Notes from the Tour: Masters picks at 28/1 and 35/1...

Thursday 10th April 2025

If you’re a long-time Ones to Watch follower, then you’ll know I like to offer up something a bit different a couple of times a year…

A departure from the tennis for today’s article, then. With attention instead turning to The Masters golf…

The biggest betting event of the week takes place at Augusta National…

You and I have a good record when it comes to turning a profit in the most prestigious Majors…

We’ve landed The Open winner in two of the last three years (Cameron Smith @ 28/1, Xander Schauffele @ 14/1)...

As well as bagging an Each Way return from 2nd-place debutant Ludvig Aberg at The Masters last April (25/1)...

When it comes to Augusta, the stats and the history books say we shouldn’t veer too far from Americans… that we should largely stick to players ranked inside the Top 25 of the Official World Golf Rankings… and that previous course form counts for a lot here…

• 73% of all Masters champions have been from the USA

• Each of the last 12 Masters winners were ranked inside the world’s Top 25

• 9 of the last 12 Masters champs had posted a Top 10 finish at Augusta before

Those key-stats nuggets help inform my choices here. And as is the Ones to Watch way, I’m taking on the favourites, and going after some big prices…

The action tees off this afternoon, live on Sky Sports. And concludes on Sunday night…

These prices are with bookies offering Each Way terms of 1/5 odds for 8 places. My thinking being, if one of these picks finishes in the Top 8, total level EW stakes will be covered…

BROOKS KOEPKA @ 30/1 Betfred, Bet365, Skybet

• The Rory McIlroy story gets more attention over here, but from an American point of few, few men if any want this trophy more than Brooks Koepka. He’s got 5 Majors to his name, but not The Masters - yet. A bigtime player with a winners’ mindset. Best Augusta result: runner-up (3 x Top 10 finishes). Note: Brooks’ lowly OWGR of no.249 is due to him making the move away from the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf

HIDEKI MATSUYAMA @ 28/1 Betfred, Bet365, Skybet, William Hill, 888 Sport, Betway

• Only 2 of the last 35 Majors have been won by a player from outside of the USA and Europe. One was our pal Cameron Smith at The Open 2022. The other was Hideki Matsuyama right here at The Masters in 2021. The Japanese star is ranked no.6 in the world. And if you’re looking for a Mr Consistent around the Augusta track, then look at Matsuyama’s record: he’s made the cut 12 times in 13 visits, with 3 x Top 10 finishes - including that 2021 win, and also a 5th place 

VIKTOR HOVLAND @ 35/1 Bet365, 33/1 Betfred, Skybet, William Hill, 888 Sport, Betway

• My European longshot here is Viktor Hovland. Confidence and momentum counts for a lot, and a recent long-awaited PGA Tour win, after a barren 2024 and loss of form, taking home the silverware at the Valspar Championship last month (as a 70/1 outsider) - suggests Viktor has got his mojo back. With a current OWGR of no.9, the Norwegian ticks the rankings box. The youngest man on our list at 27, Hovland has already shown a taste for Augusta: making the cut 4 times out of 5, including a 7th-place finish in 2023

P.S
Looking for dedicated golf advice? Then I can confidently point you in the direction of the Golf Insider, who’s been banging in big-odds golf winners since 2014. Get all the Golf Insider’s Masters advice this week as part of a 30-day trial, here >>

Enjoy the golf…

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Ones to Watch