5 sleeper picks to win the 2024 Masters, including former U.S. Open champ Matt Fitzpatrick
Don’t let the results of the last two Masters fool you. Though the eventual winners were among the betting favorites entering those tournaments, long-shots do sometimes walk away victorious.
In 2021, Hideki Matsuyama won a green jacket after having +6000 odds prior to round one, according to SportsOddsHistory.com. And the winners from 2016-18 were all long-shots too, including Patrick Reed (+4000), Sergio Garcia (+3000) and Danny Willett (+5000).
Make no mistake about it, the favorites will always have a better chance to prevail, but a player with longer odds can absolutely sneak up to win this thing. Below is a look at five players who have a chance to be this year’s sleeper, with odds courtesy of BetMGM.
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5. Russell Henley (+6600)
Henley set himself up well for a good Masters after a strong showing in last week’s Valero Texas Open, bouncing back from his first missed cut of the year at THE PLAYERS Championship. Henley tied for fourth at last year’s Masters and has two other top-four finishes this year, so he’s on the doorstep of doing something special.
4. Sahith Theegala (+4500)
Theegala hit a five-under 67 in the final round of the 2023 Masters to walk away with a ninth-place finish. If he can put it together that type of effort for four rounds, he’ll be in a great position to finish No. 1. Four top-10 finishes this year shows he’s trending in that direction.
3. Matt Fitzpatrick (+3300)
The 2022 U.S. Open champion, Fitzpatrick, has three top-15 finishes at the Masters, including each of the last two years where he’s placed 10th and 14th. He comes into this year’s tournament with some good momentum after a fifth-place finish in THE PLAYERS Championship and a strong final round at the Texas Open.
2. Cameron Young (+4500)
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride is the story of Young’s career, as he’s tied for the most second-place finishes without a win on the PGA Tour in the last 40 years. But being the runner-up all those times means the 2022 Rookie of the Year is really good, and it’s just a matter of time before he finishes on top. A seventh-place finish at last year’s Masters shows he has what it takes to get over the hump on the biggest stage of them all.
1. Joaquin Niemann (+2800)
Tied for the eighth-best odds in the field, Niemann isn’t as big of a sleeper as the others on this list, but the 25-year-old also doesn’t have the name recognition of many of the players favored over him. He can change that soon after tying for 16th in last year’s Masters and earning an invitation to this year’s tournament through his efforts in European Tour-sanctioned events and winning two of four LIV events this year, with a third top-four finish.