The air of invincibility surrounding Scottie Scheffler has thinned out a bit as the world’s top-ranked player searches for an elusive first victory in 2025.
He still drives down Magnolia Lane as the defending Masters champion this week, and the consensus pre-tournament favorite to don his third green jacket at Augusta National. But the perceived gap between Scheffler and second-ranked Rory McIlroy has closed significantly — at least in the eyes of oddsmakers.
McIlroy has already won twice this year — claiming a signature event at Pebble Beach and a second career title at The Players last month. The Northern Irishman is also in Year 11 of his quest to complete the career grand slam with a win at the Masters.
Scheffler is the +400 favorite at DraftKings, but has drawn just the third-most money to win this week at 10 percent. Meanwhile, McIlroy has been backed by 16 percent at +650, followed by Bryson DeChambeau with 11 percent at enticing +1800 odds.
McIlroy also leads the field with 11 percent of all total bets placed on this week’s winner. That’s ahead of Scheffler (10 percent) and DeChambeau (9 percent).
The story is similar at BetMGM, where McIlroy opened at +1200 but now sits at +650. He has been backed by the most money (14.8 percent) and total bets (10.6 percent). However, he’s not the book’s biggest liability so far. That honor belongs to DeChambeau, who has drawn 9.5 and 8.1 percent of the action, respectively, while his odds have ticked up from +1400 to +1600.
Scheffler has drawn the second-most action in both markets, but is not among the top three liabilities. Behind DeChambeau and McIlroy sits Ludvig Aberg, who finished second to Scheffler in 2024.
Scheffler cruised to a four-stroke victory last year, but arrived at Augusta having unable to hoist a trophy yet in 2025.
It’s not as if he has exactly struggled by anyone else’s standards. After returning from surgery to fix a hand injury suffered over the holidays, Scheffler has not finished worse than a tie for 25th in six starts.
That includes a T3 at the Genesis Invitational and a T2 at the Texas Children’s Houston Open in his most recent start, Scheffler’s best result so far this year.
Jon Rahm, who won in 2023 between Scheffler’s two triumphs at Augusta, enters surprisingly under the radar with the third-shortest odds at +1300 at DraftKings. Despite finishing in the top 10 of every LIV Golf event this year, the Spaniard is not among the top 10 players in the field in total bets or money backing him this week.
–Field Level Media
