2024 Masters Preview

First Look: The 2024 Masters Tournament @ Augusta National Golf Club

Check out DB’s full Course Breakdown for everything you need to know about this week’s venue including in-depth stats and data from Bet The Number.

Can you hear the piano music yet? The flowers are in bloom and the world’s top golfers are making their final preparations ahead of the best week of the year, and so too are the Tour Junkies. On the eve of 2024’s first major, we’ve prepared a delicious champions dinner of field notes, key stats, notable trends and everything else you need to know ahead of the biggest golf gambling week on the calendar. As of writing, this data will of course not reflect any updates from the action out at the Valero, but we know we’re all mentally in Augusta starting now… so let’s get into it!

2024 Masters Tournament Field Notes:
*As of Friday, April 5

Field Size: 89

Cut Info: Top 50 & ties after 36 holes

Field Breakdown:
First Timers - 19
Past Champions - 18
2023-2024 PGA TOUR Winners - 30
Special Exemptions - 3
1. Joaquin Niemann
2. Ryo Hisatsune
3. Thorbjorn Oleson

The best golfers in the world are finally back together again and that is some much-needed good news for us, the fans. It almost feels weird to see the likes of Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson not beside some stupid team nickname but rather names like Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy… oh and one Tiger Woods.

The LIV vs PGA battle was the big headline headed into last year’s Masters and a fight that the defectors ultimately won — even if the champion came from the Tour side of the fence. But with Rahm now donning a Legion XIII polo under his Green Jacket, LIV boasts four of the top six finishers from the 2023 Masters and all of them are returning to Augusta this week.

Alongside Rahm, runners-up Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson join Patrick Reed among last year’s top finishers from LIV, and that’s to say nothing of Cam Smith and Joaquin Niemann, the latter of which might just be the hottest player on the planet not named Scottie Scheffler.

Speaking of Scottie, the 2022 Masters champion enters the week as Jay Monohan’s best hope for one of his own to reclaim the Green Jacket. With other PGA TOUR stars notably underperforming so far this season, Scottie appears to have assumed Rory McIlroy’s role as the standard-bearer for the PGA TOUR and all of the pressure that comes with it.

But the absence of star power at the top of the leaderboards so far this season has made room for exciting newcomers and journeymen veterans who will be making their first-ever Masters appearance next week.

Young guns and recent first-time winners like Austin Eckroat, Jake Knapp, Nick Dunlap and Ludvig Aberg received their very first invite from Augusta National, but so too did Wyndham Clark. It’s hard to believe that the defending U.S. Open champion and three-time PGA TOUR winner is a Masters rookie, but he’ll be looking to continue the hot streak he’s been on going back to last year’s win at Quail Hollow.

As we all know, experience means a lot at Augusta where we haven’t seen a debutant winner since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979. But don’t let that scare you off from betting on a new name to make a run. Recent years have seen Jordan Spieth, Will Zalatoris and Sungjae Im all finish runner-up in their first Masters start, and last year, Sahith Theegala back-doored his way to a top 10 in his first visit.

Overview: Augusta National Golf Club

Par 3s (4): The par 3s at ANGC are notorious for their wide variety of difficulty and propensity to generate drama. The 240-yard fourth is the first to greet the players and consistently plays as one of the toughest holes on the course averaging .28 strokes over par. We all remember plenty of Rae’s Creek disasters on No. 12, but No. 16 is usually ripe for at least one ace each year and is a definite birdie opportunity with a favorable hole location.

Par 4s (10): With an average distance of 456 yards, the par 4s require a combination of power and precision with almost every iron in the bag doing some work on approach. Holes 3 and 5 will see many players opt for less than driver off the tee to avoid some of the most penal bunkers on the course, but the rest favor the big stick and a right-to-left ball flight more often than not.

Par 5s (4): These are the best scoring opportunities at Augusta National, and those who wear the Green Jacket come Sunday evening usually make their hay on the par 5s. Already the longest hole on the course, No. 2 has a slightly new look this year with the tee box moved 10 yards back and to the left. ‘Pink Dogwood’ played as the easiest hole last year with a scoring average of 4.637, and the other par 5s have historically played well under par too.

Key Performance Indicators + Field Leaders

Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (prev 50 rds)
1. Rory McIlroy 2. Scottie Scheffler 3. Bryson DeChambeau 4. Ludvig Aberg 5. Joaquin Niemann

Strokes Gained: Approach (prev 50 rds)
1. Scottie Scheffler 2. Jon Rahm 3. Lucas Glover 4. Cam Smith 5. Collin Morikawa

Course History (SG: Total at ANGC last 20 rounds)
1. Will Zalatoris 2. Jon Rahm 3. Scottie Scheffler 4. Xander Schauffele 5. Brooks Koepka

Strokes Gained: Around the Green (prev 50 rds)
1. Xander Schauffele 2. Chris Kirk 3. Hideki Matsuyama 4. Jason Day 5. Patrick Reed

Driving Distance (prev 50 rds)
1. Bryson DeChambeau 2. Rory McIlroy 3. Min Woo Lee 4. Dustin Johnson 5. Joaquin Niemann

Strokes Gained Approach from 175-240 yds (prev 50 rds)
1. Hideki Matsuyama 2. Nicolai Hojgaard 3. Corey Conners 4. Jon Rahm 5. Joaquin Niemann

Apex Height (prev 50 rds)
1. Phil Mickelson 2. Keegan Bradley 3. Bryson DeChambeau 4. Wyndham Clark 5. Ludvig Aberg 

Last 10 Winners + Trends of the Decade

• 2023: Jon Rahm -12

• 2022: Scottie Scheffler -9

• 2021: Hideki Matsuyama -10

• 2020: Dustin Johnson -20 *Held in November

• 2019: Tiger Woods -13

• 2018: Patrick Reed -15

• 2017: Sergio Garcia -9

• 2016: Danny Willett -5

• 2015: Jordan Spieth -18

• 2014: Bubba Watson -8

• 2013: Adam Scott -9

Winning Trends Among the Last 10 Champions:

• 8/10 played in at least three Masters prior to their win

• 7/10 had a previous top-5 finish at ANGC

• 7/10 had a finish of T12 or better in the month prior to the Masters

• 7/10 had an outright win earlier in the same season

• 9/10 had a top 10 in a major in the two years prior to their win

• 8/10 finished outside the top 10 in the Masters the prior year

Data Trends from Last 10 Champions:

• Driving Distance: 8/10 finished T20 or better in a prior Masters

• Driving Accuracy: 7/10 finished T20 or better in a prior Masters

• Greens in Regulation: 8/10 finished T20 or better in a prior Masters

• Scrambling: 8/10 finished T20 or better in a prior Masters

• Putting Average: 7/10 finished T20 or better in a prior Masters

• Ball Striking: 8/10 finished T20 or better in SG: Ball Striking

• All of the Above: 8 of the last 10 champions checked 5/6 of these categories before winning

More Trends:

• 18 of the last 21 winners were 27 or older

• 25 of the last 26 winners made the cut in the prior Masters

• 23 of the last 26 winners finished better than T38 in the prior Masters

• 56 of the last 59 winners did not win the Masters the year before

• 13 of the last 15 winners had at least four career wins

• 12 of the last 14 winners finished 35th or higher in their last start before the Masters

2023 Masters DFS Insights

With five of the top 10 points earners priced at $7800 or below, you did well if you backed the cheap LIV guys ahead of their first major championship since leaving the PGA TOUR.

So it’s no surprise to see the defectors claiming the top spots in points to price with Phil, Brooks and P Reed finishing near the top of the leaderboard with prices in the $6-7k range.

On the flip side, the top end of the ownership chalk was a significant letdown — especially if you backed Rory and Corey Conners. Here’s what the perfect lineup would’ve been for 2023:

Perfect Lineup: Rahm / Spieth / Koepka / Mickelson / Reed / Henley 577.5 @ $48.8k w/ ~64% Ownership

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The MASTERS is almost here and that means MAJORS SZN BEST BALL is BACK on UNDERDOG! We love the UD Best Ball product, and the Majors contests are up and running. Get in there, draft your team of 10 golfers, sit back, and watch it all unfold.