The first round of the 2024 Masters Tournament will begin at 10:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, two-and-a-half hours later than planned due to storms. Brooks Koepka and Brian Harman are paired together for the first two rounds of the 2024 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. Koepka was vocal about playing behind a "brutally slow" pairing in the final round of the Masters last year and Koepka struggled, shooting a 3-over-par to finish second after entering the day with a two-stroke lead. Harman is known as one of the slower-paced players on the PGA Tour, so should this pairing affect your strategy when making 2024 Masters picks?
Koepka has the third-shortest 2024 Masters odds to win at 11-1, but if he becomes frustrated by slow play in his own pairing, it could derail his week. Could Koepka's potential annoyance be enough to keep him out of your 2024 Masters predictions? Scottie Scheffler is the 13-4 favorite in the latest Masters odds 2024 after his dominant March. Before locking in any 2024 Masters picks, make sure you see the PGA Tour predictions and best bets from golf betting and fantasy expert Sia Nejad.
Nejad specializes in betting and DFS in golf, among other sports. He's had incredible success in the outright and first-round leader markets as well as betting head-to-head matchups. He's been profitable with his head-to-head matchups since last year's Charles Schwab Challenge, going 35-21-2 and returning 10.00 units. That's a $1,000 profit for $100 bettors since May 2023.
Nejad also nailed 75-1 longshot Wyndham Clark as the outright winner at the Wells Fargo Championship. In 2023, SportsLine debuted "The Early Wedge," and in the first three months of the show, he hit two first-round leaders and three outright winners.
Now, Nejad has focused his attention on the 2024 Masters field and has locked in his best bets, top sleepers and favorites to avoid. See who they are at SportsLine.
Top 2024 Masters expert picks
One surprise: Nejad is completely fading Rory McIlroy, even though he's a four-time major champion and one of the top favorites in the 2024 Masters odds. McIlroy joined Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only three golfers to win four majors by the age of 25, but he has gone winless at majors since the 2014 PGA Championship. The Masters is the only major that McIlroy has not won, so the pressure on him is even greater at Augusta National.
He has missed the cut in two of his last three attempts to complete the career grand slam after stringing together seven consecutive top-21 finishes at the Masters. The 34-year-old is off to a slow start this season, posting just one top-15 finish in his first six tournaments. He leads the PGA Tour in total driving, but he ranks outside the top 70 in strokes gained from putting and he has not shown enough recent form this season or at Augusta National to justify his current odds to win the event.
Instead, Nejad is high on the chances of Hideki Matsuyama, even though he's a +2000 longshot. The 32-year-old Japanese star has already piled up nine PGA Tour wins and 18 wins around the world professionally. That includes a one-shot victory at the 2021 Masters over Will Zalatoris in which he used a brilliant 65 on Saturday to open up a four-shot lead before closing it out on Sunday.
Matsuyama is No. 12 in the Official World Golf Ranking and been top 12 in his last four PGA Tour starts, including a seventh-place finish last week in Texas, a sixth at the Players Championship and a win at the Genesis Invitational. Matsuyama shot a final-round 62 to win at Riviera, and it's that go-low potential that has Nejad believing that he'll be a factor yet again at Augusta, where he's been top-20 in eight of his last nine appearances. See who else to back at SportsLine.
How to make 2024 Masters picks
Nejad has locked in his early best bets for the 2024 Masters and is backing several longshots, including one priced at more than 150-1. This player "has been playing well in 2024 and has a decent track record at the Masters." You can see Nejad's PGA Tour picks only at SportsLine.
So, which players should you target or avoid for the 2024 Masters, and which player in the Masters 2024 field could bring a huge payday at more than 150-1? Check out the odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Sia Nejad's top picks for the 2024 Masters, all from the expert who is 35-21 on golf head-to-head picks.
2024 Masters odds, field
See Nejad's picks, best bets and predictions here
Scottie Scheffler +325
Rory McIlroy +1000
Brooks Koepka +1100
Jon Rahm +1200
Wyndham Clark +1500
Xander Schauffele +1800
Will Zalatoris +2000
Hideki Matsuyama +2000
Jordan Spieth +2000
Viktor Hovland +2200
Ludvig Aberg +2500
Joaquin Niemann +2500
Cameron Smith +2800
Justin Thomas +2800
Patrick Cantlay +2800
Collin Morikawa +3000
Dustin Johnson +3300
Tony Finau +3500
Bryson DeChambeau +3500
Brian Harman +3500
Shane Lowry +4000
Max Homa +4000
Cameron Young +4000
Jason Day +4000
Matt Fitzpatrick +4000
Min Woo Lee +5000
Sam Burns +5000
Sahith Theegala +5000
Tommy Fleetwood +5500
Sergio Garcio +6000
Tyrrell Hatton +6000
Byeong-hun An +6500
Chris Kirk +7000
Tom Kim +7000
Russell Henley +7000
Patrick Reed +7000
Rickie Fowler +7500
Akshay Bhatia +7500
Corey Conners +7500
Sungjae Im +7500
Si Woo Kim +8000
Denny McCarthy +9000
Adam Scott +9000
Justin Rose +9000
Phil Mickelson +10000
Tiger Woods +10000
Stephen Jaeger +12500
Sepp Straka +12500
Nick Taylor +12500
Erik Van Rooyen +15000
Eric Cole +15000
Adrian Meronk +15000
Jake Knapp +15000
Keegan Bradley +15000
Matthieu Pavon +15000
Nicolai Hojgaard +15000
J.T. Poston +15000
Emiliano Grillo +15000
Harris English +15000
Thorbjörn Olesen +17500
Lucas Glover +17500
Luke List +17500
Adam Hadwin +17500
Taylor Moore +20000
Ryan Fox +20000
Kurt Kitayama +20000
Bubba Watson +20000
Nick Dunlap +20000
Peter Malnati +20000
Cam Davis +20000
Austin Eckroat +22500
Ryo Hisatsune +25000
Lee Hodges +27500
Adan Schenk +30000
Danny Willett +35000
Charl Schwartzel +35000
Gary Woodland +50000
Grayson Murray +50000
Camilo Villegas +50000
Zach Johnson +75000
Christo Lamprecht +75000
Fred Couples +100000
Mike Weir +100000
Neal Shipley +150000
Vijay Singh +150000
Stewart Hagestad +150000
Jasper Stubbs +200000
Jose Maria Olazabal +200000
Santiago de la Fuente +250000
