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The Masters Best Bets For The Weekend (Bet on Xander Schauffele to Win)

How you should play the weekend action at the 88th Masters in Augusta, Georgia.

By Benjamin Upson

Apr 4, 2023; Augusta, Georgia, USA; Flags rise from The Masters leaderboard during a practice round.
Apr 4, 2023; Augusta, Georgia, USA; Flags rise from The Masters leaderboard during a practice round. / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Network
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Two rounds of golf are in the books at the 88th Masters tournament. Headlined by wind and rain in the opening half, the weekend is upon us with a lot of exciting battles to look forward to in the inaugural major of the year, including a three way tie at the top of the board.

The golf course will be firm and fast with the sunny, dry conditions expected the rest of the way. The pace of the greens are especially going to make every hole exciting. Here’s the best bets I’m targeting at the halfway point of the tournament.

The prop bets listed below are available at DraftKings Sportsbook. If you click the link below to sign up for an account, you'll receive $150 in bonus bets when you place your first $5 wager!

Best Weekend Bets At The Masters

  • Cameron Smith UNDER 72.5 Round Score (Saturday)
  • Eric Cole Top 20 Finish
  • Xander Schauffele To WIN

Cameron Smith UNDER 72.5 Round Score (Saturday)

This is an intriguing number to find Cameron Smith for Saturday’s third round. He’s in the mix for the tournament and I expect him to find some success to kickstart a run on moving day.

Smith is one of the more recognized players from the PGA Tour that left for LIV Golf in 2022. His prior history at Augusta National shows that he can light it up at any point. Dating back to the 2020 edition, Smith has nine rounds of sub-70 golf at the Masters. He’s also the leader in putting average on LIV (1.49 putts per hole). 72.5 feels like a generous number, even with how challenging this golf course will be.

I was favoring Smith to finish in the top 20 for this tournament and he’s well on pace to do that with a mark of -1, five off the leaders. He is another player who can take advantage of a good scoring day and has success at majors. I expect a good Saturday round to vault him into the conversation. Take the under in this valuable position.

Eric Cole Top 20 Finish

The Americans are out in full force as usual at this event every season. This time around, I’m keeping an eye out for Eric Cole. In his fourth major event, the 35-year old is seeking his second top 20 finish following a T-15 at the 2023 PGA Championship. On the PGA Tour in his second full season, Cole has four top 20 finishes in 12 events played.

This first Augusta experience has been lukewarm for him through the opening two rounds. With a tally of +1, Cole will look back on some shots that got away from him on Friday. He missed a 3-footer to save par on the 7th following a nice sand save.

He got into trouble left of the 14th and walked with a double bogey. Despite these hiccups, he’s still in the clubhouse with a 73-72.

Approach shots are critical at the Masters and Cole ranks 54th on the Tour this season in strokes gained approach to green (0.238). He is capable of hanging in for a quality weekend of golf. Cole was my pick for top debutant in his first Masters, which has potential. A top 20 finish looks promising for many players in a packed leaderboard.

I like the value which is hovering around +175 at most books entering the weekend.

Xander Schauffele To WIN

One of the guys that still lives within the “great but hasn’t won a major” discussion is Xander Schauffele. His is within the blender full of players hunting the green jacket at even par. To this point, a 72-72 score over the opening days is solid golf for the conditions.

Schauffele was able to really grind it out on Friday. He had some crucial moments on the back nine, including a beautiful bunker shot on the 16th hole to save par.

He followed it up with a marvelous approach at 17 to within five feet for a birdie. The scoring average was 75 and Xander finished a full three shots underneath at 72. Schauffele has three top 10s at Augusta in his past five starts. Currently, even par is a tie for 15th place and he’s six shots off the lead going into the weekend.

Something tells me we will have some chaos. While Scottie Scheffler is the obvious favorite, I’m going to keep riding the Schauffele train and take a guy who I’m confident will find his way into contention for the final round on Sunday. This is a decent price worth putting a small unit size on at around 40-1.

Note: Odds are subject to change.

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