It’s time for our Golden Generation to rise and shine. Canadian golf reached new heights last summer with three players – Corey Conners, Nick Taylor and Taylor Pendrith – all reaching the Top 40 of the Official World Golf Ranking. But here we are heading into the most important event on the golf betting calendar, the 2026 Masters Tournament, and only Conners remains at No. 40 on the charts.
No need to panic just yet. Canada is still on the ascendancy when it comes to this sport, and a lot of it has to do with the Masters itself – specifically the 2003 Masters, where Mike Weir became the first Canadian to take home the Green Jacket. Weir’s victory helped give birth to this Golden Generation; Conners has enjoyed his own success at Augusta National, and he’ll be a popular choice on our 2026 Masters betting menu here at Ozoon. Here’s what’s on tap as we approach the big event.
Favourites
We haven’t seen anything like this since Tiger Woods. There’s one golfer who stands head-and-shoulders above everyone else right now, and that’s Scottie Scheffler, the clear favourite on Ozoon’s Masters odds board at +450. Scheffler has been the World’s No. 1 for 175 weeks and counting, he’s a two-time champion (2022, 2024) at the Masters, and he’s already tasted victory this year at the Desert Classic in La Quinta.
But is Scheffler worth paying the kind of premium Woods used to fetch with his golf odds? Tiger was the +350 pre-tournament favourite when he won the 2005 Masters; only two men have gone wire-to-wire since. They just happen to be the two most recent winners. Scheffler (+375) did it two years ago, then Rory McIlroy (+650) finally claimed his first Green Jacket last year.
Scheffler or McIlroy?
McIlroy is second on the 2026 Masters futures market at +1000, well behind Scheffler thanks to a lower back injury that forced him out of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 7. McIlroy did manage to compete at the Players Championship the following week, but only finished in 46th place – tied with Pendrith, and well behind Sudarshan Yellamaraju (T5), the top Canadian making his first big splash after earning his PGA Tour card for 2026.
Recent form may be a concern for McIlroy, but it’s not like Scheffler’s been lighting it up lately; he’s coming off a T24 at the Arnold Palmer and a T22 at the Players. This cold spell started just after Scheffler switched drivers from his trusty TaylorMade Qi10 to the same Qi4D model that McIlroy and other top players are using. Early results show faster ball speeds and more consistent spin retention; maybe Scheffler just needed a few reps to get used to the new equipment.
Since we’re putting McIlroy in the Favourites tier at +1000, we should extend the same courtesy to Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm at +1200. There’s one problem though: Both play in the LIV Golf League, so bettors don’t have access to the same kind of statistics the PGA Tour and others compile. If you’re willing to overlook that, Rahm was the 2023 Masters winner, and his all-around game should be better suited for Augusta than DeChambeau’s gripping and ripping – although DeChambeau has added more layers to his game, finishing T6 at the 2024 Masters and T5 in 2025 after missing the cut the previous two years.
Value Bets
As a general rule, whether it’s golf, tennis or even the CFL, you’ll find the most betting value by looking a bit farther down the odds list – not too far, though. The gap between the Favourites tier and the remaining top contenders is rarely as pronounced as the betting public thinks. Anyone can win the Masters, especially if they pass through one or more of these filters:
– Nine of the past 12 winners have previously finished Top-5 at Augusta
– All 12 were in the OWGR Top 25
– Nine had previous Tour victories that year
– Fourteen of the last 16 winners ranked inside the Top-40 in par-5 scoring the year they won
We only have the partial 2026 season to work with, so we have to tread lightly with our par-5 analysis, but Cameron Young (+2200) checks off most of our boxes. He just took down the Players Championship, pushing him to No. 5 in the world rankings for the first time; Scheffler and McIlory each won the Players before doubling up at Augusta. Young hasn’t finished Top-5 here, but he did earn a T7 in 2023 and a T9 in 2024 before missing the cut last year.
Collin Morikawa (+2800) is the other name that jumps off the page. Morikawa finished Top-15 in each of his last four trips to Augusta, including a career-best T3 in 2024, and he won at Pebble Beach earlier this season. We’re getting a bargain price here in part because it’s been five years since Morikawa won his last major at the British Open, and in part because his iron play doesn’t generate the same publicity as DeChambeau’s cannonating drives.
The shortest golf odds in this betting tier go to Ludvig Aberg at +1600, and he’s a hot commodity after finishing second two years ago at his Augusta debut. But does he have what it takes to win the big one? That final-round collapse at the Players doesn’t bode well for Aberg; he tied for fifth after carrying a three-stroke lead into Sunday. Hideki Matsuyama (+4000), the 2021 Masters champion, shows more promise here after winning earlier this year at Riviera and placing 11th at Bay Hill.
Long Shots
Once you get around the +6000 range, it becomes harder to find golfers who have proven themselves capable of going the distance. There might be some younger players who are just about to burst through; you might also find a familiar veteran who hasn’t reached the mountaintop in quite a while. Either would be fine from a betting standpoint – it’s those duffers in between you have to avoid.
Conners (+8000) is one of those up-and-comers. He landed Top-10 at Augusta in four of his last six attempts, so the consistency is there, but Conners is a lot better on the approach than he is on the green, regularly placing outside the Top 100 in strokes gained for putting. Keep an eye out for the Masters props as they become available, and see what price you can get on Conners to finish Top-10 or Top-20 at this year’s Masters.
On the veteran side, you have Shane Lowry (+6000) as a viable long shot given the nature of his game: strong from tee to green, with a high-arcing shot that lands softly – which would normally be an advantage at Augusta, but maybe less so this year given the chance of rain leading up to Round One on Thursday, April 9. The weather report at press time calls for that rain to return for Sunday’s final round.
Then you have the remaining Canadians in the field. Pendrith (+20000) and Taylor (+25000) are both legitimate PGA Tour winners who are eminently capable of making the Masters cut, and both have the ball-striking profile to compete at Augusta. However, neither fits our Masters-winner profile all that well. Consider aiming instead at props for making the cut or finishing Top-40.
Past Winners
There is one more Canadian on the Masters betting list. As a former champion, Weir gets an automatic entry for this year’s tournament, so he’s on the board here at Ozoon – at +250000, tied with Jose Maria Olazabal (the 1994 and 1999 champion) as the longest shot. Weir turns 56 in May; Jack Nicklaus was 46 when he set the record as the oldest Masters winner in 1986.
Aside from the past winners we’ve already mentioned, some of the more recent champions than Weir and Olazabal make more sense from a betting perspective. Jordan Spieth (+4000) won a Masters title in 2015, and finished Top-5 in six of his 12 career starts at Augusta. Spieth’s short game is key here, but that winless drought – nearly four years now – is a legitimate concern. Maybe Patrick Reed (+3500) deserves more of a look for this year’s Masters. Reed won it all in 2018, and was still good enough to place third last year – plus Reed has already won twice on the 2026 DP World Tour.
We couldn’t end our 2026 Masters betting preview without mentioning Woods (+15000) one more time. Will he even compete this year? The latest word at press time is he’s “hopeful” to play his first tournament since the 2024 British Open. Keep a close eye on the news wires to track Woods and his progress; whichever golfers you choose for your Masters picks, Ozoon is the place to bet, so keep hitting that refresh button for the latest golf odds, and we’ll see you at Augusta National.