The Masters Tournament
Preview for the Masters Tournament: Well it’s here friends, the most historic and celebrated golf tournament in the world has arrived – the 2023 edition of the Masters is almost here! This infamous golf spectacle has been played since 1934 on the sacred grounds of Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. The record at this tournament is held by Dustin Johnson who shot an incredible -20 just three years ago to top Cameron Smith and Sungjae Im by 5 strokes. Winners of the Masters Tournament over the past five years include Scottie Scheffler in 2022, Hideki Matsuyama in 2021, Dustin Johnson in 2020, Tiger Woods in 2019, and Patrick Reed in 2018.
Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is $15M, the winner collects $2.7M, and also earns himself 600 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: Prestigious Augusta National Golf Club is 7,510 yards in length, is a par 72, and the greens are bentgrass. The winning score at the Masters over the past decade ranges from -5 to -20, so the course setup really dictates how difficult the track plays. Some core key stats to pay attention to this week, in order, include strokes gained: tee to green, driving distance, strokes gained: around the green, strokes gained: off the tee, and strokes gained: approach.
The Masters Tournament 2023 field: We will see a field size of 89 golfers this week, and the top 50 players plus ties after round 2 will move on to play round 3 on Saturday and round 4 on Sunday. The field is obviously stacked, so we’ll see Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, and others we haven’t seen much of for a while since they left for the LIV Tour – Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau, and others. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength an A.
DFS PGA Tour Golf Picks
Make the most of the data, predictions, and insights from this article to help with your fantasy golf picks for the Masters Tournament. And check out our PGA Projections and Optimizer tools to make more informed player selections for your DFS DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
Three questions that are relevant to the Masters Tournament this week:
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes tee to green over their last 24 rounds? The most important key stat this week is tee to green play, and the top 10 golfers include Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Tony Finau, Tyrrell Hatton, Jason Day, and Jordan Spieth.
- Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau, Jason Day, Patrick Cantlay, Collin Morikawa, and Will Zalatoris.
- Which 10 players gained the most strokes total (minimum 8 rounds) at this event since 2018? Will Zalatoris (8 rounds), Dustin Johnson (18 rounds), Scottie Scheffler (12 rounds), Jon Rahm (20 rounds), Cameron Smith (20 rounds), Rory McIlroy (18 rounds), Justin Thomas (20 rounds), Patrick Reed (20 rounds), Hideki Matsuyama (20 rounds), and Corey Conners (16 rounds).
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are (in no particular order) 15 DFS golf picks on DraftKings (DK), plus I also include player salaries for DK. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performances at the event over the last five years, and add in some valuable data.
15 Players Who Are Either High-Potential or Solid-Value Plays This Week – Get Them Into Your DFS Lineups
Scottie Scheffler (Salary: DraftKings – $11.1K) – He was easily the top golfer in my custom model this week, and for good reason as he has two wins in his last five starts, two other T4’s during that span, and it seems like he’s well inside the top 10 or just outside of it every time he plays now. Over his last 10 starts, his worst finish is a T12 which is really quite remarkable. He pretty much gains strokes across the board every tournament he competes in, and has gained an insane 51+ strokes ball-striking over his last five events. Let’s also not forget that he won here last year by three strokes over Rory McIlroy, and has fared no worse than T19 in three Augusta appearances. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: 2022 – Won, 2021 – T18, and 2020 – T19.
Rory McIlroy (Salary: DraftKings – $10.6K) – Can he complete the career grand slam in 2023? We will find out in a few days, but Rory will undoubtedly keep giving his best effort at this event on an annual basis. He had a solo 2nd last year, and has seven top 10’s here since 2014. He also has two top 3’s over his last three starts, and has two wins this year – one on the PGA Tour and one on the DP World Tour. If his putter is slightly better than field average this week he could win as he lost 0.93 strokes on the greens last year and finished runner-up thanks to gaining 7.54 strokes ball-striking and 7.76 strokes around the green. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: 2022 – 2nd, 2021 – cut, 2020 – T5, 2019 – T9, and 2018 – T4.
Tony Finau (Salary: DraftKings – $8.9K) – I think it’s Scheffler vs McIlroy again this year at the Masters to see who wins the Green Jacket, but there are a few others who could contend including Finau. Tony has three top 10’s at this tournament in five starts including a T5 in 2019 when he gained 10.08 strokes total. His worst finish this year is a T24, he has two top 9’s in 2023, and is a consistently strong ball-striker and putter. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T35, 2021 – T10, 2020 – T38, 2019 – T5, and 2018 – T10.
Sam Burns (Salary: DraftKings – $8.3K) – Burns won the WGC Dell Match Play two weeks ago in impressive fashion, he had a 6th in the start prior at the Valspar Championship and a T6 at the Phoenix Open in February, and has been riding a hot short game all year long. He missed the cut here last year as a rookie but I expect to see much better from Sam this time around after getting his feet wet in 2022, and coming in with full confidence after winning a notable event in Texas. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut.
Sungjae Im (Salary: DraftKings – $8.1K) – He’s a consistent performer with regular top 10’s, top 20’s, and top 30’s. He had a T6 at THE PLAYERS Championship two starts ago, and has a strong game throughout. He has two top 8’s here in three Masters starts including a T2 three years ago, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him capture another top 10 this week. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T8, 2021 – cut, and 2020 – T2.
Max Homa (Salary: DraftKings – $9.2K) – Homa is turning into a real stud golfer as he won the Farmers Insurance Open six starts ago, had a 2nd at the Genesis Invitational four starts ago, and has back-to-back top 9’s including a T6 at THE PLAYERS. He’s outstanding in the ball-striking category and can really pop with his putter as we saw him gain 11.33 strokes at The Genesis Invitational – plus he typically gains with his flat stick on any given week. He hasn’t played well here just yet in three starts, but he has the high-end talent to go off for a top 5 this week. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T48, 2021 – cut, and 2020 – cut.
Jason Day (Salary: DraftKings – $8.7K) – He has been one of the hottest golfers on the PGA Tour since last October and especially lately with five top 10’s in his last six starts including a 4th at the WGC Dell Match Play. Every part of Day’s game is in fine form, and while he’s missed the cut here in his last two looks, he also has four top 10’s here since 2011 including a T5 four years ago. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: 2021 – cut, 2020 – cut, 2019 – T5, and 2018 – T20.
Corey Conners (Salary: DraftKings – $7.6K) – Conners and Cameron Smith are the only two players to have three straight top 10’s at the Masters, and with Corey coming off the win just last week, you got to think that he’s well-positioned to add his fourth straight – not bad for a $7K player. He’s been so good here that even when he loses 3.39 strokes with his short game as he did in 2021, he still had a T8 finish because he gained 11.22 strokes ball-striking. He has three top 21’s over his last four starts including his win, of course, and his game just seems to fit great at this venue year in and year out. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T6, 2021 – T8, 2020 – T10, and 2019 – T46.
Cameron Young (Salary: DraftKings – $8.6K) – Young has the potential to become a superstar on the PGA Tour and his defining run could start this week at Augusta. We don’t typically see a first-time winner on the PGA Tour earn it at the Masters, but Cameron has proven that he can compete in the best fields as he had a 2nd at the WGC Dell Match Play two weeks ago and a T10 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational three starts ago, so anything seems possible for him. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut.
Xander Schauffele (Salary: DraftKings – $9.0K) – He really has to figure out his off the tee game if he wants to contend this week, but he had a 5th at the WGC Dell Match Play, a T10 at the Phoenix Open five starts ago, and had a T3 earlier this year at The American Express. He has played well at the Masters also with two top 3’s over the last four years, and could be at that level again this year. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut, 2021 – T3, 2020 – T17, 2019 – T2, and 2018 – T50.
Kurt Kitayama (Salary: DraftKings – $7.1K) – He could be hit or miss this week but he does offer good upside as a low $7K player as he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational three starts ago, and is coming off a 5th at the WGC Dell Match Play. He plays a good quality game – is especially good with his putter, and has gained strokes on approach in five straight starts. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: none.
Kevin Na (Salary: DraftKings – $6.5K) – I don’t really know what to expect with the LIV Tour players this week, but I’m willing to chance it on low-priced Na since he has been solid at the Masters with three consecutive top 14’s and he gained 9.44 strokes on approach last year which is impressive to see. He has also been relatively good on the LIV Tour lately as well with two top 9’s over his last four starts and he has another top 20 during that stretch. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: 2022 – 14th, 2021 – T12, 2020 – T13, and 2019 – T46.
Si Woo Kim (Salary: DraftKings – $7.4K) – Kim won earlier this year at the Sony Open, and he has five top 27’s since then over his last seven tournaments played. He has also done well at the Masters with finishes ranging from T12 to 39th over the last five years, so he likely won’t burn you this week and has top 15 upside. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T39, 2021 – T12, 2020 – T34, 2019 – T21, and 2018 – T24.
Cameron Champ (Salary: DraftKings – $6.6K) – This pick is quite wild but it’s hard to ignore his top 10 from last year and he has three top 26’s here in as many starts. He has missed three cut lines in a row so he presents a lot of risk this week, but we do know that players who play well here tend to on an annual basis, so let’s see if he can continue the pattern. It should be noted that his record coming into last year’s Masters was also bad and he put up that T10 – I usually heavily go on recent form, but I can make some exceptions this week given course history matters a lot at Augusta. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T10, 2021 – T26, and 2020 – T19.
Jordan Spieth (Salary: DraftKings – $9.7K) – The crafty Spieth could easily be a two-time winner at the Masters, but he still has that win in 2015, two T2’s, a 3rd, a T3, and a T11 since 2014. Jordan has been good recently also with two top 4’s over his last four starts, and his stat lines look quite solid. Masters Tournament finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut, 2021 – T3, 2020 – T46, 2019 – T21, and 2018 – T3.
