2025 Masters expert picks, odds, best bets, sleepers: Golf insider avoiding Jon Rahm at Augusta National
Along with the PGA Championship, the Masters 2025 is the only other major which gives all past winners a lifetime invitation. If you have a green jacket, then you can tee off at the 2025 Masters, and as many as 20 former champions are expected to be in the 2025 Masters field. Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott and Bubba Watson are among those nostalgic names looking to add to their major wins tally, while recent champs like Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Hideki Matsuyama are projected 2025 Masters contenders.
The year's first major will tee off Thursday, April 10 from Augusta National Golf Club where Scheffler prevailed last year. Accordingly, Scheffler is the +460 favorite in the latest 2025 Masters odds. Rory McIlroy (+650) is the only other golfer at single-digits in the latest Masters odds 2025, as the Irishman seeks to complete a career Grand Slam. McIlroy is getting over 16% of the handle at BetMGM. Collin Morikawa is +1500, followed by Ludvig Aberg (+1700) and Jon Rahm (+1700). Before making any 2025 Masters picks, you need to see the 2025 Masters predictions and best bets from golf insider Sia Nejad.
Nejad specializes in betting and DFS in golf, among other sports. He's had incredible success in the outright and first-round leader markets and in betting head-to-head matchups. He also has been solid with his head-to-head matchups since the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge, going 52-37-5 and returning 11.67 units over that span. That's a $1,167 profit for $100 bettors since May 2023.
Nejad also nailed Wyndham Clark, a +7500 longshot, as the outright winner at the Wells Fargo Championship 2023. That year, SportsLine debuted "The Early Wedge," and in the first three months of the show, he hit two first-round leaders and three outright winners. Anyone who followed his betting picks could have been way up on betting apps and sportsbooks.
Now, Nejad has turned his attention to the 2025 Masters field and locked in his best bets, top sleepers and favorites to avoid. See who they are at SportsLine.
Top 2025 Masters expert picksOne surprise: Nejad is completely fading Jon Rahm, even though he's the 2023 Masters champion with one of the shortest 2025 Masters Tournament odds. Nejad points out that Rahm has been consistent in recent starts, but the price point at +1500 scares him off. "His odds are too short compared to the names I like around him. In short, I'm unwilling to speculate on how he sizes up against the top talent on the PGA Tour at such a short number," he said.
While the two-time major winner has been consistent in his worldwide starts in 2025, he's lacked consistency in majors since winning a green jacket two years ago. In his six major starts since, Rahm has the same number of finishes in 45th place or worse as he has top 10s (three). He followed up his 2023 Masters win with a 45th place at last year's event, which was then followed by a missed cut at the PGA Championship that ended his majors cut streak at 18. He then had to withdraw at the U.S. Open and missed out on a medal at the 2024 Olympics, so he hasn't had the best run in big events as of late.
Instead, Nejad is high on the chances of Collin Morikawa, even though he's a longshot at +1500. A two-time major winner, Morikawa has three straight top-10 finishes at Augusta National and sat one-shot back entering the final round at last year's event. A double-bogey on the ninth hole knocked him out of contention, but he still finished tied for third, his best finish at the Masters. He then followed that up with a fourth place at the PGA Championship and has excelled this year on tour, sitting fourth in the FedEx Cup standings.
No one is striking the ball better than Morikawa, who leads the PGA Tour in both strokes gained: tee-to-green and approach the green, while ranking second in SG: total. Nejad thinks the adversity that Morikawa faced in last year's final round at the Masters will serve him well for this year's edition. "I'm really not worried about Morikawa's inability to 'close' as he is continuing to put himself in positions to win. His ball striking has been phenomenal for the last 12 months and he's shown an ability to spike with the short game. His Masters history is even better from a pure metrics standpoint as he's consistently gained across all four strokes gained categories for four years in a row," he said. See who else to back here.
How to make 2025 Masters picks, betsNejad has locked in his 2025 Masters best bets, including a longshot who's priced over 20-1. Nejad said, "We are getting the benefit of a number that is simply too long," 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 20-1? Check out the 2025 Masters odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Sia Nejad's top picks for the 2025 Masters, all from the expert who has returned $1,167 for $100 bettors since May 2023.
2025 Masters odds, fieldSee the full Masters picks, best bets and predictions
Scottie Scheffler +460Rory McIlroy +650Ludvig Aberg +1500Jon Rahm +1500 Collin Morikawa +1700 Bryson DeChambeau +1700 Xander Schauffele +2100Hideki Matsuyama +2300Justin Thomas +3000Brooks Koepka +3100Jordan Spieth +3200Patrick Cantlay +3200Tyrrell Hatton +3300Joaquin Niemann +3300Shane Lowry +3800Tommy Fleetwood +3900Will Zalatoris +4900Cameron Smith +5000Tony Finau +5000Dustin Johnson +5500Maverick McNealy +5500Russell Henley +6000Jason Day +6000Viktor Hovland +6500Tom Kim +6500Sahith Theegala +7000Akshay Bhatia +7000Robert MacIntyre +7000Wyndham Clark +7500Sungjae Im +7500Corey Conners +7500|Max Homa +7500Sam Burns +7500Matt Fitzpatrick +8500Cameron Young +8500Min Woo Lee +8500Rickie Fowler +8500Patrick Reed +9000Sepp Straka +10000Justin Rose +10000Max Greyserman +10000Nicolai Hojgaard +12000Davis Thompson +12000Rasmus Hojgaard +12000Adam Scott +13000Si Woo Kim +13000Brian Harman +13000Taylor Pendrith +14000Billy Horschel +15000Thomas Detry +15000Jake Knapp +16000Nick Dunlap +16000Thriston Lawrence +16000Keegan Bradley +18000|Byeong Hun An +18000Cameron Davis +19000Harris English +19000Phil Mickelson +20000
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