Fantasy Golf: The Masters Preview

We're not going to waste a lot of time preambling this week for obvious reasons as no one gives a crap about my personal nonsense during Masters week (or any week really but thanks for listening). I did spend a few nights in New Orleans last weekend and tried stir it up with some relentless yapping guy in a Yankees hat but, when I engaged him, he turned-out to be from Dublin so we instead became best friends for about ten minutes. 

The highlight of the trip may have been two hours on Saturday spent in the Garden District Pub just housing beers on a somewhat sultry southern afternoon while having an uninterrupted run on the jukebox. Our fellow patrons got a healthy dose of Stones and the Allman Brothers that harkened back to the golden era of college mix tapes played until they were almost threadbare.  

If you ever find your way there, they have a vintage cigarette machine that almost tempted me to pull the lever for a pack of Parliaments. I am a well reputed fake smoker but I've convinced myself that I look and feel cool doing it so I regularly bum cigarettes and then proceed to waste them. Do note that this machine sells packs for $11 but it only accepts the following cash combinations . . .

Actual Footage

Two $5's and One $1

One $5 and Six $1's

or Eleven $1's

You're shit out of luck if you try . . .

One $10 and One $1 

And don't even think about . . .

Three $2's and One $5 or

Five $2's and One $1

So come prepared or be left wanting.  

Let's get golfy.  

GOLF ANALYSIS

We begin by dealing with the elephant in the room. As much I want to be wrong about it, I don't believe that Rory McIlroy is ever winning the Masters. In the last four years he's missed two cuts, tied for 22nd and had a very hollow runner-up where he shot 64 on Sunday just to finish three strokes behind Scottie Scheffler. Despite a solid career record including four top 5"s, he's never really come closer to winning it than when he had the back nine lead on Sunday in 2011 before playing holes 10-12 at six over par and plummeting to a T15. It's still not clear that he's completely exercised those demons that left him famously slumped over his driver on the 10th tee.

I could take the easy way out and recommend the prohibitive favorite Scottie Scheffler but, (a) it's really hard to win three green jackets in four years as evidenced by the fact that no one has done it since Jack Nicklaus from 1963-1966, and (b) what fun would that be? Anyone can advise you to take the best player but here at the FGR we prefer the road less traveled which would explain the arthritic knees and multiple ankle injuries.

The pick this year is Collin Morikawa and here are some facts to back it up, mostly from golf stat guru Justin Ray (the last one I actually stumbled onto by myself):

• He has the lowest scoring average at Augusta of any player with 20+ rounds who has never won it.
• His scoring average in the majors over the past five years is -35 which puts him behind only Scottie Scheffler (-79), Xander Schauffele (-56) and Rory McIlroy (-40).
• He currently leads the PGA Tour in birdie or better percentage. The last three players to enter the Masters leading in that category were Scottie Scheffler (win), Jon Rahm (win) and Cameron Smith (T3).  

A third major would check a lot of boxes for Morikawa. It would move him one ahead of most contemporaries including Scheffler, Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. It would also get him 3/4 of the way to the career grand slam which, if accomplished, puts you in immediate icon territory with the five other players to do it and he strikes me as the type of fellow who expects to achieve greatness.  

The next tier came down to a two out of five situation among Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama, Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth. I had Schauffele penciled into my winner spot back in January but I don't care how healed you are from a rib injury if it made you miss tournament time within months of the Masters. I might feel differently if he played one of the Texas tournaments but he didn't. 

Matsuyama and Koepka are both intriguing but Hideki has missed his last two cuts and who knows what Brooks has been doing over on The Gong Show tour. I will instead ride with Thomas who has rediscovered his game and Spieth who found a way to post three top fives at Augusta in the last seven years even through the worst of his ups and downs. There's a reason his odds to win are better than Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland. At +3500, he's certainly worth a flyer.    

In the Top 10 finish category, I'm staking the remnants of my tattered reputation and the last $10 of my betting account on Russell Henley and Corey Conners. If at least one of them doesn't do it, then it really might be time for me to start considering a new fifth favorite hobby.

The bottom four guys are pretty vanilla except for Patrick Reed who you have to pick because the only thing more toxic to the senses than him playing well at the Masters is pretending like he won't and then having to suffer through it with no financial benefit. It's like buying stock in a successful cruise ship company. The thought of the product might make you nauseous but that's just the cost of doing business.

Place	Player	Odds
Winner	Collin Morikawa	+1800
Top 5	Justin Thomas	+360
Top 10	Russell Henley	+320
Top 10	Corey Conners	+330
Top 20	Harris English	+300

 

One and Done Pick: Collin Morikawa 

The familiar trepidatious look
of most FGR picks in 2025.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Scottie Scheffler 

Sleeper Pick: Harris English 

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Scottie Scheffler	$12,400
Collin Morikawa	$10,500
Justin Thomas	$9,600
Jordan Spieth	$9,000
Russell Henley	$8,400
Corey Conners	$7,900
Sepp Straka	$7,600
Patrick Reed	$7,300
Keegan Bradley	$7,000
Harris English	$6,500

Email the Fantasy Golf Report here.

We like to stick to tradition when it comes to the Masters as we await that elusive press pass that may never come so there will be no dicking around with the the Historical Performance Chart name to get us in hot water. 

                                    THE 2025 MASTERS TOURNAMENT

                                   HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART 

There are simply too many players with intriguing results to cover in one afternoon of manic typing but, if I were compelled to mention a few more, it would be the mid-range firm of Hatton, Zalatoris and Smith. I mean with those names and that track record of success, the Florida injury lawyer billboard practically writes itself. 

	DK Price	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
Scottie Scheffler	$12,400	1st	T10	1st	T18	T19
Rory McIlroy	$11,100	T22	MC	2nd	MC	T5
Ludvig Aberg	$10,800	2nd	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Collin Morikawa	$10,500	T3	T10	5th	T18	T44
Jon Rahm	$10,400	T45	1st	T27	T5	T7
Bryson DeChambeau	$9,900	T6	MC	MC	T46	T34
Xander Schauffele	$9,700	8th	T10	MC	T3	T17
Justin Thomas	$9,600	MC	MC	T8	T21	4th
Hideki Matsuyama	$9,500	T38	T16	T14	1st	T13
Brooks Koepka	$9,400	T45	T2	MC	MC	T7
Joaquin Niemann	$9,300	T22	T16	T35	T40	DNP
Viktor Hovland	$9,200	MC	T7	T27	T21	DNP
Tommy Fleetwood	$9,100	T3	33rd	T14	T46	T19
Jordan Spieth	$9,000	MC	T4	MC	T3	T46
Shane Lowry	$8,800	T43	T16	T3	T21	T25
Patrick Cantlay	$8,700	T22	T14	T39	MC	T17
Tyrell Hatton	$8,600	T9	T34	52nd	T18	MC
Min Woo Lee	$8,500	T22	MC	T14	DNP	DNP
Russell Henley	$8,400	T38	T4	T30	DNP	DNP
Will Zalatoris	$8,300	T9	W/D	T6	2nd	DNP
Cameron Smith	$8,200	T6	T34	T3	T10	T2
Akshay Bhatia	$8,100	T35	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Robert MacIntyre	$8,000	DNP	DNP	T23	T12	DNP
Corey Conners	$7,900	T38	MC	T6	T8	T10
Tony Finau	$7,800	T55	T26	T35	T10	T38
Sahith Theegala	$7,700	T45	9th	DNP	DNP	DNP
Wyndham Clark	$7,700	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jason Day	$7,600	T30	T39	DNP	MC	MC
Sepp Straka	$7,600	T16	T46	T30	DNP	DNP
Dustin Johnson	$7,500	MC	T48	T12	MC	1st
Tom Kim	$7,500	T30	T16	DNP	DNP	DNP
Mattew Fitzpatrick	$7,400	T22	T10	T14	T34	T46
Sam Burns	$7,400	MC	T29	MC	DNP	DNP
Patrick Reed	$7,300	T12	T4	T35	T8	T10
Sungjae Im	$7,300	MC	T16	T8	MC	T2
Adam Scott	$7,200	T22	T39	T48	54th	T34
Justin Rose	$7,200	MC	T16	MC	7th	T23
Daniel Berger	$7,100	DNP	DNP	T50	MC	DNP
Maverick McNealy	$7,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sergio Garcia	$7,100	MC	MC	T23	MC	DNP
Cameron Young	$7,000	T9	T7	MC	DNP	DNP
Davis Thompson	$7,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Keegan Bradley	$7,000	T22	T23	DNP	DNP	DNP
Billy Horschel	$6,900	DNP	52nd	43rd	T50	T38
Nicolai Hojgaard	$6,900	T16	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Thomas Detry	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Aaron Rai	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Brian Harman	$6,800	MC	MC	MC	T12	DNP
Byeong Hun An	$6,800	T16	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC
J.J. Spaun	$6,800	DNP	DNP	T23	DNP	DNP
Cam Davis	$6,700	T12	DNP	46th	DNP	DNP
Michael Kim	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Phil Mickelson	$6,700	T43	T2	DNP	T21	T55
Rasmus Hojgaard	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Taylor Pendrith	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
C. Bezuidenhout	$6,600	DNP	DNP	T44	T40	T38
Chris Kirk	$6,600	T16	T23	DNP	DNP	DNP
Laurie Canter	$6,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Lucas Glover	$6,600	T20	DNP	T30	DNP	MC
Max Greyserman	$6,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Denny McCarthy	$6,500	T45	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Harris English	$6,500	T22	T43	DNP	T21	DNP
J.T. Poston	$6,500	T30	T34	DNP	DNP	MC
Max Homa	$6,500	T3	T43	T48	MC	MC
Nick Dunlap	$6,500	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Austin Eckroat	$6,400	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Davis Riley	$6,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Mattieu Pavon	$6,400	T12	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nico Echavarria	$6,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nick Taylor	$6,400	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	T29
Tom Hoge	$6,400	DNP	MC	T39	DNP	DNP
Adam Schenk	$6,300	T12	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jhonatten Vegas	$6,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Joe Highsmith	$6,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kevin Yu	$6,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matt McCarty	$6,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Stephan Jaeger	$6,300	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Charl Schwartzel	$6,200	MC	T50	T10	T26	T25
Danny Willett	$6,200	T45	MC	T12	MC	T25
Patton Kizzire	$6,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Thriston Lawrence	$6,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Zach Johnson	$6,200	MC	T34	MC	MC	T51
Bubba Watson	$6,100	MC	MC	T39	T26	57th
Fred Couples	$6,000	MC	T50	MC	MC	MC