The Front 9: My 9 favorite bets for The Masters

And now for something completely different, we’ll focus on a Tradition Unlike Any Other.

The South’s greatest springtime tradition, The Masters, is finally here for 2023. And while only 1 person will win the coveted green jacket, there are plenty of us capable of winning some green.

The best thing about golf betting is that you don’t have to actually hit the winner to win big. There are prop bets all over the place.

Of course, the dangerous thing about golf betting is that you can lose your hat if you miss on all of those prop bets. Budget accordingly.

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The following 9 bets are my personal favorites heading into Thursday’s opening round of The Masters, listed from lowest odds to highest.

1. Corey Conners, Top Canadian (-135 on BetMGM)

This is my only pick that doesn’t come with a plus-number attached, but it’s just too good to resist.

There are only 4 Canadians in the field, and Conners is red-hot. He enters with a win in last week’s Valero Texas Open.

More important, Conners is red-hot at Augusta. He and Cameron Smith are the only players with top-10 finishes in the past 3 Masters tournaments.

If you’re thinking Conners can make it 4 in a row, you can also make a splash with a +400 top-10 bet at DraftKings. That would provide more bang for your buck.

But Conners has the same odds for Top Canadian as if you were betting the money line on a 2-point favorite in a basketball game. With only 3 other guys to beat, including 52-year-old former Masters champ Mike Weir, this feels as safe a pick as there is.

2. Bryson DeChambeau to miss cut (+124 on FanDuel)

Don’t break the bank here. The cut market is always fickle, and that’s doubly true at an event where a maximum of 33 players will miss the cut. But if you have a few extra bucks with which to make 1 last bet, you can do much worse than this.

DeChambeau is a LIV Tour defector, which means he has not faced the pressure of making the weekend in a while. Plus, he just hasn’t been playing great. He shot +7 at the recent LIV event in Tucson.

Bryson’s best Masters finish remains when he tied for 21st as the Low Amateur in 2016. He did not make the cut last year, firing an 80 on Friday. It’s worth taking plus-odds that he’ll falter again.

3. Jordan Spieth/Xander Schauffele top-20 parlay (+205 on FanDuel)

Last year was Spieth’s first missed cut at Augusta, and I’m banking on a return to form at a course where he has 5 top-3 finishes and a green jacket. Spieth also has 5 top-20s in the current PGA Tour season.

Schauffele also missed the cut last year but had top-20s in his previous 2 trips to Augusta National. Like Spieth, he’s racked up 5 top-20 finishes since the start of the calendar year.

Both guys are contenders. A top-20 parlay is a good way to make a little on both playing well.

4. Justin Rose, Top English player (+333 on BetMGM)

The 2-time runner-up has the 4th-best odds to be the Top Englishman amongst the 5 playing The Masters. I’ll take those chances.

Rose has missed 2 cuts the past 5 years, so this is no lock. But he’s also finished in the top-15 in 2 of those years. You can also get a Rose top-10 bet at +460 on FanDuel, which is another play to consider making if you like Rose in this spot.

5. Bernhard Langer, Top Senior (+350 on DraftKings)

The 65-year-old German is in better shape than your grandpa, your dad, or you.

In February, Langer won his 45th career event in the Champions Tour’s Chubb Classic. He shot his age on Sunday — 65. Though he’s among the older players on the tour for old players, Langer had another top-10 finish a couple of weeks back.

The 2-time Masters champ has 3 top-40 finishes since 2016. Phil Mickelson is favored among old men, but Langer’s game is in a better place.

6. Taylor Moore, Top Debutant (+850 on DraftKings)

If you’re an SEC football fan still wondering why you should care about golf, consider this: If Masters rookie Taylor Moore wins the tournament, he is likely to become the first Masters champ to ever call the hogs while donning the green jacket.

The former Arkansas golfer won The Valspar Championship his last time out, which is 1 of his 4 top-15 finishes since the start of the year. He’s the best value among the first-year players in this year’s Masters.

If you’re looking for another Top Debutant pick, Tom Kim is a good selection at +650 on FanDuel. Kim is the favorite in this category on both DraftKings (+400) and Bet MGM (+450), but a middle-of-the-pack value pick on FanDuel.

7. Patrick Reed, Top LIV player (+1100 on BetMGM)

Not every book has this bet available. But if you can find it, Reed is your guy.

For those who don’t particularly care for Reed, or the LIV Tour in general, placing this wager might come with some pinching of the nose. But you can use the money you win to buy plenty of air fresheners.

Reed finished runner-up to Rory McIlroy in the last full-field event he played in Dubai. Of course, because he’s Patrick Reed, more people remember the controversy over him flicking a tee at McIlroy on the driving range. Or that he found himself embroiled in yet another rules flap.

But the guy most dismiss as a generally unpleasant weirdo sure can play when it matters. The 2018 Masters champ finished top-10 in 2020 and 2021.

Defending British Open champ Cameron Smith is the obvious favorite among the LIV players, but I like the Augusta University grad’s track record at Augusta National.

If the prospect of rooting for Reed is too much for you to handle, consider Abraham Ancer at +2000. Ancer missed the cut last year right after recovering from Covid. But in his previous appearances, he tied for 26th in 2021 and tied for 13th in 2020.

8. Find value when betting The Big 3

Defending Masters champion Scottie Scheffler is the understandable favorite, followed closely by Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm.

If you want to go that direction, DraftKings is probably the best place to do it. The site is giving a +300 odds boost for any golfer to win for a bet of up to $50. Without the boost, a $50 bet on Scheffler pays $375. With the boost, that goes up to $525.

But that’s not the only trick you can use to improve your odds on a favorite.

FanDuel has a Winning Nationality prop. Spain pays +1000, which makes betting on any Spaniard to win a better value than simply betting on Rahm to win. And not only do you get better odds for Rahm, but you’re covered if Sergio Garcia does the unthinkable.

Jump through that loophole.

9. Hideki Matsuyama to win (+4600 on FanDuel)

When you get past the favorites, it’s hard to get more bang for your buck than 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, who finds himself surrounded by far less accomplished players on the odds board.

Including his win, Matsuyama has 3 straight top-15 Masters finishes. He hasn’t missed the cut since 2014. In fact, he’s only finished outside the top 20 once since 2015.

And it’s not as if Hideki is in a slump this spring. He finished 5th at The Players Championship and tied for 15th at the Texas Open last weekend.

That means Matsuyama also fits a statistical trait shared by 10 of the past 11 Masters champs.

Each of those champions finished top-15 or better in 2 of the previous 3 tournaments they played in going into The Masters. That includes Tiger Woods’ improbable 2019 title.

The lone exception? Matsuyama himself in 2021.

McIlroy and Scheffler are among the players who share recent top-15 finishes, so there’s good reason for them to be favored. But past trends indicate Matsuyama as a worthwhile sleeper.