2026 Masters Tournament Pool Strategy and Bets

2026 Masters Tournament pool strategy and bets are on everyone’s mind as the event takes place just a couple of days after the conclusion of the College Basketball season, with the National Championship being played Monday night. Because of this, people are already just getting over the thrill of filling out their brackets, making their survivor picks, and the overall excitement of March Madness. The Masters continues this trend as probably the only golf tournament that fans love to build pools around.

Here’s everything you need to know about the 2026 Masters Tournament pool strategy and bets heading into the week!

This format is a little bit different than most pools you’ll come across in sports, but is the most typical when it comes to golf. The premise of this set up is grouping golfers together in proximity of either their World Golf Ranking (WGR) or by their odds to win the tournament. 

There will usually be 6 tiers of golfers, and you’ll need to select one player from each tier. Most pools will count your top 5 golfers, giving you the ability to drop your worst golfers score. The winner will be the cumulative number of strokes under par.

You can think of this similarly to March Madness pools, your strategy should shift depending on the size of the contest you are joining.

First Tier

The first tier will consist of players that are about +3000 or shorter to win the tournament, some of the top guys being Scottie Scheffler (+400), Jon Rahm (+900), last year’s champ Rory McIlroy (+1000), and Bryson DeChambeau (+1100). In this tier, a majority of people are going to choose Scottie Scheffler just given that he’s the best golfer in the group and the most likely to win the whole tournament. This is fine in smaller pools, but in larger pools you will likely want to differentiate yourself.

In the scenario that Scottie does not play his best golf while being picked in this tier at around 33% of the time, you’ll already be a step above other people in your pool. In larger pools, I’d recommend looking at guys in the middle of this tier, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood, and Matt Fitzpatrick to try to gain an edge over your opponent. To give these thoughts some justification on what the Sportsbooks think is going to happen; Rory McIlroy is +100 to finish in the Top 10, while Xander Schauffele possesses the same exact odds of +100 even though he will likely be owned by ~15% less contestants. This gives you a huge edge if Xander outperforms Rory, and the downside is not as drastic.

Larger Pools

In larger pools, it’s definitely in your best interest to be a little bit contrarian. In the later tiers, you’ll want to take guys that have higher odds to make the cut, but also have the potential to get hot and go on a run. This is especially true in the last tier where you almost have a freebie of a golfer. These guys are all pretty much +15000 or more, so try to target someone that has performed well at Augusta before but may not be in the greatest form right now. In this scenario, if this golfer happens to not make the cut, they’ll be the score that gets dropped from your total tally.

2026 Masters Tournament Bets and Sportsbook Promotions

There are a couple of golfers that I’ll be eyeing for certain finishing positions as well as certain promotions that Sportsbooks are running.

DraftKings King of the Course

• This promotion rewards you for the golfer that has the most birdies in the first and second round of the tournament. This contest is interesting because you don’t have to pick the winner of the tournament, nor does it have to be the best golfer. You can take someone that finishes the first two days at +2, but if they have the most birdies, you still win. Another interesting tidbit is that eagles do not count as 2 points, but still only 1. I have seen a lot of people on Nicolai Hojgaard for this promo given his recent form and iron play – this is someone I will not be targeting. Although the sentiment is true, the fact that many bettors are on him will decrease your potential winnings and thus gives you less expected value. I would look into guys like Jordan Spieth, Russell Henley, Justin Rose, etc. These guys are true Augusta vets that have both driving power/accuracy as well as the talent to bend shots that you’ll need to.

FanDuel Bet Back Token

• This token allows you to place a bet, and cash it out for the same value at any time during the tournament. Given this, I’d like for a longshot here that you think could be in contention on Sunday. I’d look for players that fall between +2000 and +4000 to get the most value out of this token. Similarly, I’d look into guys like Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose, Russell Henley, and Chris Gotterup.

General Bets

• If you can’t tell, I’ll be taking Russell Henley in a couple different ways here. The Georgia native, Georgia Bulldog, and tour veteran poses to have a big tournament. Just three years ago, Henley finished T4 at Augusta and has been in decent form as of late. Given this, Henley to finish Top 20 at +120 seems like a great spot for him to be in one of the last pairings on Sunday morning.
• Another golfer I like to finish T20 is Matt Fitzpatrick – the guy that has every single shot tracked in his entire playing career is set to have a great tournament. He falls just outside the group of great golfers and can sometimes be overlooked, but I think getting Fitzpatrick at -145 to finish in the Top 20 is great value.
• The Canadian, Corey Conners, has quietly performed really well at Augusta over the past couple of years. Right now, his odds of finishing in the Top 20 are +155. I think this number is a good spot to sprinkle a little bit of money on to hope that his midseason form remains consistent over the years!

Outrights

• Scottie Scheffler (+550)
• Xander Schauffele (+1500)
• Rory McIlroy (+1300)
• Russell Henley (+5500)
• Justin Rose (+3000)

Overall, guys that I’ll be fading for some reason or another are:

• Jon Rahm
• Ludvig Aberg
• Bryson DeChambeau
• Si Woo Kim
• Robert MacIntyre

I wish everyone good luck joining a pool or placing bets this week, and I hope you’re able to enjoy the 2026 Masters Tournament using this guide of pool strategy and bets after the end of March Madness! I’ll be following some of these promos everyday on X @ChalkLineHQ