Masters 2026 Day 2 Tips & Predictions: McIlroy Leading The Way At Augusta National

Rock-hard greens led to some high scores from big names on Day 1 of the Masters.

Robert MacIntyre (+8), Jon Rahm (+6), Min Woo Lee (+6), and Patrick Cantlay (+5) are some of the popular golf betting picks to have played their way out of contention.

Rory McIlroy and Sam Burns are the co-leaders at -5, with McIlroy as short as 1/2 for a top-five finish. The defending champion is aiming to become only the fourth player to win consecutive Masters titles and appears freed up by having finally got over the hump at Augusta National.

Scottie Scheffler is 7/2 behind McIlroy (5/2). Scheffler shot -2 on Thursday and showed signs of his best golf after a difficult start to the year. At 9/1, Schauffele has the third-shortest odds to win the first major of the year.

Strong Starts Matter

It’s easy to look at the first-round scoreboard and remind yourself how much can change. There are 54 holes of golf left to play, of course, and things can go south quickly with Augusta providing a particularly stern challenge this year.

Seventeen of the last 20 Masters have seen the winner place in the top 10 at the end of round 1, however.

That means it’s very likely the winner will come from the following group:

• Sam Burns
• Rory McIlroy
• Kurt Kitayama
• Jason Day
• Patrick Reed
• Shane Lowry
• Xander Schauffele
• Justin Rose
• Scottie Scheffler
• Li Haotong
• Nick Taylor
• Tommy Fleetwood
• Brian Campbell
• Aaron Rai
• Jacob Bridgeman
• Gary Woodland

Course Conditions

Reed was among the players to talk up how difficult the course will play over the weekend. It’ll be interesting to see how the course is managed – watering the greens could lead to lower scores than expected, while if it gets firmer and faster, a first-round advantage could be even more valuable.

McIlroy’s 13/8 to be the second-round leader certainly looks to have some value given that he has a two-stroke lead over Kitayama and Day. It’s unlikely Burns can match his first-round score of 67.

Rose is only three shots back and has appeal at 16/1 to be the leader heading into the weekend. We all know how the veteran has excelled at Augusta National throughout his career, and there were some positive signs on Thursday.

Outsider Picks

Being even par or +1 is enough for golfers to be very much in the mix, even though history suggests they are unlikely to don the Green Jacket on Sunday.

Sepp Straka is 15/8 for a top 20 placing, despite sitting only two strokes behind 10th. Heavily fancied before the tournament, there’s value in backing Matt Fitzpatrick for a top 10 finish from +2 at 7/2.

The way Cam Young fought back from a woeful start to his round makes the 12/5 on a top 10 finish intriguing.

*Odds subject to change – prices accurate at the time of writing*