Beginner’s Masters Betting Guide: How to Bet Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Min Woo Lee

The Masters is arguably the best golf betting event of the year, and in case you didn't know, there are numerous ways to bet on the season's first major. You don't have to stick to only betting on who's going to put on the green jacket on Sunday.

If you're new to betting on the Masters, or if you're looking for some different types of bets, you've come to the right place. I'm going to break down all the different types of wagers you can place, as well as a bet I like for each.

You can place any of these bets at the best betting sites across the country.

How to Bet on the Masters

Outright bets

Outright bets are the most straightforward types of wager. It's simply a bet on who you think is going to win the Masters. Will Rory McIlroy go back-to-back? Will Scottie Scheffler win his third green jacket? Will Bryson DeChambeau bounce back after last year's disappointing final round?

In my full betting preview, I gave out Xander Schauffele as my top pick to win:

I've bet on Xander Schauffele to win the Masters every year since 2019, and this certainly isn't going to be the year that I'm going to stop. He's peaking at the right time heading into this week, finishing in solo third at the Players Championship and T4 at the Valspar Championship. he gained significant strokes with his approach play in both those games, averaging +2.11 true strokes with his irons at the Players and +1.32 true strokes with his approach game at the Valspar.

He has a strong Masters history, finishing inside the top 10 in three straight years, along with a T2 finish in 2019 and a T3 finish in 2021.

Longshot bets

If you want a chance at a bigger payout, or if you want to bet on a name that's not as popular for DFS or Masters pools purposes, then longshot bets are for you. I gave out a few of my favorites in my dark horse article, with one of them being Jacob Bridgeman at 86-1 to win. If you want to bet on a golfer like Bridgeman, but you don't want to bet on him to win, you can instead bet on them to finish in the top 5, top 10, top 20 or to just make the cut. Remember, those bets won't have as big a payout, but they are much more likely to win.

Here's why I like Bridgeman:

What if I told you that you can bet on a golfer at 86-1 who's third in the entire field this week in true strokes gained over the past three months? That's exactly what you get with Jacob Bridgeman. The only golfers in the field who have been statistically better than Bridgeman over the past three months are Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler. Let's also remember that he has proven he can beat the best golfers in the world, having already won a signature event, the Genesis Invitational in February.

The biggest argument against him is that there has only been one Masters debutant to win the tournament in its history, but that streak is going to be snapped at some point; it's only a matter of time. Bridgeman is absolutely worth a look at 86-1.

First round leader

If you don't want to watch all four rounds to find out if your bet is going to win or not, you can instead bet on which golfer is going to be leading after Thursday's opening round. I'm on two names to be the first round leader, including Min Woo Lee at 40-1:

Min Woo Lee is fifth on the PGA Tour in Round 1 scoring average this season at 68.29. His strong iron play lately has been a strong indicator heading into the Masters this year. He averaged +1.52 true strokes with his approach play en route to a T6 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and then +1.25 true strokes with his iron play in his most recent start, resulting in a T3 finish at the Texas Children's Houston Open.

Matchup bets

If you want a tournament-long bet that's close to a coin flip, especially if there's a golfer you really like matched up with a golfer you think is due for a bad tournament, than matchup bets are what you're looking for. These bets are a wager on one golfer to finish with a lower score than their opponents. For example, you can bet on whether Rory McIlroy or Bryson DeChambeau will finish further up the leaderboard by the end of the final round.

In my matchup bets article, I made the case for betting on McIlroy in that head-to-head matchup:

I'm shocked that DraftKings has the defending champion set as the betting underdog against DeChambeau this week. Despite his T5 and T6 finishes the last two years, I don't think his game is a great fit for Augusta. He was carried by his short game last season, losing strokes with his approach play. He has now lost strokes with his irons at Augusta in three of the past four years.

Meanwhile, it'll be interesting to see how McIlroy plays with the pressure off his shoulders. If he can swing freely, there's no reason why he can't beat DeChambeau at the end of the weekend.

Prop bets

For any type of bet that doesn't fall under the types of wagers mentioned above, you're going to want to look at props. Plenty of different bets fall under this category, including which golfer from a specific country will finish with the best score, who will finish as the low amateur, and what the winning score will be. In my props article, I broke down why one of my favorite bets of the week is on Mason Howell to finish as the low amateur:

Mason Howell may be the betting favorite to finish as the low amateur, but I still think there’s value on him at +245. He’s already had experience playing in a pro event, missing the cut by a single stroke at the Texas Children’s Houston Open. He hasn’t played a ton this year, but the 2025 U.S. Amateur Champion finished third at the Junior Invitational. He’ll be no stranger to pressure, having competed in the Walker Cup and Eisenhower Trophy in 2025.

Hole in one bets

Finally, you can bet on the most electric thing to happen on a golf course, a hole in one. I broke down the full history of holes in one at the Masters, as well as why I'd bet on one taking place in the final round on Sunday:

If you want to bet on someone recording an ace, I recommend betting on it taking place in Round 4 at +174.

Masters fans are familiar with the Sunday pin on Hole No. 16. If golfers hit it in the right spot, the ball will funnel down to the hole, making an ace much more likely than usual. You can see exactly what I'm talking about in the video of Bryson DeChambeau achieving the feat in 2019.

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You can check out all of Iain's bets here!