In the first of four antepost previews, golf expert Ben Coley picks out two overpriced Americans who could contend for the Masters in April.
Golf betting tips: The Masters
1pt e.w. Sam Burns at 125/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6)
1pt e.w. Harris English at 150/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6)
Sorry to begin on a bit of a downer, but the Masters is the worst of the four majors in which to strike a serious antepost bet, for all sorts of reasons.
First and foremost, the winner will likely be a big name towards the head of the betting. Secondly, bookmakers know the Masters is a prime opportunity to capture new customers and they'll fight each other – not, perhaps, to be top price, but at least to offer most places. Thirdly, it tends to be the strongest market, the one which most reflects the facts as they are today.
Looking at the 2026 betting it's easy to spot bad prices – Justin Thomas, recently under the knife, ought to be double the available 25/1 – but not so easy to find clear value. In fact it might well be that those who keep things simple and take 7/2 about world number one Scottie Scheffler are on best terms with themselves come April, when all the talk will be of Rory McIlroy's bid to defy the defending champions' hoodoo.
Scheffler could very easily go off closer to 2/1 but let's be serious for a moment: we're not here for that. The idea is to grab ourselves a bargain and there are two ways of doing so, beginning with an important technicality – Sky Bet, Paddy Power and Betfair Sportsbook refund bets on players who do not take part, and that suggests Will Zalatoris could be worth siding with if you've access to the right accounts.
At 50/1 generally, Zalatoris is a poor price on form, having been sidelined for most of 2025. He returned from more than six months away with 15th place in the Nedbank Challenge and while there was plenty of promise in that display, it didn't exactly scream Masters champion in-waiting.
However, his absence and the fact that his last top-10 finish came in the spring of 2024 means he's dropped outside the world's top 200, meaning he has only one option if he's to qualify for Augusta, and that is to play extremely well. Zalatoris either needs to climb in excess of 150 spots in the Official World Golf Rankings or win a tournament on the PGA Tour between now and April, or else he won't be in the field.
In either scenario, there seems a strong likelihood he'd go off shorter in the betting than he is today, and with a record of 2-6-9-MC he's a prime candidate to contend if fit and firing. Most likely is we're wasting our time and bets will be refunded, which Sky Bet, Paddy Power and Betfair all do. Many others don't so the message has to be to check the rule book first. He's scandalously short with those who settle bets as a loser if he doesn't play, because he's odds-against to be in the field.
A more actionable piece of advice is to consider two other Americans who are in the field: SAM BURNS and HARRIS ENGLISH.
Burns isn't a player who would've been on my radar but he's the wrong price. There's no way the man ranked 13th by DataGolf right now should be pitched alongside Daniel Berger (77th), Sergio Garcia (143rd) and Dustin Johnson (174th). Burns is just too good for that.
And while his Masters record would be a concern, he does tick the sub-70-round trends box having been close to the lead after rounds one and two in 2023. He was a respectable 22nd at halfway last year, too, and can score at Augusta, where his power and confidence with the putter are useful assets.
The other thing to note is that he's started to contend for majors since his first top-10 finish in the 2024 US Open. One month later he was second entering the final round of the Open, then in June he led through 36 and 54 holes of the US Open, where for a long time he looked the winner. In the end he was a bit unfortunate not to finish closer than seventh.
A strong start top the Open followed (12th at halfway) and he also has 19th in the US PGA to call upon from the season just gone, so this is a player who has laid the foundations for a strong major bid. The bottom line though is that he could go off 40/1 if he has a strong spring, which appears likely based on past evidence and the way he played throughout summer and into the Playoffs.
I'm not the biggest Burns fan – his ball-striking just isn't reliable enough and he's too putter-dependent – but you're getting clear value backing him now. He's 50/1 for the US Open, by the way, a tournament with a bigger, deeper field, far more vulnerable to be a draw bias, and at a course he hardly knows. His modest Masters record is being given far too much weight in quotes of 66/1-plus.
The case for English, ranked 19th by DataGolf and 13th in the OWGR, is somewhat similar in that we're talking about a quality operator whose mediocre Masters returns are helping quite significantly with the price.
On that while yes, most winners have some kind of Augusta form, we've seen players like Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood and Max Homa figure the place out after years of trying. English, born in Georgia, could do the same.
And it's not as if 12th place at Augusta this year lacked promise. English actually signed off with his best round at the course so far and this followed a run of cuts made since his long-awaited return in 2021, with 21st that year and 22nd in 2024 by no means discouraging.
English is a quality iron player who ought to relish the width off the tee Augusta provides and, after that 12th place last April, he went on to underline his major credentials with second place in two of the remaining three majors. In 20 major starts since 2020, he's now bagged five top-10 finishes.
No doubt still reeling from having to sit out the Sunday singles in the Ryder Cup, English is the kind of gritty operator who regular PGA Tour viewers will surely all feel can win a major. He was 66/1 for the last one he played in, an Open Championship, and should he remain among the best 20 or so players in the world he simply can't be any bigger come the second weekend in April.
What's more, he loves several of the courses we're due to visit early in 2026, having won at Torrey Pines last year, gone close in the Sony Open where it seems likely he'll begin the campaign, almost won at Bay Hill and even got to grips with Sawgrass at last, having carded rounds of 66 there on his last two visits.
It seems feasible to me that he picks up another win this side of the Masters but even if he doesn't, 150/1 will look a good price.
Back up the betting, Jon Rahm is fairly quoted at 16/1 but the only other candidates I seriously considered were Cameron Young and Max Homa.
Young has two top-10s from four starts in the Masters and took his career to new heights in the summer of 2025, first by winning his maiden PGA Tour title and then by standing tall in the Ryder Cup, unlike so many of his teammates. With renewed confidence and a working putting stroke, he ought to be capable of contending for another major soon.
Homa meanwhile is definitely in the field having been 12th while in poor form in April, adding to third place in 2024 when he'd led at halfway. He's clearly grown comfortable at Augusta and, having gone back to his old coach, he was one of the biggest eye-catchers of the FedExFall, where his long-game was rock solid.
Given that he boasts such a strong record on the west coast, it's easy to imagine Homa cementing his return to form by the time the Masters comes around and, with course form always well-found in the market, the standout 80/1 could well be long gone.
That said, in the here and now he only serves to underline the value we're getting with Burns and English, quite significantly better players for the time being.
Posted at 15:00 GMT on 30/12/25
Ben Coley's golf tipping record by year
2025: +136.20pts
2024: +255.00pts
2023: +312.22pts
2022: +585.04pts
2021: +692.51pts
2020: +363.56pts
2019: -145.12pts
2018: +50.73pts
2017: +316.45pts
2016: +190.87pts
2016-2025 total: +2657.46pts
