Best Bets for the 2025 Masters

So far we covered some of the favorites and a few longshots for the 2025 Masters, now it’s time to dig into a few of the best bets to make this week:

Phil Mickelson to Make the Cut -144

Mickelson has made the cut in 28 of his 31 Masters appearances. Now you may say…Paulie, most of those came in the prime of his career and he now is 54 years old. However, Mickelson has made the cut each of the last seven years. Since he joined LIV Golf, it feels like his biggest focus is gearing up for Augusta early in the season. He has shown great promise over the last month, finishing inside the top 20 in all three LIV events, including a third-place finish in Hong Kong and a sixth-place showing last week at Doral. This seems like yet another year where Phil peaks at the right time for Augusta.

Sepp Straka & Robert MacIntyre to Make the Cut -125 (available at Fanduel)

As mentioned in the Longshots article (link article), Straka and MacIntyre are great fits for Augusta National. Both of these players should be able to make the cut this week as long as they have any semblance of their elite ball-striking.

Tournament Matchup: J.J. Spaun -125 over Matt Fitzpatrick (available at Fanduel/DraftKings)

At first glance, the average golf fan would probably lean towards Fitz in this matchup, especially considering he hasn’t finished worse than 46th in any of his nine Masters appearances. However, Fitzpatrick is in a slump right now and Spaun is playing the best golf of his career.

Fitzpatrick has played seven PGA Tour events in 2025 and has only two finishes better than 48th, and those both came in small field signature events (24th at Sentry Open, 22nd at Arnold Palmer Invitational). He has struggled in every aspect of his game with lost strokes to his historical average in all of the four main categories, amounting to about 1.35 shots worse per round.

On the other hand, Spaun has played nine events and finished 34th or better in eight of them, with three top-three finishes highlighted by a playoff loss to Rory McIlroy at the Players. He has been on fire with his irons, gaining 1.15 strokes per round this season on approach, second behind Collin Morikawa. In his only Masters appearance in 2022, he finished 23rd.

Give me Spaun, the in-form golfer who is striping his irons, to defeat Fitzpatrick.

Justin Rose First Round Leader +6000, Top 20 +250 & Top 10 +600

Rose has really played well over the last year. In 2024, he finished sixth at the PGA Championship and second at the Open Championship. So far in 2025, he has two top tens in signature events with a third at Pebble Beach and an eighth at Bay Hill.

Most people consider Rose to be an average but not elite player who flashes near the top of the leaderboard a few times a year. So, it comes as a surprise when they hear about Rose’s first-round record at Augusta National:

Rose has shot under par and finished 13th or better in 10 of his 19 Masters opening rounds. He has eight top-six finishes and has been the leader four times.

• 2023: 69 (13th)
• 2021: 65 (1st)
• 2020: 67 (6th)
• 2017: 71 (4th)
• 2016 69 (4th)
• 2015 67 (2nd)
• 2013 70 (13th)
• 2008 68 (1st)
• 2007 69 (1st)
• 2004 67 (1st)

He makes for a great longshot bet to sweat out Thursday afternoon at the Masters.