The three early value bets for the 2025 Masters

What’s the recipe for success at The Masters? We’ve already detailed some potential ways to tame the beast that is Augusta National and crucially picked out some players who have the capability to achieve this.

But with just one week until the first tee off, FIRST casts an eye over some early stand out value for your 2025 Masters picks. 

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Sepp Straka

Sepp Straka wins the award for most improved player on the circuit. The Austrian has exploded onto the golf scene in the last few years and is now a three-time PGA Tour winner. 

The Honda Classic, John Deere Classic and Amex titles have been banked during Straka's ascent up the World Rankings, where he now resides at number 13. 

Straka made his first appearance on the European Ryder Cup side during this period, and he qualified for Eastlake in the 2024 FedEx Cup. Only Rory McIlroy sneaks in ahead of him in the current FedEx Cup standings.

What next for the big man? In terms of Masters predictions, he must be right up there amongst the contenders and a major title is the next step in his meteoric rise. Could it come as early as the 2025 Masters? Possibly. He certainly has all the right attributes.

Straka leads the par five performance stats alongside bomber Jake Knapp. He is fifth in 'strokes gained approach' and seventh in 'strokes gained tee to green'. 

Straka is third in 'proximity to the hole, and he also sits 19th in putting average. In 2024 Straka was in the top 23 percentile for 'strokes gained off the tee' so he covers all bases for the Augusta test.

The Austrian has three solid results in three Masters appearances so far: t30, t46, and a best of t16 in 2024. What's more, Straka is familiar with these parts having attended the University of Georgia which could be crucial to nailing your golf betting picks.

The 31-year-old has been playing great golf of late, finishing in the top five at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the top 15 at the 2025 Players Championship and he looks a great Masters bet.

Back Sepp Straka each way (six places) at 66/1 to win the Masters with Coral.

Joaquin Niemann

A player that has me thinking ahead of my Masters predictions for 2025 is Joaquin Niemann who has been invited to the Masters tournament at Augusta for the second year running. 

The LIV Golf defector has arguably been playing the best golf on the planet lately albeit hard to gauge. Phil Mickelson recently called Niemann the best player in the world. Current player form is one of our five pillars to consider to inform your golf betting strategy.

Niemann currently leads the LIV Golf standings by a stretch over Jon Rahm, reversing the 2024 final positions between the two. 

The Torque GC Captain won LIV Golf Singapore, capturing his fourth individual LIV Golf title. The 26-year-old previously won the Genesis Invitational and the Greenbrier on the PGA Tour. 

He won the PIF Saudi International at the back end of 2024 en route to capturing the International Series Order of Merit and he also won the DP World Tour's ISPS Handa Australian Open in December 2023. 

The Chilean hit 59 in the first round of last year's LIV Golf Mayakoba at El Camaleon.

In terms of relative stats Niemann is second in scrambling on the LIV Tour and third in 'greens in regulation’. 

Most interestingly he is sixth in 'driving distance' having finished second to only Bryson DeChambeau in the driving distance stat in 2024. 

In four Masters appearances so far, the South American has finished t40, t35, t16 and t22.

Back Niemann to win the Masters at 28/1 each way (five places) with BetMGM.

Nicolai Hojgaard

Now for a Masters pick from left field and I am excited about the prospects of Nicolai Hojgaard who gets the nod. 

Hojgaard could be one of the best Masters bets in terms of rank outsiders and I'll be playing him in various submarkets like the first-round leader too. 

He was very impressive in his Masters debut in 2024 where he was placed inside the top six after each of the first three rounds. 

The Dane was lying in third position after round one shooting 67 in tough but fair conditions. He took the lead on Saturday for a brief period but slipped slightly on Sunday to a t16 finish. 

Hojgaard has started to find some form this year with a t8 at the Mexico Open followed by a top 20 at the Cognizant Classic.

Nicolai is 26th in 'strokes gained approach' and 20th in 'driving distance' which is a good recipe for Masters success, while Hojgaard ranked eighth for the season in greens hit in regulation play after the Valspar Championship. 

The 24-year-old twin is eighth in 'total putting' and 13th in the ‘three-putt avoidance’ stats in 2025.

Back Nicolai Hojgaard to win the Masters at 175/1 (six places) each way with Spreadex.

The 2025 Masters gets underway from Augusta on 10 April. Make sure to get the best Masters picks from FIRST in next week's in-depth Masters betting preview.

Odds correct at the time of writing.