Get side-market selections for the Masters from some Sporting Life regulars and invited guests.
Charl Schwartzel top South African
Former Sky Sports Golf editor Dave Tindall is a regular contributor to betting.betfair.com and various other publications.
Surprisingly, there are only three South Africans in the field this week although one of them is a former Masters winner, CHARL SCHWARTZEL. And it's the 2011 champion that takes the eye against Thriston Lawrence and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
Lawrence is in wretched form with eight missed cuts, 54th and 59th in his last 10 starts. Not the kind of shape you want to be in ahead of your Masters debut.
Bezuidenhout has plodded away gamely at Augusta but hasn't beaten 38th in three attempts and, in fact, hasn't bettered 30th in 16 starts in the majors. Current form? MC-MC.
So that leaves Schwartzel, who set off a pre-Masters klaxon by finishing second at LIV Miami on Sunday after 14th and 20th in his previous two starts on the rebel tour. At Augusta he was 10th in 2022 and 26th and 25th before that.
On current form and on the course that gave him his greatest moment as a golfer, he certainly has the beating of his two Springbok compatriots.
Patrick Reed top-20 finish
Matt Cooper is a golf journalist and long-time Sporting Life contributor who previews the women's majors for the website and provides tips for multiple tours for betting.betfair.com and others.
I like PATRICK REED’s outright price this week, but I really like his price to make the top 20.
Looking at his record in the Masters you see five top-20s (all of them top-15s in fact) in his last seven starts – and the first of those, of course, was victory in the 2018 event.
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His short game stats are particularly excellent and he recently told The Fried Egg that Augusta’s greens would form an integral part of his major championship ideal course.
All of this would count for little if he were out of form but he’s not. He carded a 59 when winning the Hong Kong Open in November and has made three top-10s in his last four starts, including sitting in top spot on the leaderboard at the end of four of the last seven rounds he’s played.
Corey Conners top Canadian
Martin Mathews is a golf tipster who provides weekly betting previews for the PGA Tour via his own website, and major previews for Paddy Power.
Backing even-money shots certainly isn't a way to get rich quick, however this game is all about value and in this instance the price on COREY CONNERS to land top Canadian looks too good to ignore.
Conners arrives here in a solid vein of form having posted four top-20s including three top-10s in his last four starts. Add that to his record of three top-10s in his past five Masters appearances, and that he is gaining strokes in all key areas (including his nemesis, the putter) and you can perhaps see why his name is being uttered in certain quarters this week as a 'dark horse' to don the Green Jacket.
Ultimately though we all probably know the script, the one where the ultra consistent Conners pops up on another major championship leaderboard, perhaps even in the final three or four pairings come Sunday, before falling short.
In this market though a solid top 20 is more than likely going to be good enough as he faces past champion Mike Weir, who we can discount, plus fellow PGA Tour winners Nick Taylor and Taylor Pendrith.
With Taylor arriving in poor form and having failed to produce on the major stage to date including at Augusta, this really looks a straight shootout between Conners and Pendrith. Pendrith's big hitting should certainly help, however he struggles on and around the greens, not something that bodes well for Augusta, and as a debutant sticking around for all four days will be seen as an achievement.
I'll not look a gift horse in the mouth then and will happily take the evens on Conners to prevail.
Zach Johnson top-40 finish
Tom Jacobs is the host of the Lost Fore Words podcast and also provides tips and previews for Oddschecker.
This might seem a bit rogue, first placing a top 40 bet in a 95-man field, but also betting on ZACH JOHNSON in 2025, but hear me out...
Johnson is playing like someone who has finally been relieved of Ryder Cup duties, and while it’s only twice in seven starts that he’s actually finished inside this number this year, that doesn’t tell the full story.
He kicked off the year by finishing 21st at the Sony Open, where he was better placed after 36 holes (sixth), and that has generally been the theme of his season so far. Since then, he has finished 48th at Torrey Pines, where he was fourth after round one and 25th going into Sunday, and 42nd at the Cognizant Classic, where he was again better placed, this time seventh after 36 and 14th after 54 holes.
Two missed cuts followed but neither effort was particularly bad, and last week he finally pieced it all together for his first top-20 finish of the season, finishing 18th at the Valero Texas Open. Again, he was better placed going into Sunday, but the way I see it, I am really just asking him to make the cut this week, and then avoid disaster.
He achieved this in 2023 when finishing 34th, and while you have to go back to 2018 for the last time he hit this number again (36th) I think he’s finally playing good enough golf to plot his way around this course like many other elder statesmen have done over the years.
I’m well aware that one swallow doesn't make a summer, but it's actually the body of work throughout the year that makes me think he can place inside the top 40 for the sixth time in the last 15 years. Plus, Augusta might the only place he can avoid being heckled. That might be worth a couple of strokes on its own.
Bubba Watson and Thriston Lawrence to miss the cut
David Bieleski is a golf analyst for Sport Nation radio in New Zealand who provides weekly golf betting insight via @deepdivegolf.
BUBBA WATSON may have a prior affinity with Augusta National as a two-time champion, but he has finished better than 21st just once in the last 12 months on the limited-field LIV Golf circuit. Watson has missed his last two cuts at the Masters, falling six shots short in 2023 and four in 2024. Plus, that pink on the RangeGoats uniform really clashes with the local azaleas here.
THRISTON LAWRENCE has looked all at sea during his rookie season on the PGA Tour. He has managed just two cuts in eight starts, both coming in weaker field events when 59th at the Mexico Open and 54th in Puerto Rico.
Despite being prolific on the DP World Tour, Lawrence has never made a cut at the Dubai Desert Classic. Emirates Golf Club is a course linked to the Masters, with Danny Willett and Sergio Garcia donning the green jacket a few months after winning in Dubai. Mark O'Meara, Tiger Woods, Jose Maria Olazábal, Seve Ballesteros, and Fred Couples have also all completed the double.
Further links can be found through Patrick Reed, Ernie Els, Justin Rose, and Retief Goosen and that's further reason to believe that, on his first look at Augusta National, an out-of-form Lawrence is going to struggle.
Posted at 1130 BST on 08/04/25
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