US Masters 2025: Dave Tindall's guide to the action at Augusta National

• Scottie Scheffler remains at the front of the betting

• Rory McIlroy has been a big market mover after two early-season wins

• Xander Schauffele has been a notable drifter in the market

• Free bets for birdies in our Birdie Bonus offer. T&Cs apply. Click here for more.

• For more Masters content read Matt Cooper's profiles of the leading 50 players

Watch Betfair's Golf...Only Bettor Masters preview

Scheffler aiming to defy history

When Scottie Scheffler tees it up in this year's Masters, he'll be trying to win the green jacket for the third time in four years.

Good luck with that. Tiger never managed it. Neither did Phil Mickelson.

It means Scheffler has to match the feat of the greatest Masters golfer of all time: Jack Nicklaus.

The Golden Bear's tally of six green jackets is a record and back in the 1960s he won it in 1963, 1965 and 1966, the only time that feat of three wins in four years has been done

Scheffler will hope to repeat that pattern by becoming a Masters winner in 2022, 2024 and 2025 and he's favourite to do so. More on that below.

This will be the 89th edition of the year's opening major. And, as always, the anticipation has been building for months given that it's July since punters last got the chance to watch their bets unfold in a major championship.

Last 10 US Masters winners and finish the next year

2024: -11 Scottie Scheffler (USA) - won by 4, finished ?? when defending
2023: -12 Jon Rahm (Spain) - won by 4, finished 45th when defending
2022: -10 Scottie Scheffler (USA) - won by 3, finished 10th when defending
2021: -10 Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) - won by 1, finished 14th when defending
2020: -20 Dustin Johnson (USA) - won by 5, missed cut when defending
2019: -13 Tiger Woods (USA) - won by 1, finished 38th when defending
2018: -15 Patrick Reed (USA) - won by 1, finished 36th when defending
2017: -9 Sergio Garcia (Spain) - won in playoff, missed cut when defending
2016: -5 Danny Willett (England) - won by 3, missed cut when defending
2015: -18 Jordan Spieth (USA) - won by 4, finished runner-up when defending

• Americans have won 6 of the last 10
• Six of the last 10 have been won by a winning margin of 3 or more
• In the last four editions, only the winner was double digits under par
• Only two of the last 10 winners have made the top 10 when defending. Three missed the cut.

For a detailed view of the leading 50 players in the Masters field, read Matt Cooper's profiles here.

2025 Masters facts

When: April 10-13
Where: Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia
The Course: Par 72, 7,555 yards
Designers: Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones
Course record: 63 (Nick Price 1986, Greg Norman 1996)
Lowest winning score: 268 (-20) Dustin Johnson 2020
Most wins: 6 Jack Nicklaus, 5 Tiger Woods, 4 Arnold Palmer
2025 prize money: Winner gets $3.6m of a $20m purse.

Masters UK TV details

How to watch: All four days on Sky Sports, plus extra coverage. Day one coverage begins at 2pm on Thursday 10th (same 2pm start on Friday), with Featured Group action and other updates from around the course. The global broadcast window opens at 8pm. On the weekend, the global broadcast starts at 8pm on Saturday and 7pm on Sunday but early action will be available on the red button. 

Augusta National GC, Masters course details

It's the course golf fans probably know better than any other.

The tough opening par-4. The downhill par-5 2nd. The short par-4 3rd with the false front. The long par-3 4th. All of the back nine, including those enticing par 5s at 13 and 15 and the angled, tiered green of the par-3 16th.

The only major played at the same venue every year, we revel in the familiar sights and sounds.

Tinkering continues but Mother Nature has played a part this year with October's Hurricane Helene destroying plenty of trees on the property.

Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National, said in January: "As far as the golf course goes, it's in spectacular condition. I think we had minor damage to the course, the playing surfaces themselves, but we were able to get that back in shape, but I don't think you're going to see any difference in the condition for the Masters this year."

While the yardage has crept up to 7,555 yards, the par 72 Augusta National always play longer that that due to the fairways being mown towards the tee.

Handling the lightning-fast, undulating Bentgrass greens is perhaps the biggest challenge.

Scheffler's four-shot win last year suggested he was dominant but a reminder that four players had a piece of the lead at various points during the front nine on Sunday.

Augusta National's scoring average of 73.82 in 2024 was the second-highest since 2017.

Datagolf broke down how each Strokes Gained category played out and it showed that of the 15 courses used to that point in 2024, Augusta National ranked 1st in difficulty for Approach, Around The Green and Putting.  

By contrast, it was the second easiest driving course, ranking 14th hardest out of 15 for Off The Tee.

Those numbers are exactly what we've come to expect.

Masters betting market moves in 2025

Here's how the betting has changed since I had a first look at the end of 2024. 

December 17: 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.

March 26: 9/25.50 Scottie Scheffler, 6/17.00 Rory McIlroy, 14/115.00 Jon Rahm, Ludvig Aberg, 16/117.00 Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa, 18/119.00 Xander Schauffele, 20/121.00 Justin Thomas, 25/126.00 Hideki Matsuyama, Joaquin Niemann, Jordan Spieth, 28/129.00 Brooks Koepka.

Rory McIlroy has been the big mover - cut to 6/17.00 from 9/110.00 - after his wins at Pebble Beach and Sawgrass. 

Is this finally his year at Augusta? It's a question that just won't go away.

Other moves among the big-name dual major winners: Justin Thomas has been chopped to 20/121.00 from 28/129.00, Bryson DeChambeau to 16/117.00 from 22/123.00 and Collin Morikawa to 16/117.00 from 20/121.00.

Going the other way in notable fashion is Xander Schauffele from 12/113.00 to 18/119.00 after some modest displays since coming back from injury although he did post 12th at the Valspar on his latest start. 

The interesting one at the front end is Viktor Hovland. He was 22/123.00 in December, drifted out to 60/161.00 after some terrible early-season form but has now been cut to 33/134.00 after his victory at last week's Valspar Championship.

It's also worth mentioning Joaquin Niemann. He was 40/141.00 in December, drifted to 50/151.00 but has been slashed to 25/126.00 after two wins in his last three LIV starts (Adelaide and Singapore).

As for my ante-post picks, Jon Rahm, advised at 15.5 on the exchange has drifted to 19.5 and Cam Smith is out to 65.064/1 from the advised 40.039/1. Whoops.

But there's better news for my final ante-post pick, Will Zalatoris. I put him up at 55/156.00 on the Sportsbook in December and he's now down to 33/134.00.

Some historical context: five of the last six Masters champions were priced at 16/117.00 or lower. The exception was Hideki Matsuyama at 45/146.00 in 2021.

The Sportsbook is currenty offering six each-way places (1/5 odds) 

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