2020 Masters odds, favorites: You should root for these nine golfers to win at Augusta National
An unlikely suspect tops this year's list of the golfers we most want to see win the Masters
By
Kyle Porter
•
5 min read
There has been no normal this year, and golf has not been exempt from that. The fact that it's November, and you're currently reading about a Masters that's about to take place is proof enough of that. Storylines in golf (and for the Masters) have been all over the place and a bit difficult to track outside the normal rhythms of a golf season.
So if you're having trouble figuring out who to root for this time around at the biggest major of them all, we have you covered with the career arcs, legacy shifts and history-changing performances that could be fun to join in on for a week this fall at Augusta National Golf Club.
Obviously, we can't include everyone in the field on this list, so we boiled it down to nine stars or superstars (headlined by a very famous one). Of course, 17-year-old Argentine amateur Abel Gallegos winning the Masters would be the sports story of the year (and probably the century), but we tried to keep it realistic. Here are nine golfers that will be fun to root for as the 84th Masters unfolds.
Odds via William Hill Sportsbook
| 1 | |
| Normally, I leave Tiger off this list completely because, you know, he has 15 of these things (and five alone at the Masters). However, Woods has become the rare sort of tragic figure while also serving as defending champion of this event. His game has been a bit of a mess so far in 2020, and he comes in with little to no shot of winning. There could be no wilder ending to maybe the most unique major of all time than Tiger winning his second green jacket in a row in a manner even more improbable than 2019. Odds: 35-1 | |
| 2 | |
| It's no secret that this is the big one that eludes McIlroy. He's won everything else there is to win -- both Opens, multiple PGA championships, Ryder Cups, the Players, the FedEx Cup -- but not this one. And while I don't know that it changes his life in a meaningful way, Rory the Dad and Rory the Voice of Golf have become very endearing iterations of McIlroy in a way Rory the Wunderkind probably was not. Hop on the grand slam train because it's going to be a show it if goes down. Odds: 14-1 | |
| 3 | |
| Speaking of tragic figures! Over the past few years, Spieth has labored harder than Angel Cabrera on a treadmill after two packs of Pall Malls. His relationship with Augusta National is both inspiring and horrifying, and that's just what happened before 2017. Spieth breaking out of his mental labyrinth and ending the slump with green jacket No. 2 (I know it feels like he already has three) would be tremendous. Odds: 40-1 | |
| 4 | |
| Strangely, I think D.J. has maybe become a bit of a tragic figure as well because of all the major heartbreak, this despite having won nearly $70 million on the PGA Tour throughout his career. When juxtaposed with his closest rival (if you want to call it that) in Brooks Koepka, Johnson's ease and placidness of both game and life comes across as contentment in a way that's easy to get behind. Odds: 9-1 | |
| 5 | |
| If you didn't pick golf back up after it paused for the pandemic, you missed the rise of the -- checks notes -- No. 4 player in the world. Morikawa is a star who hits his irons maybe better than anyone in the world, and he's trying to win two of the three majors played this year (and the first Masters in which he will compete). There's nothing to not like about Morikawa unless you dislike roped 5-irons, wonderful thinking about the sport of golf and a made-for-TV smile. Other than that, nothing whatsoever. Odds: 30-1 | |
| 6 | |
| He's just generally an affable athlete who's easy to root on. If it started to come together this week for Finau, so many different angles -- his near-broken ankle at the 2018 Masters, his massive family, his general kindness and disposition, his laugh-out-loud length, the fact that he only has one PGA Tour win -- would be easy to fans to pick up. Plus, he's been so close so often at majors without getting the job done. Odds: 28-1 | |
| 7 | |
| His 84th major start at the 84th Masters. There is a case to be made that Westwood is the best golfer of all-time who has not won a major championship. He's been close here often with his narrowest call coming either in 2016 when he tied for second with Spieth behind winner Danny Willett or in 2010 when he led after 54 holes but lost to Phil Mickelson by three. The post-win party would rank among the top three or four potential parties of anyone in the field. Odds: 80-1 | |
| 8 | |
| Wait, Bubba?! It's true. Watson has been more open than in the past about his struggle with mental health and anxiety, and he's become quite likable in the process. Watson winning a third Masters and joining an incredibly select group of golfers with three or more Masters wins would be a real feel-good story given the depths of where his mind has been. Odds: 28-1 | |
| 9 | |
| Do you like chaos? The greatest agent of it in this year's Masters is beef-eating, 48-inch -driver-swinging DeChambeau. He absolutely torched Winged Foot at the U.S. Open in September and is vying to do the same at mighty Augusta. I'm not sure you would be rooting for DeChambeau the person as much as you would be focusing on how his long-driving game could be an inflection point in the future of the sport (in the way of reeling in how modern technology is negatively affecting classic golf courses). However, it's certainly something worth rooting for if you've been following along for the last two decades. Odds: 8-1 | |
Who will win the Masters, and which long shots will stun the golfing world? Visit SportsLine to see the projected leaderboard, all from the model that has nailed six golf majors and called Patrick reed's big win two years ago.
