The 2026 Masters begins today at Augusta National, and Rithmm's model has a clear projection at the top of the leaderboard: Scottie Scheffler finishes first.
He comes in as the betting favorite across every major sportsbook, ranging from +510 at DraftKings to +550 at BetMGM. Those odds have drifted slightly from his pre-week number, which means the market is creating a small opening. The model sees value there.
This is his seventh Masters start. He has not finished outside the top 20 at Augusta in any of them. He won here in 2022 and again in 2024, taking the green jacket by four strokes in his last appearance. Earlier this year, he won in La Quinta and has four top-four finishes in 2026. The model is not flagging Scheffler because he is famous. It is flagging him because the data keeps pointing in the same direction.
Outright golf bets are not like a moneyline on a basketball game. You are picking one player out of a 91-person field to win a four-round tournament. By definition, these are long shots. Even the favorite has only about a 1-in-6 chance of winning on any given week.
That is exactly what makes the payouts worth it.
When the model identifies a player it projects to finish at the top, and the sportsbook price is longer than that projection warrants, there is value in the play. You do not need Scheffler to win every time for this to be a good bet. You need the model to be right more often than the odds imply over time.
That is the edge Rithmm is built to find.
Outright winner is just one of four ways to use Rithmm's golf tools this week:
Rithmm offers predictions on Outright winners, Top 5 Finish, Top 10 Finish, and Top 20 Finish. The models will also show you where they project each golfer to finish so you can utilize the predictions in multiple ways. For example, you can take Scottie as the Outright Winner (projected first and green star). But then you could take other top finishers with no edge (yellow caution) and parlay those into a Top 10 Finish parlay to let the odds compound.
The AI Caddie is where the real depth lives.
For every golfer in the field, Rithmm runs 1,000 AI simulations per hole across all four rounds. The output is a hole-by-hole overlay: an orange bar showing Scheffler's projected performance, stacked against a gray bar representing the field average.
Where the orange bar is above the gray, Scheffler is projected to outperform. Those gaps are the signal.
This week at Augusta, look at how Scheffler's simulation data plays across Amen Corner (holes 11, 12, and 13) and the long par-5s on the back nine where distance and approach precision create scoring opportunities. The AI Caddie does not just tell you who to back. It shows you where, and why.
This is what having a data science team in your pocket actually looks like.
The three names drawing the most attention behind Scheffler:
The largest liability at BetMGM heading into Thursday. Popular public play. The model will tell you if that action is warranted or just noise.
Shortened slightly in the days before play began. Two-time major champion with Augusta pedigree. Worth checking your Rithmm projections before committing.
Runner-up here in 2024. A seventh-place finish in 2025. Has proven his game is built for this course. If you are looking for a value top-5 parlay leg, the AI Caddie's hole-by-hole data on Åberg is worth pulling up.
Golf betting rewards the patient and the prepared. The Masters is four rounds, 91 players, and one green jacket. The model has done the work. Now you just need to act on it.
Download Rithmm and open the Masters slate today.
