There are many who consider April the best sporting month on the entire calendar. Typically beginning with the remnants of NCAA March Madness, April also provides us with the NBA’s regular season stretch run along with the start of baseball season. And nestled between all of that is one of the year’s pinnacle events: The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.
Serving as the first golf major of the season, The Masters has annually produced some of the sport’s most iconic moments. In last year’s competition, Jon Rahm separated from the field, winning the event by four shots with a score of 12-under. He then separated from the PGA TOUR shortly thereafter, with four of the top five last year now a part of the LIV Tour.
At DraftKings Sportsbook, Scottie Scheffler (+400) and Rory McIlroy (+1000) are the favorites. But if it’s sleepers that you are looking for at Augusta this year, here’s who we’re keeping an eye on heading into the event.
2024 Masters sleepers
Ludwig Aberg, +3000
We liked this a lot more at +5000 earlier this week, but the ingénue that has been lighting up the PGA TOUR since leaving NCAA golf has the perfect stats for Augusta: He gains 1.8 shots per round in both driving distance and approach, and he can roll it as well. Finding his 1.0 strokes saved with the putter might be tough to come by on the tricky greens, but he could become a first-time Masters entry winner, the first since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.
Justin Thomas, +4500
We’ve really got a two-time major winner as a sleeper? JT finished Top 6 in six-straight events through Pebble Beach this year, but was cut in two of five events since. But he’s got a game built for Augusta with 1.1 strokes gained via driving distance, and a whopping 1.7 staved via approach. Of course it’s the putter that’s the issue here, as he’s a net 0.0 on the greens. But if anyone can find it, it’s a player with plenty of experience on the glass-like short grass.
Keegan Bradley, +18000
If he’s really got his putter figured out, and he just might, you can do worse than the crazy price on the 2011 PGA Champion. He gains 0.6 shots per round from the tee, and 0.8 on approach. He knows these greens well, and when he gets into a hot streak with his flat stick, he’s one of the toughest outs on the PGA TOUR.
His recent form has been terrible, but a T2 at the Sony Open in Hawai’i earlier this year backed up a T9 at the TOUR Championship. He seems to find it randomly, and might do so again this week.
