US Masters 2025: Three picks from Dave Tindall in his early look at Augusta

• 2023 winner Jon Rahm can repeat a Masters pattern

• Cameron Smith has always been a great fit for Augusta

• Will Zalatoris has shown he has the game to win majors

Tournament: The 2025 US Masters
When: April 10-13
Where: Augusta National Golf Club
How to watch: All four days live on Sky Sports

Twelve months ago, when I wrote my preview of the 2024 US Masters, Scottie Scheffler was a 9/110.00 chance to win his second Green Jacket.

Those odds had crashed by the time he teed it up at Augusta after two big-tournament wins in March: the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship.

Those were his second victories in both events and he matched that feat with a four-shot win at Augusta a month later to add to his 2022 triumph.

This year, Scheffler is just 4/15.00 on the Betfair Sportsbook to win a third Masters and 5.39/2 on the Exchange.

His second victory in three years confirmed Augusta as a classic horses-for-courses track but did the top 10 also have a strong previous bank of Masters form? These were the best past Augusta performances of the top 10 in 2024.

1st Scottie Scheffler - 1st, 10th
2nd Ludvig Aberg - debut
3rd Tommy Fleetwood - 14th, 17th, 19th
3rd Max Homa - 43rd
3rd Collin Morikawa - 5th, 10th, 18th
6th Bryson DeChambeau - 21st
6th Cameron Smith - 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th
8th Xander Schauffele - 2nd, 3rd, 10th, 17th
9th Tyrrell Hatton - 18th
9th Cam Young - 7th
9th Will Zalatoris - 2nd, 6th

It's a bit of a mixed bag.

If looking for confirmation that Augusta is a specialists' track you'd note that four players in the top 10 had recorded a previous top two there.

If arguing the other way, four of the top six had never logged a top 10 while three of the top half-dozen had never even bagged a Masters top 20.

Strong course form clearly counts for plenty but it's not an absolute must, at least when it comes to each-way bets.

However, I'm looking for the winner and nine of the last 12 Masters champions had previously managed a top six finish at Augusta so that informs my choices.

The Sportsbook is currenty offering six each-way places (1/5 odds) and the top of the betting (December 17th) looks like this.

4/15.00 Scottie Scheffler, 9/110.00 Rory McIlroy, 12/113.00 Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, 14/115.00 Ludvig Aberg, 20/121.00 Collin Morikawa, 22/123.00 Bryson DeChambeau, Viktor Hovland, 25/126.00 Brooks Koepka, 28/129.00 Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas.

But we have some bigger prices to go at on the Exchange.

Back Jon Rahm @ 15.5

Jon Rahm, the 2023 Masters winner, had a tough time in the American majors last year, with injury and his move to LIV unbalancing the Spaniard.

He could only finish 45th in defence of the Masters, missed the cut in the US PGA and failed to make the start line in the US Open due to a foot infection.

Up until that point he'd also failed to win on the LIV Tour but a seventh place in the Open Championship at Troon reminded us of his prowess and he followed that with LIV wins in the UK and Chicago.

Rahm ended 2024 with 10 straight top 10s.

There's a pattern when it comes to Masters winners: they struggle to defend after winning their first Green Jacket but then strike back with another win the year after.

As evidence, we have Scottie Scheffler (2022 and 2024), Bubba Watson (2012 and 2014), Phil Mickelson (2004 and 2006) and if you go back even further you'll see Arnold Palmer winning in 1960, 1962 and 1964.

With no Champions Dinner to fret over, Rahm can have another run at this and hopefully add to his four-shot win from two years ago.

He certainly deserves the tag as a Masters specialist, having also posted 4-9-7-5 at Augusta from 2018-2021, so back him now as more LIV wins could see him shorten towards single figures.

Major wins tend to come in bunches across maybe four or five years so Rahm can add a third after victories in 2021 (US Open) and 2023 (Masters).

Back Cameron Smith @ 40.039/1

Cam Smith is already a major winner after holding off Rory McIlroy and others to capture the 2022 Open Championship at St Andrews.

He's always looked to be a perfect fit for Augusta National given his magical short game and so far he has a second, a third, a fifth, a sixth and a 10th in the year's first major.

"This is my happy place and I love being here," he said of Augusta National a couple of seasons ago.

Smith hit more fairways than he ever has (69.6%) when sixth in last year's Masters while in recent editions he's ranked first for Scrambling (2024) and for Putting Average (2022). He was top 10 for Greens in Regulation in both 2021 and 2022.

The Queenslander has had a strong end to 2024 after a trio of second places across November and December (Saudi International, Australian PGA and NSW Open). He's got both the game and minerals to become Australia's second green jacket winner 12 years on from Adam Scott's memorable win.

Back Will Zalatoris @ 55.054/1

If looking beyond 50s in the betting, and trying to hone in on a player whose price could shorten up seriously, Will Zalatoris very much fits the bill.

The Californian was a brilliant runner-up on his Masters debut in 2021, added sixth in 2022 and was ninth last year after missing the 2023 edition with injury.

Ah, yes, injury. He's had a tough run and 2024 brought its challenges as he tried to bed in swing changes to help protect his back. A "grind" he called it.

But three top 20s in his last four starts suggests he's finding the right formula of rest and play.

As well as his three top 10s in three Masters appearances, Zalatoris has also finished runner-up in both the US Open and US PGA. This is very much his stage.

Early in 2024, he was runner-up at Riviera (a course that correlates strongly with Augusta) and fourth at Bay Hill so if he produced something similar his Masters odds would quickly crash.

Oh, and don't get stressed about his putting. Augusta's super-fast surfaces strike fear into many but he's ranked 21st, scond and 17th for Putting Average in his three Masters starts.

Let's get on board now at 55s.

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