Scottie Scheffler was the heavy favorite heading into the 2024 Masters (+420), well ahead of Rory McIlroy and reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm, who were tied for the second-shortest odds at +1100. He showed exactly why he was such a popular pick as he went virtually wire-to-wire to dominate the field at Augusta National.
Scheffler finished 11-under, beating Ludvig Åberg by four strokes to win his second Green Jacket. In the process, he became only the fifth golfer to win the Masters entering the tournament ranked first in the world.
He also joined an elite list of only 18 golfers to win multiple Masters Tournaments. Jack Nicklaus won the most with six, followed by Tiger Woods (five) and Arnold Palmer (four), while five others have three. Scheffler became the first player to win his second Masters since Bubba Watson in 2014. He also won it in his fifth career start, which is the second-fewest of any golfer to win multiple titles.
Horton Smith won his second Masters Tournament in his third start back in 1936, making Scheffler the fastest to win his second title in 88 years. He slots in right in front of Palmer, Watson and Jimmy Demaret, who needed six starts to win their second Green Jacket.
Scheffler broke a trend of longshots coming out on top this year. 15 of 17 tournaments thus far have been won by players entering the tournament 50-1 or higher. However, if any non-longshot was to win, odds are it would be Scheffler. After all, he had the only two victories of the year entering this week for someone with short odds, winning at Bay Hill and TPC Sawgrass.
Max Homa (60-1) looked like he’d be a prime candidate to continue longshots’ success as he was tied for the lead at 6-under early on Sunday. He was on Scheffler’s heels for the early part of the day, but a disastrous double bogey on the 12th hole dropped him three strokes behind. He finished tied for third with Collin Morikawa and Tommy Fleetwood at 4-under.
Meanwhile, Åberg turned heads with an impressive performance at Augusta National. In fact, he was within two shots of the lead after making birdie at 13 before Scheffler ran away with the win. It was an exciting debut for the buzzworthy Swede, who was trying to become the first golfer to win the Green Jacket in his debut since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979. The 24-year-old was +2200 to win entering the tournament.
The PGA Championship is golf's next major championship on the horizon and will take place from May 16-19 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Scheffler is already priced as the favorite at FanDuel at +500 despite it being over a month away.
