalshi are projecting for former college golf standouts.
This story will focus on a handful of former SEC golfers. For the sake of the exercise, we’ll be including former Texas and Oklahoma golfers who represented schools that are now in the SEC (but were in the Big 12 during their college days).
Masters Contenders 2026
With that in mind, let’s break down some of the top contenders with SEC ties.
Scottie Scheffler (Texas)
Scottie Scheffler needs to introduction. The former Texas golfer is the favorite to win the 2026 Masters and has piled up elite performances year after year at Augusta. He has 2 Masters wins on his résumé and has 4 consecutive finishes in the top-10.
Here’s where Scheffler stands among the top contenders to win at Augusta on Kalshi:
Jordan Spieth (Texas)
While Jordan Spieth is still chasing the highs he experienced in 2015, his Augusta track record speaks for itself. He has 3 top-5 finishes over his last 5 trips to the Masters (he missed the cut in the other 2 tournaments). Overall, he’s placed in the top-5 in 6 Masters Tournaments during his career, most recently with a 4th-place finish in 2023. He has 4 top-25 finishes in 8 events so far in 2026.
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Georgia’s quartet
Georgia has 4 golfers who could be in contention late into the weekend: Bubba Watson, Russell Henley, Sepp Straka and Harris English.
Watson is perhaps the most well-known of the group, given that he’s won The Masters twice in his career. However, those wins came back in 2012 and 2014. He’s missed the cut in 2 of his previous 3 appearances at Augusta, but finished T-14th last year. His most-recent top-20 showing was in 2018. In general, Watson has not been as competitive in high-level events. Now with LIV Golf, Watson’s most recent win on the PGA Tour came in 2018. According to DataGolf’s model, Watson has a 44.8% chance to make the cut.
Henley has 4 top-10 finishes in Major Championships over the past 2 years, but none at Augusta. His best-ever finish at Augusta was T-4th in 2023. He missed the cut at this tournament in 2025. As for his recent form, Henley has a pair of top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour so far this year. Per DataGolf’s model, Henley has a 21.4% chance to finish in the top-10 this weekend.
Straka will be making his 5th start at Augusta this weekend. He’s never finished better than T-16th in his career so far. The Austrian has 5 professional wins on Tour, including a pair of victories in 2025. Straka has a 25% chance of earning a top-20 finish, per DataGolf.
Last but not least, English is coming off of his best-ever season at the Major Championships. In 2025, English finished 2nd at The Open, T-2nd at the PGA Championship and 12th at The Masters. That was his first top-20 finish at Augusta in 6 starts. Although he’s rarely shined at Augusta, he only has 1 missed cut during his Masters career, which came back in his debut in 2014.
Here’s what the Kalshi marketplace says about the chances each of these ex-Georgia golfers have to finish in the top-20 this weekend:
Justin Thomas (Alabama)
Another huge name in golf, Justin Thomas was a standout college golfer at Alabama. Thomas is also very experienced at The Masters. He’s made the cut 8 times and finished in the top-25 in 6 of his 10 starts. He missed the cut in 2023 and 2024 before rebounding with a T-36th finish in 2025. Thomas has only played 3 events so far in 2026, but he had a good showing at The Players Championship in early March, finishing in the top 10. Per DataGolf, Thomas has a 6.9% chance to finish in the top 5.
Chris Gotterup (Oklahoma)
The last golfer we’ll mention here is Chris Gotterup, who began his collegiate career at Rutgers before transferring to Oklahoma. Gotterup is interesting because this will be his first-ever start at Augusta and only his 5th time to play in a Major Championship. He got 3rd at The Open in 2025 and had a T-23 finish at the US Open last year as well. Despite being a debutant at The Masters, Gotterup has been a trendy pick this week because of his recent form. He’s already won 2 PGA Tour events in 2026 and finished T-6th at the Houston Open in late March.
Over on Kalshi, fans can make predictions on players to make or miss the cut at Augusta. Here’s a look at that market for each of the players mentioned in this story with SEC ties:
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
