Augusta Value Heist: Four Longshots Worth Backing At 2026 Masters

The 2026 Masters feels like the most wide-open hunt for a green jacket in years. From surging young stars to short-game maestros, the value lurking down the odds board is currently impossible to ignore. Usually, the longshots are "dead money" at Augusta. The last golfer with odds longer than +7000 to win the Masters was Charl Schwartzel at +9000 in 2011.

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However, I’ve identified four sleepers with the statistical profiles necessary to navigate Augusta's treacherous greens. These picks include a red-hot debutant, "horses for the course," and proven major threats currently being overlooked by oddsmakers. Here are four longshots worth backing for a potential life-changing Sunday at the 2026 Masters.

Four Masters 2026 Longshots 

The following odds are based on my previous bets on the golfers listed below. Subject to change. 

• Nicolai Højgaard +7400 via DraftKings (0.27u)
• Jacob Bridgeman +8400 via DraftKings (0.24u)
• Cameron Smith +12500 via FanDuel (0.16u)
• Sungjae Im +12500 via FanDuel (0.16u)

Nicolai Højgaard

The 2023 DP World Tour champion is ninth on TOUR this season in total strokes gained. Nicolai has made the cut in all seven starts this year, including a T3 at the WM Phoenix Open, T6 at the Cognizant Classic, and second at the Houston Open. 

You need to beat up the Par-5s at Augusta to win a green jacket, and Højgaard ranks eighth in this field for Strokes Gained (SG): Par 5 this season, per Betsperts Golf. Nicolai finished T16 at the 2024 Masters as a debutant and was the leader at one point in the tournament. 

The Dane is only 25 years old and has the talent to win a major. Maybe he is still too young, but at 74-to-1 odds, I’m adding Højgaard to my betting card for what feels like the most wide-open Masters we’ve had since Hideki Matsuyama won in 2021.

Jacob Bridgeman

Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 is the third and most recent debutant to win the Masters, which is why Bridgeman is +8400. Otherwise, these odds are disrespectful because Bridgeman leads the PGA TOUR in the FedExCup points this season. He won The Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club and hasn't finished worse than T18 in his eight starts this year. 

Furthermore, only four debutants have won The Genesis when it played 72 holes (Adam Scott won a weather-shortened Genesis in 2025). The last was Pat Fitzsimons in 1975, and the Genesis, which started as the "Los Angeles Open," has been around longer than the Masters. 

Riviera is similar to Augusta with many crossover winners, such as Hideki, Scott, Jon Rahm, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, and Phil Mickelson. Hence, if Bridgeman can win in his first appearance at Riviera, maybe he can don the green jacket this week. Either way, it's worth a shot at these odds. 

Finally, like the guy I discuss below, Bridgeman can putt his way to victory anywhere. He leads the TOUR in SG: Putting and has gained strokes on the greens in every start this season. Obviously, it’s unlikely Bridgeman wins the Masters as a debutant, but his odds are longer than guys that aren’t playing nearly as well, and I had room for him on my card.

Cameron Smith

As long as he is in the field, Smith has a puncher’s chance to win the Masters because of his world-class short-game (chipping and putting). He has gained strokes around-the-green in all seven of his Masters with shot-link data, according to Betsperts Golf, and has gained strokes on the greens in six of those. 

The Aussie has a T5 at the 2018 Masters, T2 in 2020, T10 in 2021, T3 in 2022, and T6 in 2024. Augusta has super-wide fairways, which is key because the driver is by far Smith’s weakest club in the bag. Essentially, if Smith gets hot with his irons, he can chip and putt his way to victory at the Masters, as he did at the 2022 Open Championship and THE PLAYERS.

Sungjae Im 

Not gonna lie: I’m making this bet more because I feel like his "top-20 with ties" is a lock, and I’d be sick if Sungjae shocked the world and I didn’t have money on his outright. (Spoiler alert: He’s not going to win). Im has four top-20 finishes at Augusta, highlighted by a T2 as a debutant in 2020, T8 in 2022, and T5 last year when his game was complete dog-sh*t. 

Sungjae started the season late and missed the cut in his first two starts, then popped at Innisbrook, where he was the first-round leader at the Valspar Championship and ended up tying for fourth. When he is dialed in, Im has an elite short-game and is one of the most accurate drivers in golf, which plays well at any course, including Augusta.

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Follow me on X @Geoffery-Clark, and check out my OutKick Bets Podcast for more betting content and random rants. I'll add bets to my PGA Tour 2026 betting record via X throughout the entire season.