Niall Lyons has five to follow at Augusta National this week in the 2026 Masters.
Masters 2026
If you're anything like me you'll be glad to see the back of the first few days of this calendar week as this has probably been the toughest process I've ever come across to whittle down a staking plan to 4 or 5 golfers.
This Masters is not like any other of recent years with big question marks surrounding the top two in the market as well as a handful of likely future winners of this event playing well but at the same time reaching career low prices into the bargain.
It results in a puzzle of whether you take the risk with some of those golfers that they can overcome some trends and win a Masters quite early in their career or indeed take a somewhat safer route with proven performers around here and an ounce more experience.
There is no right or wrong answer here. Is this the year of a debutant? Gotterup, Penge and Bridgeman have great chances on form, the only negative being experience here.
Whatever happens, it is highly likely that a few of those prominent trends get their pants pulled down this week.
Collin Morikawa's media duties early in the week will tell us a lot about his fitness and until then it's difficult to gauge if he can overcome his injury issues. There's little doubt he has been one of if not the most impressive player of the lot in 2026 outside of injuries. He has increased his distance off the tee to just outside the top 50 on the PGA Tour which is a huge improvement from 2025. When fit all departments were in fine working order and he was favourite to be the first man on my staking plan up until the last few weeks. Drifting towards 50 on the exchange would make him a no brainer win only bet come the off and mentally bin it.
Masters 2026 Tips
3pts each-way C.Young 22/1 (1/5 5) AK Bets
4pts WIN R.McIlroy 13/1 Unibet, AK Bets (15.0 Exchanges)
1.75pts each-way H.Matsuyama 33/1 (1/5 8) Paddypower, Skybet
1.25pts each-way P.Cantlay 60/1 (1/5 8) Skybet, Paddypower
1.25pts each-way J.Spieth 45/1 (1/4 6) WilliamHill
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Cameron Young at 22/1 (Five Places)
Cameron Young has been nailed on in recent weeks to be part of my staking plan and I'm quite content backing at 20/1 or above. Let's get the negative out of the way first of all, that missed cut last year. Trend wise that puts his back against the wall, but this looks like a year where trends could easily be bucked. Young's build up to the 2025 Masters was CUT-CUT-CUT-61-CUT-18. It is no surprise he couldn't cope with Augusta last year as we know it's not somewhere you can find your game.
This time he arrives with form of 7-3-WIN in the lead in, with those courses being Riviera, Bayhill and TPC Sawgrass. Nobody in the field has form like that and if you're looking for someone to follow in the footsteps of McIlroy and Scheffler look no further than Cameron Young.
Young could make it three Players Championship winners on the bounce to come to Augusta the following month and win. It is the most important dress rehearsal for the first Major of the year. He ranked 3rd on approach at Sawgrass but it was that final drive on the 72nd that really spoke to me. It takes a lot of courage to hit that draw shape off the tee with the water down the left of 18th hole at Sawgrass and to hit the longest drive of the week on the fairway there put huge pressure on Matt Fitzpatrick.
That was the best shot of 2026 thus far and following a maiden Ryder Cup appearance where he ranked joint top points scorer for Team USA on the week we have somebody who has become one of the very best in the game.
His demeanour is a fulcrum on which emotion doesn't tip him much either way regardless of whether things are going right or wrong and that is the soundest base for a golfer to become a Major Champion.
With two top tens in four appearances here and playing better than ever, this is a massive opportunity. Step up Cameron, your time is nigh.
Rory McIlroy at 13/1 (WIN)
Let's talk Rory McIlroy. A back injury forced him to withdraw from the Arnold Palmer at halfway and I can't help but feel that has contributed a little bit too much to his drift in price here. McIlroy then went home after Bayhill and the decision was made late the following week that he was fit enough to play at Sawgrass.
He played reasonably well there ranking 2nd off the tee for the week. That doesn't spell to me that this back issue is major and McIlroy himself has said that he is pleased at how is body responded.
He looks to be playing plenty at Augusta over the last few days so injury isn't much of a concern to me. The defending champion tag doesn't bother me either. This is the very first time that McIlroy will arrive here without a million and one questions to answer about getting the monkey off his back.
He has climbed Everest and a return to Augusta will be a glorious occasion and not the stress filled week that many defending champions endure. His obligations this time around will not be a burden, but more of a reward for that heroic effort in 2025.
Rory ranks 1st in strokes gained tee to green this season and surely that bodes well for another fine effort around this place. The putter is the biggest concern for me as that is the club that has caused him problems this year. It was the sole reason he was down the field at the Players Championship and he will need that club to be an asset if he is to defend successfully here.
Nicklaus, Faldo and Woods have managed that, and McIlroy's name is good enough to add to that list. Neither of those three will have had as much pressure released by their victory the year before and McIlroy can freewheel here now and that just has to be dangerous to the field on a course he almost always contends on.
Exchange prices have Rahm and Bryson shorter than McIlroy and anyone backing Aberg over the defending champion with just a couple of points difference are brave punters. After last year's victory if you had asked me I'd have said you'd be lucky to see 8/1 for 2026.
14/1 on the exchanges is too tempting to turn down and he makes the final cut for my staking plan.
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Hideki Matsuyama at 33/1 (Eight Places)
Min Woo Lee adds up here, but will his approach play be good enough over four days? I doubt it and fundamentally I disagree with a shocking price of around 35/1 now. Win all you like at that price Min Woo, I won't be on. Similar applies to Robert MacIntyre.
I just can't give them a second thought at these prices. Nicolai Hojgaard looks a better bet at the prices but with the enhanced places offered on Monday even he has lost a little bit of the appeal.
Akshay Bhatia is another conundrum having played great stuff all year but a trip to the Indian Open looks like bad preparation. Then again, who does have perfect prep for this? Xander, maybe. This will be Bhatia's third Masters and he is yet to break 70. It doesn't strike me as the type to go win a Masters from here.
I don't remember a field this turbulent heading into the Masters and it could pay to stick with a few tried and tested performers on this golf course.
Hideki Matsuyama has quite a decent record since winning it in 2021 with finishes of 14-16-38-21. That means he has been inside the top 21 in nine of his last eleven visits. That is as consistent as you can ask for from somebody in this price bracket and he showed back in December when winning the Hero World Challenge that he isn't afraid to go toe to toe with Scheffler and win.
He has since finished runner up in Phoenix and you have to go all the way back to the PGA Championship last May before he last missed a cut.
Injury concerns seem to be thin on the ground lately with Matsuyama also and when he's fit he is a very dangerous opponent.
He ranks 15th on tour this year in strokes gained approach and is one of a very few who can marry that sort of quality with a great touch around the greens.
He ranked 3rd off the tee and 9th on approach last week in Texas which means his ball striking is right where it should be. The short game let him down a little last week but I wouldn't expect that to last.
With firm and fast conditions looking ready to play out the experienced heads could come to the fore. With so many of the in form golfers crashing to horrible odds it seems sensible to add Hideki at what is still a fair price.
1.75pts each-way H.Matsuyama 33/1 (1/5 8) Paddypower, Skybet
Patrick Cantlay at 60/1 (Eight Places)
Patrick Cantlay has been almost unbackable in Majors these last three+ years as his price hasn't really reflected his chances.
This time it's slightly different as we see anything between 50/1 and 80/1 before the off. Cantlay went closest here in 2019 when he finished 9th but it's worth noting at one stage that Sunday he held the lead.
The following year he sat 6th at the halfway stage. In 2023 he was 4th heading into the final day but he has failed on all these occasions to really be in the mix come the end of the event. His ball striking has been impressive here down the years and for the most part it has been the putter that has caused any damage.
He comes into the conversation this year because for the first time in a handful of Masters nobody arrives here with a solid bank of winning form who doesn't have questions to answer. Cantlay lands here without a win in four years but last time out at the Valspar he played extremely well to finish 7th. That was one shot shy of Xander Schauffele in 4th whilst Cantlay goes off four times the price.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't the type of form we see from Masters champions, especially in recent years but a performance like that at Copperhead can not be ignored and there are plenty of more inexperienced types a lot shorter in the market.
BresBet
Jordan Spieth at 45/1 (Six Places)
Augusta specialists Reed and Rose are two who fit that bill but both look a little short if anything. Whilst Jordan Spieth doesn't exactly scream value off the page, I do believe he has arrived here in worse form and been a shorter price.
63rd last week in Texas wasn't ideal but his ball striking once again was super and a better short game would have seen him with a much higher result.
Throughout Pebble, Bayhill and Riviera it was his short game that thrived which was a really good sign heading to Augusta.
His last two starts he is hitting the ball really well off the tee and it's worth noting that this is his best year approach wise to date since the year he won the Open in 2017.
He really ought to give himself plenty of chances at Augusta here this week and should his long game continue in this manner then it is a question of nerves on and around the greens. That has been a missing part of the jigsaw since his 'pomp but once again signs are good giving that this is his best putting year since 2021. The positives are there for all to see.
The big negative is he is winless since the Heritage victory in 2022 and that simply rarely translates to a Masters victory.
As we know though nobody is without question marks this time around and I can't help but feel one or two Masters trends are going to go by the wayside this week.
