The first major of the season is upon us as the PGA heads to Augusta National this week in Augusta, Georgia, for the Masters.
The Masters is a 95-man field played over four days with a cutline that sees only the top-50 players and ties get to play the weekend. While there are plenty of elite players in the field, there are also a lot of older players and amateurs that generally are not worth paying much attention to (for DFS purposes).
The event is held at Augusta National, a long 7,500+ par 72 that is also one of the hilliest venues on the PGA. The greens at Augusta are oversized and play faster than pretty much anything else the players will see this season. I wrote more about Augusta National in my PGA Cheat Sheet this week.
“Augusta National was built on the site of an old tree sanctuary, and every one of its holes has a name associated with its natural surroundings (usually a tree, bush, or flower). At its most basic, Augusta is a standard par-72 course that has four par 5s, four par 3s, and 10 par 4s. However, there truly isn’t anything standard about the setup of the holes or the course. Augusta is one of the hilliest tracks on the PGA TOUR, and the elevation changes and slopes between the tee box and green mean that experience playing the course can really pay off. The slick bentgrass greens offer up their own challenge, and missing an approach at Augusta on the wrong side of the green can often bring big numbers into play.
Players at Augusta often struggle in their first few outings and it’s easy to see why. On top of the green structures being the toughest the players face all season, the course has a lot of subtle and dramatic doglegs built in. Players who move the ball right to left have an advantage, and we’ve seen severe drawers of the golf ball like Zach Johnson and Patrick Reed net the biggest wins of their careers at this venue. Left-handers who fade the ball well like Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson have also thrived at this event.”
Augusta has become a very long golf course. While there is plenty of room off the tee on almost every hole, it has become somewhat of a bomber’s venue with big hitters gaining a nice advantage of late. Names like Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm have truly dominated at Augusta the past few seasons.
As a result, I’ll be targeting bigger hitters when possible this week when building out any Pick6 lineups.
DraftKings Pick6 has full tournament totals up for this week, so I’ll again be focusing on FULL TOURNAMENT totals, and this week they also have a “holes completed” category, with a handful of players set at 36.5 totals. This essentially means we just have to decide whether the player will make the cut (top 50 players and ties after Friday).
That’s where I’ll be focusing this week for the Masters and for DraftKings Pick6 lineups for the full event.
Charl Schwartzel More Than 36.5 Holes Completed
Schwartzel is a former Masters winner. Even though he’s somewhat past his prime at 40, the South African is still playing high-level golf and posted a T-2 last week on the LIV TOUR at the very demanding Trump Doral. He has now posted four straight top-20 finishes on that TOUR. While he did miss the cut at Augusta last season, he’s made the cut at Augusta in four of the past five seasons.
Considering his multiplier on DraftKings Pick6 isn’t reduced, going for a More Than 36.5-hole play (again, just need him to make the cut to hit this) looks like an excellent way to play Schwartzel. He should be a pretty big favorite to make the cut this week given his form and experience so we’re getting a very solid payout ratio to take the More Than.
Phil Mickelson More Than 36.5 Holes Completed
Pretty much everything I just said about Schwartzel can be applied to Phil Mickelson. He’s a former Masters champion who is past his prime, but at 54 years of age is still somehow defying the odds and playing very high-level golf. He’s finished top six in two of his last three starts on the LIV TOUR and was in contention last Sunday at Doral until a very unlucky bounce off a flagstick ended his hopes of winning.
Mickelson sets up very well for Augusta and at 54 still has decent enough length to challenge. He’s made the cut here in seven straight appearances and with his recent form it seems very likely he’ll be around on the weekend to give it a go once again. Even with a slightly reduced payout (0.9x), Phil looks like a great target this week to make the weekend and pay off the “More Than 36.5 holes” option.
Cameron Young More Than 36.5 Holes Completed
We’re done with the veterans now and headed into more “speculative” plays. Cameron Young has had a terrible start to the season but the American sets up great for Augusta with his prestigious length off the tee. Last week, he made the cut in San Antonio and gained strokes off the tee and on approach for the first time in about two months.
Considering he’s finished top 10 at this major twice already, I don’t see an issue with playing him just to make the weekend. Even if he regresses a little, his ability to dominate on the Par 5s should keep him alive for a made cut, which is all we need him to do to cash the More Than 36.5 holes completed option. With his payouts not being reduced, this is likely a great time to buy low on the very swingy American.
Cameron Davis More Than 36.5 Holes Completed
I gave you two veteran options with good form, so I might as well give you two younger players who come in with untrustworthy form but offer loads of talent. Cameron Davis is very similar to Cameron Young in that he hasn’t played well at times in 2025, but he has the ability to flip that narrative around any week.
He’s big off the tee and in his last start at the Valspar, he struck the ball better, gaining 3.7 strokes on approach. He’s missed four cuts coming into the week so he’s certainly risky (even more risky than Young), but he has played Augusta twice before and made the cut on both occasions. Considering what a low bar we have set (just make the weekend!) I don’t have a problem adding a More Than 36.5 Holes completed play on Davis if you’re looking to stretch your lineups to four players.
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