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The 2025 Masters is quickly approaching as Augusta National Golf Club gets set to host the world's top golfers beginning on Thursday, April 10. It has been a 2025 season marked by golf longshots finding success, with players like Joe Highsmith, Brian Campbell and Thomas Detry having secured their first career PGA Tour victories. Will another longshot find success at the Masters 2025, or should you back a major champion like Scottie Scheffler, Players Championship winner Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm or Xander Schauffele in the 2025 Masters field? The first 2025 Masters tee times are at 7:40 a.m. ET on Thursday, when the 2025 Masters weather forecast is calling for partly cloudy skies and high temperatures north of 70.

According to the latest 2025 Masters odds, Scheffler is the +400 favorite (risk $100 to win $400) after moving as high as +480. Scheffler is the defending champion and if he can finish on top of the 2025 Masters leaderboard, he'll be the first repeat champion since Tiger Woods in 2001-02. The No. 1-ranked player in the world is followed by McIlroy (13-2), Rahm (14-1), Ludvig Aberg (18-1), Collin Morikawa (16-1), Xander Schauffele (20-1), DeChambeau (20-1), and Justin Thomas (22-1) on the PGA odds board. Woods, who was 140-1, won't play after undergoing surgery for a ruptured Achilles in March. Which golfers should you back with your 2025 Masters bets? Before making any 2025 Masters picks, you need to see the 2025 Masters predictions and best bets from golf insider Patrick McDonald.

McDonald joined CBS Sports as a golf writer in 2022 after stops at NBC Sports and RyderCup.com. Covering the sport from a broader perspective, he still likes to dip his toes into the betting pools on a weekly basis between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and more. Featured weekly on the Early Wedge, he gave out numerous winners in 2024, including Jake Knapp (50-1) at the Mexico Open and Xander Schauffele (20-1) at the PGA Championship. He already nailed Sepp Straka as a 66-1 longshot in The American Express this year. Anyone who followed his betting picks could have been way up on betting apps and sportsbooks.

Now, McDonald has focused his attention on the 2025 Masters field and locked in his best bets and top longshot sleepers. You can only see them here.

Top 2025 Masters expert picks

McDonald loves the value of Sepp Straka at 80-1 (risk $100 to win $8,000) in the first major of the year. Straka has been playing some exceptional golf early in the 2025 season. He finished on top of the leaderboard at The American Express and T15 or better in five of his first seven starts overall. 

He's been able to secure those positive results thanks to his consistent iron play. The 31-year-old entered the month of March ranked second in greens in regulation percentage (76.50%) and 11th in strokes gained: approach to green (0.867). In addition, Straka has never missed the cut at Augusta National and is coming off his best-ever Masters finish, a T-16 showing in 2024. 

"Straka ranks inside the top 10 in the world in driving accuracy and iron play so far in 2025," McDonald told SportsLine. "This is the combination that led him to a T-16 finish at the Masters last season as he ranked sixth in driving accuracy, fifth in greens in regulation and eighth in strokes gained tee to green. Recent improvements on and around the greens should improve Straka's chances at nabbing a major championship where he has acquitted himself nicely in recent years." See who else to back here. 

How to make 2025 Masters picks, bets

McDonald has locked in his best bets for the 2025 Masters, including a massive longshot who's priced over 200-1. This golfer is the "biggest misprice on the board at the moment," so anyone who backs him could hit it big. You can only see the picks at SportsLine.

So which players should you target for the 2025 Masters, and which golfer could bring a huge payday of more than 200-1? Check out the 2025 Masters odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Patrick McDonald's top picks for the 2025 Masters, all from the expert who gave out Straka as a 66-1 longshot at the 2025 American Express.

2025 Masters odds, field

See the full Masters picks, best bets and predictions

Scottie Scheffler +400
Rory McIlroy +650
Jon Rahm +1400
Ludvig Åberg +1600
Collin Morikawa +1600
Xander Schauffele +1800
Bryson DeChambeau +2000
Justin Thomas +2200
Joaquin Niemann +2800
Hideki Matsuyama +2800
Brooks Koepka +3000
Jordan Spieth +3300
Tommy Fleetwood +3500
Shane Lowry +3500
Viktor Hovland +3500
Patrick Cantlay +3500
Tyrrell Hatton +4000
Robert MacIntyre +5500
Russell Henley +5500
Min Woo Lee +5500
Will Zalatoris +5500
Cameron Smith +6000
Akshay Bhatia +6500
Corey Conners +7500
Tony Finau +7500
Jason Day +8000
Sepp Straka +8000
Wyndham Clark +8000
Dustin Johnson +8000
Sergio Garcia +8000
Sahith Theegala +9000
Patrick Reed +9000
Keegan Bradley +11000
Tom Kim +11000
Justin Rose +11000
Sungjae Im +11000
Brian Harman +11000
Daniel Berger +11000
Matt Fitzpatrick +12000
Adam Scott +12000
Sam Burns +12000
Davis Thompson +12000
Phil Mickelson +12000
Billy Horschel +15000
Taylor Pendrith +15000
Aaron Rai +15000
Byeong Hun An +15000
J. J. Spaun +15000
Maverick McNealy +15000
Lucas Glover +17000
Thomas Detry +17000
Michael Kim +17000
Cameron Young +17000
Nicolai Højgaard +20000
Denny McCarthy +20000
Rasmus Højgaard +20000
Laurie Canter +22000
Max Homa +25000
Harris English +25000
Stephan Jaeger +27000
Nick Taylor +27000
Nicolas Echavarria +30000
J.T. Poston +30000
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +30000
Joe Highsmith +30000
Cameron Davis +30000
Max Greyserman +30000
Austin Eckroat +35000
Tom Hoge +35000
Chris Kirk +35000
Nick Dunlap +40000
Charl Schwartzel +40000
Kevin Yu +40000
Davis Riley +50000
Matt Mccarty +50000
Jhonattan Vegas +50000
Matthieu Pavon +50000
Bubba Watson +50000
Adam Schenk +75000
Thriston Lawrence +75000
Danny Willett +75000
Zach Johnson +75000
Brian Campbell +100000
Angel Cabrera +100000
Evan Beck +100000
Hiroshi Tai +100000
Justin Hastings +100000
Rafael Campos +100000
Vijay Singh +100000
Noah Kent +100000
Bernhard Langer +100000
Fred Couples +100000
Mike Weir +100000
Jose Maria Olazábal +100000
Patton Kizzire +100000
Jose Luis Ballester +100000