Fantasy Golf: The Masters Preview

Full disclosure, I'm drunk in Florida again as I write this but nowhere close to "still ripping red wine at 2:00 a.m. picking Scottie Scheffler to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational" drunk. This is more of a "just need enough beers to get through this corporate meet and greet" drunk. Also, most of the research below was done earlier today while I suffered through presentations loaded with acronyms I didn't understand. Though I did ultimately learn that "BAU" means "business as usual" which explains why hilarity ensued after it appeared on the PowerPoint. Sad I missed out.   

Before we get into this the most critical preview of the year, I need to note that the 2026 performance of the FGR can be well summed-up by last week's narrowing down of the best options to two players and then picking the guy who made $95,550 instead of the guy who made $741,533. Add to that the aforementioned Scheffler fiasco, the Collin Morikawa tragedy at The Players along with the Shane Lowry meltdown and one could only draw the conclusion  that I'm either due this week or cursed for the year. 

When weighing that, consider that for my team building activity tomorrow, I chose sober mini golf with the Boys & Girls Club of America over drunk croquet with a bunch of midwestern contractors. At this point I'm not sure if the lack of an alcohol presence is more or less likely to have me witness a feeble putt and ask some poor kid "nice lag . . . does your husband play?" but at least my heart's in the right place. 

GOLF ANALYSIS

The great Gene Sarazen once said that "you don't come to Augusta to find your game. You come here because you've got one." That theory plus my newfound bitter contrarian mindset are going to guide this preview. Not to mention, it's about time for at least a mildly quirky Masters after Scheffler, Rory McIroy and Jon Rahm have racked-up the last four. 

The bottom line is that we are applying the "Sarazen Theory" and eschewing Scottie and Rory altogether. Neither one of them has had a top ten since California and it's time for someone else to shine . . . and that someone is Ludvig Aberg. He is going to win here eventually so why not now? His Florida swing has produced a T3, T5 and T5 and his two Masters finishes are 2nd and 7th. The meltdown at Sawgrass should have been a good learning experience so all positive trends are converging.

If not Ludvig, then it's Xander Schauffele who at one time we committed to picking here every year until he finally won this thing before we grew bored of him not winning this thing and stopped picking him. With that being said, he is coming in off a 3rd at The Players and a T4 at the Valspar. He's got five top tens at Augusta in the last seven years including a runner-up and a win would put him one away from the Grand Slam. 

Jordan Spieth has been flirting with a revival lately and he should've won about three green jackets when he was in his prime so it would be no surprise to see him threaten contention now that he has rediscovered some sense of his game. And if we're calling for quirky, then we need him to be involved. 

The second best bet on the board (besides the one I'm saving for last) is Sungjae Im finishing top ten. He proved his game is back at the Valspar and his last six trips to Augusta have yielded a T2, T5 and a T8. If you think a top ten is a stretch, then take him top twenty at +230.  

And now for the cold dark reality. Patrick Reed who already ruined one Masters weekend for us and also has a slew of other high finishes here including a current three year run of T4, T12 and 3rd is playing some of the best golf of his life since bailing on LIV. He's already got two wins and a runner-up on the DP World Tour in 2026 and he finished T10 in his last outing. The best we can hope for is that he's in the mix to create an unbeatable storyline but comes-up a little short in the end. If not for the nausea, I'd be inclined to pick him to win . . . his case is that strong. But there are some lines a man just cannot cross and this is one of them.   

Place	Player	Odds
Winner	Ludvig Aberg	+1650
Top 5	Patrick Reed	+660
Top 10	Sepp Straka	+430
Top 10	Sungjae Im	+590
Top 20	Michael Kim	+340

One and Done Pick: Ludvig Aberg

Even Ludvig is excited for
us to lift this curse together.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Patrick Reed 

Sleeper Pick: Michael Kim 

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Jon Rahm	$10,000
Ludvig Aberg	$9,800
Xander Schauffele	$9,600
Patrick Reed	$9,000
Jordan Spieth	$8,400
Sepp Straka	$8,000
Sungjae Im	$7,500
Harris English	$7,300
Adam Scott	$7,200
Michael Kim	$6,700

In honor of our new foreign policy approach, we are dedicating this week's chart to things that may or may not be open in 2026.

THAT THAI RESTAURANT DOWN THE STREET THEY'VE BEEN

WORKING ON FOR TWO YEARS OR THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART

There are too many honorable mentions to . . . um . . . mention but the leaders of that group would be Cam Young and Justin Rose. The latter is going to be a popular pick but be warned, that's just when he lets you down. 

	DK Price	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021
Scottie Scheffler	$14,000	4th	1st	T10	1st	T18
Rory McIlroy	$11,600	1st	T22	MC	2nd	MC
Bryson DeChambeau	$10,200	T5	T6	MC	MC	T46
Jon Rahm	$10,000	T14	T45	1st	T27	T5
Ludvig Aberg	$9,800	7th	2nd	DNP	DNP	DNP
Xander Schauffele	$9,600	T8	8th	T10	MC	T3
Collin Morikawa	$9,500	T14	T3	T10	5th	T18
Tommy Fleetwood	$9,300	T21	T3	33rd	T14	T46
Cameron Young	$9,200	MC	T9	T7	MC	DNP
Justin Rose	$9,100	2nd	MC	T16	MC	7th
Patrick Reed	$9,000	3rd	T12	T4	T35	T8
Hideki Matsuyama	$8,900	T21	T38	T16	T14	1st
Viktor Hovland	$8,800	T21	MC	T7	T27	T21
Matt Fitzpatrick	$8,700	T40	T22	T10	T14	T34
Robert MacIntyre	$8,600	MC	DNP	DNP	T23	T12
Brooks Koepka	$8,500	MC	T45	T2	MC	MC
Jordan Spieth	$8,400	T14	MC	T4	MC	T3
Justin Thomas	$8,300	T36	MC	MC	T8	T21
Shane Lowry	$8,200	T42	T43	T16	T3	T21
Tyrell Hatton	$8,100	T14	T9	T34	52nd	T18
Sepp Straka	$8,000	MC	T16	T46	T30	DNP
Chris Gotterup	$8,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Patrick Cantlay	$7,900	T36	T22	T14	T39	MC
Russell Henley	$7,900	MC	T38	T4	T30	DNP
Akshay Bhatia	$7,800	T42	T35	DNP	DNP	DNP
Si Woo Kim	$7,800	DNP	T30	T29	T39	T12
Min Woo Lee	$7,700	49th	T22	MC	T14	DNP
Corey Conners	$7,700	T8	T38	MC	T6	T8
Jason Day	$7,600	T8	T30	T39	DNP	MC
Ben Griffin	$7,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Cameron Smith	$7,500	MC	T6	T34	T3	T10
Sungjae Im	$7,500	T5	MC	T16	T8	MC
Nicolai Hojgaard	$7,500	MC	T16	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sam Burns	$7,400	T46	MC	T29	MC	DNP
Jake Knapp	$7,400	DNP	T55	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jacob Bridgeman	$7,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Harris English	$7,300	T12	T22	T43	DNP	T21
Max Homa	$7,300	T12	T3	T43	T48	MC
Gary Woodland	$7,300	DNP	MC	T14	MC	T46
Marco Penge	$7,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Scott	$7,200	MC	T22	T39	T48	54th
Maverick McNealy	$7,200	T32	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
J.J. Spaun	$7,200	50th	DNP	DNP	T23	DNP
Wyndham Clark	$7,100	T46	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Daniel Berger	$7,100	T21	DNP	DNP	T50	MC
Sergio Garcia	$7,100	MC	MC	MC	T23	MC
Ryan Fox	$7,100	DNP	T38	T26	DNP	DNP
Dustin Johnson	$7,000	MC	MC	T48	T12	MC
Keegan Bradley	$7,000	MC	T22	T23	DNP	DNP
Alex Noren	$7,000	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Rasmus Hojgaard	$6,900	T32	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Harry Hall	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tom McKibbin	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Aaron Rai	$6,800	T27	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ryan Gerard	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kurt Kitayama	$6,800	DNP	T35	MC	DNP	DNP
Michael Kim	$6,700	T27	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nico Echavarria	$6,700	51st	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
John Keefer	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Rasmus Petersen	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Max Greyserman	$6,600	T32	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Brian Harman	$6,500	T36	MC	MC	MC	T12
Nick Taylor	$6,500	T40	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matt McCarty	$6,500	T14	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sami Valimaki	$6,500	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tiger Woods (O)	$6,500	DNP	60th	W/D	47th	DNP
Phil Mickelson (O)	$6,400	MC	T43	T2	DNP	T21
Davis Riley	$6,400	T21	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Andrew Novak	$6,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sam Stevens	$6,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Charl Schwartzel	$6,300	T36	MC	T50	T10	T26
Zach Johnson	$6,300	T8	MC	T34	MC	MC
Bubba Watson	$6,300	T14	MC	MC	T39	T26
Danny Willett	$6,200	T42	T45	MC	T12	MC
Fred Couples	$6,000	MC	MC	T50	MC	MC

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