By Geoff Ulrich | March 11th, 2021

The 2021 Masters is now only a month or so away. Yes, that last sentence is correct, a MONTH. It seems like only yesterday (four months actually) that Dustin Johnson was waxing the field to the tune of a five-shot win – a win which resulted in him breaking the all-time Masters scoring record and hitting 20-under par. The previous record was held by Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods.

This year’s event will take place between April 8-11 and DraftKings Sportsbook already has odds up for the event. There will also be tons of great options for daily fantasy purposes on DraftKings too, but for now, let's focus on the odds and see where everyone’s at and who might be looking like a good futures target for some early investments.

The Favorites

Dustin Johnson remains the favorite as of writing at +550. It’s an incredibly small number, especially considering DJ was going off around +1000 pre-event when he won the Masters last fall. The outright favorites here don’t have a great record of coming through, though, and we haven’t seen a repeat winner here since Tiger Woods in 2001-2002.

Behind him, there’s a big group of players all bunched tightly together in the odds. Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas both sit at +1000 while Jon Rahm sits just behind at +1100. All three men are still looking for their first green jacket and could conceivably challenge this year. All three have had ebbs and flows to start the year and all three are winless in 2021 as of the creation of this article — although Rory is in the mix at the API so that could change quickly.

Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka have also been bet down to very low numbers for this event and both sit at +1200. DeChambeau was the betting favorite at Augusta National in the fall and famously quipped that the course was playing like a par 67 for him — before finishing T34. Koepka’s odds have taken a huge turn lower after picking up a win at Phoenix in February. If you bet him in January or earlier for this event you’re sitting with some good value right now. Koepka’s finished T7 and T2 at this event over the past two seasons.

Betting Targets (DraftKings Sportsbook)

Patrick Cantlay +2500

Cantlay’s been on a serious roll of form over the past four to five months and it feels like he’s still not getting the proper respect in the betting odds. The American has moved up to No. 7 in the OWGR and has now finished T17 or better in each of his past six PGA TOUR starts. This year, he’s posted a third-place finish at Pebble Beach (where he led the field in SG: Tee to Green stats) and a second-place finish at the American Express, where he shot a brilliant 61 in the final round. The past five winners at Augusta have all posted at least one top-5 finish or better in the preceding three months leading up to the event and have also all been ranked inside the top 25 in the OWGR. Cantlay fits both those trends nicely. While I like the idea of taking both Cantlay and Xander Schauffele (+1800) in this range, Cantlay for me is the clear better value right now as there’s not much separating these two in form. This will be his fifth time playing Augusta and he’s finished T17 and T9 the past two seasons.

Paul Casey +4500

While Casey has often disappointed us in the big events, I can’t stop coming back to him in this range. The Englishman seems to be defying age as 2021 is setting up to be his best start to a competitive season in quite some time. Casey already picked up a win in January over in Dubai (Euro Tour) and also has two top 10s in two PGA TOUR starts as of the time of writing. Even his putting has looked improved in 2021, so if he can maintain his form with that club then he should have a real shot at grabbing his first major. Casey was a co-leader at Augusta after the first round last season (he opened with a 65) and has four top-15 finishes at Augusta over his past six trips there. In this range, there’s no one with a better mix of course history and current form for me to target.

Longshot (DraftKings Sportsbook)

Marc Leishman +10000

Leishman has been all over the map in terms of play over the past four to five months. He endured a terrible run of form last fall but righted himself with a T13 at Augusta in November. The top-15 finish represented his third top-15 finish at the event in his past seven tries. He’s been up near the lead on multiple occasions at Augusta and even held the 36-hole lead back at the 2018 Masters. The Aussie has shown better form with his irons in 2021, gaining 1.0 strokes or more on his approaches in four of his six PGA TOUR starts. We often see him go off at +6600 or lower in majors so his price really stands out, especially considering the decent start he’s had to 2021. If you’re looking for a player to invest in at bigger odds, he’s the best value on the board for me at +10000 or greater.

I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is wavegoodbye) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.

SC Heerenveen

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