As the clock ticks ever closer to the 2024 Masters on Thursday, we have been dutifully preparing bettors for the famed major with our PGA Pro's best bets, a full betting guide with picks, a top props column, and a roundup of all the best sleepers and long shots for the weekend. Now we will focus on a different form of golf-related money-maker: DFS.
We'll build a DraftKings lineup — picking six of our favorite picks to perform well at Augusta National — and explain our reasoning behind each pick.
The most difficult task with drafting our team: choosing between OWGR No. 1 and 2022 Masters champion Scottie Scheffler ($12,100), World No. 2 and 2022 Masters runner-up Rory McIlroy ($10,800), and OWGR No. 3 and reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm ($11,200). Sporting News' PGA expert Keith Stewart picked Xander Schauffele ($9,900) as his best bet to win. Fellow SN golf expert Jacob Camenker listed Scheffler and Schauffele as his top picks. Decisions, decisions!
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Ultimately, we decided to anchor our lineup with Scheffler, and we'll explain why below. We also grabbed two mid-tier value guys in the $8,400-$8,600 range, and invested in high-upside sleepers with our remaining three spots. It's a build with which we're very excited to go into the weekend, and we can't wait to share it with you.
So, without further ado, let's reveal our full squad. We'll explain our reasoning behind each pick, and provide a couple other players we like around the players in the higher-priced range. Here's our 2024 Masters DraftKings lineup — good luck, enjoy, and go make some DFS cash!
Masters DFS picks for 2024 DraftKings lineup
Scottie Scheffler ($12,100)
How can we get away from Scheffler as the anchor of our lineup? The No. 1 player in the world, he has been one of the only reliable studs so far this PGA season. He averages a whopping 112.8 DraftKings points per start, he has won two of his past three events (and finished T2 in the third), and he has finished in the top 10 of six straight tournaments and seven of eight on the season.
Scheffler is a force. We said it all of last season — when Scheffler figures things out with the putter, every golfer in the world might as well raise the white flag. We wouldn't be surprised in the least if he wins his second green jacket this weekend – he's finished inside the top 20 in all four of his starts at Augusta, and he's arguably playing the best golf of his life right here, right now.
Another golfer in this price range worth drafting: You can never go wrong with defending Masters champ Jon Rahm ($11,200), as he has a blend of power driving and short-game finesse that works perfectly at Augusta National. The laid-back Spaniard should find himself in contention once again this weekend.
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Tony Finau ($8,600)
Big Ton' always makes our sleeper list around this time of year, as he has a well-rounded game and an easy-going temperament that bode well for success at the majors. He drives with power and also demonstrates accuracy on approach shots, perennially ranking well in fairways hit as well as greens-in-regulation percentage.
He also shows flashes of putting dominance, scrambles from the fringe better than anyone in the game, and hunts birdies like Duck Hunt in the 1980s when he's on. And don't worry about nerves affecting the 6-4 Utah native — he has finished in the top-25 in 13 different majors, including three top-10s in six starts at the Masters.
Oh, and he enters this weekend hot. He's coming off a T2 finish at the Houston Open, and he has finished in the top 20 in four of his past seven starts. Plenty of value can be found in the $8,000s, but you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone as valuable as Finau for under $9K.
Another golfer in this price range worth targeting: Cameron Young ($8,500) will be making his third Masters appearance, coming off a blistering 2023 start in which he finished T7. The 26-year-old has already racked up three top-10 finishes in major championships, including a T3 at the PGA Championship and a solo second at the Open at St. Andrews two years ago.
Collin Morikawa ($8,400)
Morikawa always performs well at the Masters, in part because of his demeanor and in part because he has a skill set that's made for Augusta. He's stellar from tee-to-green and on approach shots, and will almost certainly make some noise this weekend if he can get it going with the flat-stick.
Morikawa has finished 18th or better in each of his past three Masters starts, including top-10 finishes in each of the last two years. He has shot even par or better in six of his past nine rounds at Augusta National. This seems like great value.
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Sahith Theegala ($7,700)
Theegala made the most of his first Masters appearance last year, coming in hot with a ninth-place finish. The No. 15 golfer in the world, Theegala has four top-10 finishes this season, three of which have come over his past five tournaments. You name it, he can do it: driving, putting, approach, scrambling. He has a solid skill set across the board, and he can get hot in a hurry.
MORE: Ranking the field at the Masters
Eric Cole ($6,600)
Our favorite rookie sleeper of the tournament, Cole enters the weekend having finished T21 or better in four of his past five starts. He can be erratic at times, but his strong driving, solid putting, and reliable scrambling abilities should help guide him to a decent finish at his first Masters. The 2023 Rookie of the Year performs well on par-4s, so he's as good of a $6,600 investment as you're going to find.
Emiliano Grillo ($6,400)
You're almost never going to love your final pick in a Masters DFS lineup, but Grillo at $6,400 feels impossible to hate. He finished T8 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational a couple weeks ago, and he has finished in the top 25 five different times over his past eight starts. The Argentinian is an accurate driver and a fantastic putter, making him a strong candidate to finish above the typical expectations at this price level.