The 90th edition of The Masters Tournament is about to get underway as golf's major championship season tees off at historic Augusta National.
It will be difficult to top Rory McIlroy's historic career Grand Slam-clinching victory here last April, when he became just the sixth player in the history of the game to win all four majors, but The Masters always delivers. McIlroy is amongst the favorites again as the five-time major champion looks to join Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Nick Faldo in winning at Augusta in back-to-back years.
Iconic Augusta National (Par-72, 7,565 yards) welcomes defending champion McIlroy and a field of 91 players who will tee it off in the year's first major. The prestigious venue often tests every aspect of a player's game, with winning scores ranging between 9 and 12-under par more often than not. Both McIlroy and two-time Masters winner Scottie Scheffler won at 11-under par the last two years.
McIlroy, Scheffler, who will tee it up for the first time since the birth of his second child, 2023 Masters winner Jon Rahm, 2025 U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau, Ludvig Aberg, and two-time major champion Xander Schauffele headline a Masters field that appears to be wide open on paper.
The year's first major is upon us; let's make some picks and predictions for the 90th playing of the Masters Tournament.
2026 Masters Tournament picks and predictions
Top 20 pick for The Masters: Harris English (+200)
English has finished inside the top 28 on a leaderboard in seven of his eight starts dating back to The American Express in January, including finishing T21 in his most recent start in Houston two weeks ago. He has finished 12th or better in three of his last four major starts and has finished T22 and tied for 12th in his last two starts at The Masters.
Top 10 pick for The Masters: Patrick Reed (+295)
2018 Masters winner Patrick Reed has played exceptionally well at Augusta National in his last five starts, finishing top 12 or better on four of his last five visits, including tying for 3rd at last year's Masters Tournament. His last competitive start came on the DP World Tour at the Joburg Open in March, where he finished T10. Reed has won twice and finished runner-up in three of his six starts around the world this year.
Sleeper pick for The Masters: Nicolai Hojgaard (+7400)
Hojgaard will make his third appearance at The Masters this week, having finished T16 on his debut in 2024 before missing the cut at Augusta last year. He comes into this year's Masters Tournament playing much better golf than he was at this point last year.
Winner at the DP World Tour Championship in 2023, Hojgaard has finished top 27 or better in six of his seven starts on the PGA Tour this year, including finishing runner-up to Gary Woodland in his most recent start at the Houston Open two weeks ago. He also finished T3 at the WM Phoenix Open in February and tied for sixth at the Cognizant Classic in early March.
Pick to win The Masters: Cameron Young (+2300)
After winning at The Players Championship last month, Young can follow in the footsteps of both McIlroy and Scheffler, who each won at TPC Sawgrass before going on to put on the famous Green Jacket the last two years.
In addition to his win at The Players, Young has finished inside the top seven in each of his last three starts, including a T3 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and tying for seventh at Riviera in February. He was T4 at the U.S. Open last year and has finished T7 and T9 in two of his last four starts at Augusta. The only real concern would be that he hasn't teed it up since his win last month, but the same could be said for a handful of contenders heading into the year's first major.
Pick to win The Masters: Ludvig Aberg (+1650)
While Aberg has had chances to win and hasn't of late, there is no denying that he enters The Masters playing as well as anybody. In his last four starts, he has finished no worse than a T20 finish at the Genesis Invitational in February. Aberg comes into the year's first major having finished T3 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, T5 at The Players, and T5 last week at the Valero Texas Open. He finished runner-up on his debut at The Masters in 2024 and followed that with a T7 finish at Augusta last year.
All betting odds courtesy of DraftKings. Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change. The content in this article should not be considered betting advice. Gambling involves risk, and one should only gamble with funds that one can comfortably afford to lose. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.