What will the final round of the Masters have in store for us?
On Saturday, six different players had at least a tie for the lead during the round.
But the day ended the way it started with tournament favorite Scottie Scheffler on top.
Scheffler (-115 to win at DraftKings Sportsbook) leads Collin Morikawa by one show heading into Sunday’s round.
Listen to Long Shots, VSiN’s golf betting podcast, on the Masters after the cut.
VSiN’s golf experts give their second-round observations and third-round predictions for the Masters at Augusta National Golf Course.
Wes Reynolds
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (-115) made a blistering start to round three, but things threatened to unravel with three dropped shots in two holes around the turn, before an eagle at the 13th turned his day around.
Scheffler added a birdie at the 15th and with all those around him beginning to find trouble, he responded to a bogey at the tough 17th with a rare birdie at the 18th to post -7 and assume odds-on favoritism heading into Sunday’s final round.
Recent years have been, for the most part, kind to OWGR No. 1 players attempting to close out The Masters with the 54-hole lead:
1991 Ian Woosnam – WIN
1996 Greg Norman – 2nd
2001 Tiger Woods – WIN
2002 Tiger Woods – WIN
2020 Dustin Johnson – WIN
2022 Scottie Scheffler – WIN
2024 Scottie Scheffler – ?
Scheffler will be joined in Sunday’s final pairing by two-time major champion Collin Morikawa (+350), who is one back of after shooting 69, one of just two rounds in the 60’s all day.
Morikawa’s Ryder Cup partner and fellow Cal Golden Bear Max Homa (+750) sits in third at -5 after a round of 73 that included 17 pars.
Swedish debutant Ludvig Åberg (9/1) is at -4 and is seeking to become the first man ever to win the Masters on their first major championship start and the first debutant to win at Augusta National since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.
At -3, Bryson DeChambeau (20/1) stayed in the hunt just barely. He dropped four shots over a six-hole span on the back nine before carding a birdie at the last which saw him hole a wedge shot from the fairway just as his hopes appeared to have gone.
A trio of players – Xander Schauffele (30/1), Nicolai Højgaard (80/1), and Cam Davis (130/1), are five strokes back at -2, but likely too far back to win.
The last time a player won the Masters via a more than a four-shot comeback was 1996 when Nick Faldo trailed by six strokes and his comeback required a major meltdown from Greg Norman. That makes it 27 straight Masters winners have been within four shots after 54 holes, so this appears to be a five-man tournament with either Scheffler, Morikawa, Homa, Åberg, or DeChambeau likely to put on the green jacket in Butler Cabin tomorrow. In fact, 28 of the last 33 Masters winners were in the Sunday final pairing.
Any overnight matchup plays will be available at VSiN.com/picks.
Kelley Bydlon
The winds calmed down, but it was another wild day at the Masters. While Scheffler, Homa and DeChambeau seemed to just kinda hang around near the top of the board for most of the day, none of them delivered a knockout punch, and Bryson even took a step back before delivering one of the highlights of the tournament on 18. There are many golfers wishing this was a LIV event right now and over after 54 holes, because we had 14 golfers shoot +5 or worse. Maybe that’s opened the door for some of your finishing position bets. cough cough Hideki. Collin Morikawa and Ludvig Aberg were both able to go low and at least bring themselves into the conversation on Sunday. However, whether someone can actually overtake Scheffler is another story. . . . I’m certainly not betting on it.
Matt Youmans
I will stick with my position on Scheffler, who still leads despite committing a couple of uncharacteristic blunders Friday and Saturday. He probably should have a bigger lead. If you lose with Scottie, you can live with your decision. It’s not a good idea to try to hedge too much in golf betting.
Åberg 20-1 was the small insurance policy I took Friday night. I have nothing on Morikawa and Homa, and it’s a handicapping mystery how those two got hot this week. Morikawa finished 25 strokes behind the winner in the Texas Open last week. Yes, 25. Homa arrived at Augusta with one top 10 finish in 17 career major starts, and he never was good on this course. DeChambeau being four back of Scheffler seems too tall a hill to climb. I do think Homa could surge on Sunday because he burned the edges on several putts and deserved better than his 1-over 73 in the third round. Morikawa playing this well after stinking for several months and showing no signs is annoying. I’ll give Åberg and Homa the best shots to chase down Scheffler. We’ll see if Aberg plays like a rookie. No matter what happens Sunday, Aberg is a bet-on player in future tournaments.
Two fourth-round matchup plays: Homa +125 over Aberg; Schauffele -138 over DeChambeau.
