The Masters Has a Champion - Who Will Be Next?

The most recent compelling evidence that sportsbook traders don’t ~~have a soul~~ operate on emotion is the odds posted for the 2026 Masters.

Will it be Rory or Scottie Next Year?

While golf fans chatted about the raw emotion shown by 2025 champ Rory McIlroy on the 18^th green when his playoff-winning putt fell and how many more green jackets he will be presented with now that the monkey’s off his back, Draft Kings and other sportsbooks were installing another emotionless man, Scottie Sheffler, as the favorite for next year, at +360.

(Admittedly, it’s extremely unlikely that Sheffler’s offseason practice regimen will again be disrupted by a pasta-making accident, like his most recent one.)

Oddsmakers Prediction for 2026

Also in his favor is that, while never looking all that impressive, Sheffler finished fourth at Augusta, making his fourth consecutive Top-10 Masters finish, and that he's always been in the Top 20 in six appearances.

There’s no way that Rory is still hungover next April, so in making McIlroy +425, oddsmakers are no doubt taking into account his recent uneven Augusta appearances, with two missed cuts and a T22 to go with three Top fives-5 finishes since 2020.

Who Will Return to Georgia?

Xander Schauffele will return to Georgia at +1100 and Ludvig Aberg at +1200, assuming his caddy doesn’t strangle him in his sleep for his truly ugly triple on 18 that cost the caddy enough income to buy a BMW.

LIVers Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are both +1400, though you have to wonder what the experts saw from the Spaniard for them to rank him so highly.

Takeaways from the Masters Weekend

FanDuel Canada had its traders working on the weekend, with the book taking live bets.

In its after-action report, the book said the five golfers attracting the most action for “win only” were DeChambeau, McIlroy, Aberg, classy-in-defeat Justin Rose and Scheffler.

The top three most bet on markets on FanDuel were win-only, first-round leader, and second-round leader.