BettingPros PGA Show: 2026 Masters Picks & Predictions

Welcome to the BettingPros PGA Podcast. I’m Pat Fitzmaurice here with Bo McBrayer.

We are ecstatic. It’s our favorite week of the year. It’s Masters Week.

In just a minute, we’re going to plunge into our Masters betting preview. Bo and I love the Masters as much as you all do. It feels like Christmas around here. We have many thoughts on who to bet, who not to bet, and why. Let’s get into it.

2026 Masters Preview

Let’s start with a look at the host course, Augusta National in Northeast Georgia near the Georgia/South Carolina border. Arguably the greatest course in the world. Quite possibly the world’s most beautiful golf course. It’s a Par 72 measuring 7,565 yards, playing 10 yards longer than last year.

There’s some extreme elevation changes at Augusta. Some of the holes play shorter than the listed distance because they’re so downhill, such as the Par 4 10th, and some play longer than the listed distance because they go sharply uphill, such as the 18th. Players are going to get a lot of uneven lies because of the rolling terrain at Augusta.

Players who find the fairway on the Par 5 13th will often try to hit a fade when the ball is well above their feet, which is not an easy task. On hole 9, players are often hitting approach shots from a downhill lie to an elevated green. So yeah, there are some interesting challenges at Augusta.

Shot-shaping is critical. Players who can work the ball both left to right and right to left have an advantage. Augusta National has wide fairways and the rough is fairly light for the most part. Big hitters do have an advantage here. Distance off the tee helps create birdie and eagle opportunities on the Par 5s and sets up easier approaches on the long Par 4s, but probably matters less when Augusta is playing firm and fast. And it looks like Augusta is going to be firm and fast this week.

The greens at Augusta National are incredibly demanding. They’re big, undulating bent grass greens and they are slick. It’s not just about putting well at Augusta – it’s about setting yourself up for makeable putts, landing your approach shot on the right tier of each green, and keeping the ball below the hole as much as you can because there are some putts you do not want to see at Augusta National.

There are going to be a lot of three putts this week. We’ll see some four putts.

Augusta National is well bunkered. Those big, beautiful white sand bunkers aren’t always the worst place to land, but the fairway bunkers can be pretty treacherous at Augusta. Some of them have very steep faces and force you to hit less club than you’d like just so you can clear the face.

Chipping ability is always critical at Augusta because of the runoff areas that force you to hit tricky chips from tight lies.

Also critical this week: Par 5 scoring. Par 5s are gettable in two, especially the ones on the back nine (13th and 15th holes), but poor approach shots might find the water on those holes. As for the Par 5s on the front nine, hole 2 gives you a downhill approach shot to a triangle-shaped green. Number 8 asks you to hit a blind uphill approach to a green guarded by mounds on either side.

Par 3s here have made for some great drama over the years, especially the two on the back nine. Number 12 is widely regarded as one of the best Par 3s in the world. It’s only 155 yards long, but you’re hitting over Rae’s Creek into a very shallow green and the wind can be hard to judge. Number 16 is roughly 170 yards long, depending on the pin placement. There’s a pond to the left, and its back-left Sunday pin position makes this a fantastic risk-reward hole down the stretch.

Experience tends to matter at Augusta National. It helps with reading putts. A lot of the Masters veterans know how to use the slopes of the green to their advantage, landing their shots in spots where the contours will funnel the ball down toward the hole.

We’ve seen some players such as Fred Couples and Bernhard Langer make cuts well into their 50s. A couple years ago, Couples made the cut at age 63.

The weather forecast for Augusta this week is pretty ideal. Temperatures ranging from the low 70s to the mid 80s. No rain in the forecast. Winds of 5-10 miles an hour – maybe slightly breezier than that on Thursday. Not enough wind to punish the players, but enough to challenge them.

Rory McIlroy, your defending Masters champion, finally broke through for a win at Augusta National last year, finishing 11 under par and beating Justin Rose in a playoff with a birdie on the first playoff hole. Scottie Scheffler won by four shots in 2024. He was also 11 under par. Jon Rahm won by four shots in 2023 with a score of -12. And Scottie Scheffler won the first of his two green jackets in 2022. Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese player to win the Masters in 2021.

Bo McBrayer on Augusta National

This golf course is immaculate. Not a blade of grass or blade of pine straw left out of place.

The fairways are wide, but the short rough makes for long runoffs. I think that’s going to come into play with firm and fast conditions this week – you’re still going to want guys who can hit the ball long and straight off the tee. And straight is kind of a misnomer, because you have to shape the ball off the tee here. Right to left is primarily the shape of most of these driving holes.

That’s why we’ve seen a lot of left-handed fade players like Bubba Watson win here, Phil Mickelson. Right-handed draw players, which are fewer and farther between these days, tend to have an advantage at Augusta National as well.

If you can hit these fairways in the right spot to have an angle at these incredibly fast greens, it’s like putting on the hood of a Volkswagen Beetle. It’s fast. It’s very, very sloped. And if you are above the hole here, you’re dead. You cannot avoid three putts if you’re above the hole on this golf course.

Every hole has lots of bad places to put your approach shot and plenty of runoff areas.

There are only 44 bunkers on this golf course, which is the sixth-fewest on the tour. They’re very well placed. They always seem to be in the driving landing area, and the ones around the greens are going to punish bad shots.

You’re going to see guys really struggle at the short game here. This is the golf course where the runoff collection areas and tight lies create a huge challenge.

This course is for people who have seen the course, lived the course, and breathed the course. It is a whole different universe at the Masters. These guys have just as much of a mental challenge as it is playing their way around one of the most immaculate properties in the world.

There’s only 91 guys in the field. It’s going to be really tough on all of them.

With these conditions, I’m expecting the winning score to be in single digits under par. I also have a feeling that somebody’s going to be slipping on a second or third green jacket rather than a first-time winner. I think the experience this year is going to matter more than anything.

I predict the winning score will be -9.

Hard Rock Best Bets of the Week

It’s time for the Hard Rock Best Bets of the Week, presented by Hard Rock Bet. Here are our favorite bets this week.

Pat Fitzmaurice’s Hard Rock Best Bet of the Week

My Hard Rock Best Bet of the Week is Xander Schauffele at 18-1.

Pat Fitzmaurice’s 2026 Masters Picks:

• Hard Rock Best Bet: Xander Schauffele (18-1)
• Xander Schauffele Top 10 (+325)
• Jordan Spieth Top 5 (+650)
• Nicolai Hojgaard (78-1) & Top 20 (+180)
• Harris English Top 30 (+108)
• Corey Conners Top 20 (+172)
• Jake Knapp (67-1) & Top 10 (+415)
• Sungjae Im Top 10 (+570)

Bo McBrayer’s Hard Rock Best Bet of the Week

Bo McBrayer’s 2026 Masters Picks:

• Hard Rock Best Bet: Viktor Hovland (45-1)
• Rory McIlroy (+1150)
• Xander Schauffele (18-1)
• Patrick Reed (43-1)
• Cameron Smith (110-1)
• Ryan Fox (210-1)

That’s going to do it for this week’s BettingPros PGA Podcast. We hope you enjoy the Masters and are fruitful on your bets. Join us again next week for our betting preview of the RBC Heritage. Until then, so long everyone.