DFS Dish: Jordan Spieth offers enough wizardry to merit Masters roster spot

The 2025 majors season begins with the playing of the 89th Masters Tournament. Gamers have had the experience of navigating four Signature Events and THE PLAYERS Championship, but Augusta National Golf Club is a different challenge.

The names remain the same at the top of the salary board for DraftKings contests, and investors securing the two box-office names in the game will pay 27% of the $50,000 salary pool to roster Scottie Scheffler ($12,400) and Rory McIlroy ($11,100).

Playing and performing in major championship golf for these two at the 7,555-yard layout is magnified. Scheffler would rewrite a chapter of the Augusta National history books with a win, joining Jack Nicklaus, Sir Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back champions at the hallowed grounds.

A win for McIlroy would also rewrite the record books. The Irishman would become the sixth player, including Nicklaus and Woods, to win the career Grand Slam, all four major championships. The 2025 Masters will be McIlroy’s 11th opportunity to join this exclusive club. With two wins this season, including THE PLAYERS Championship, he appears destined to kick down the historical door. Scheffler, without a win in 2025, is hardly the underdog. Choose your history-maker wisely!

The contrarians remind me that neither of these players is guaranteed anything other than 36 holes of golf on Thursday and Friday. Quietly, Collin Morikawa ($10,500) has laid down a foundation over the last three seasons. Playing in the final group with Scheffler in 2024 and settling for T3, he picked up his third consecutive T10 or better paycheck. Leading the TOUR in Strokes Gained: Approach, there are worse strategies than aligning a two-time major winner with one of the big names on a second-shot course.

The third choice, Sweden's Ludvig Åberg ($10,800), finished second in his debut in 2024. He arrives after missing the cut in his last two but won The Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines and finished T5 at The Sentry, the only two longer courses on TOUR this season. In 2024, Jon Rahm ($10,500) had a major championship season to forget until sharing seventh at Royal Troon in July. The prideful Spaniard limped home to T45 in his title defense at Augusta National, missed the cut at the PGA Championship, and withdrew before he struck a shot at the U.S. Open. Making his ninth start at the Masters, he owns five top-10 results.

Jordan Spieth ($9,000),the 2015 champion, and Justin Thomas ($9,700) jump others in the $9,000 to $9,900 range. Spieth has flashed just enough wizardry to garner attention again this week. Nobody in the last decade (besides Scheffler) has made this track look ordinary. Thomas, who has collected solo second-place dollars twice this year, including in his previous event at the Valspar Championship, appears ready to fire. The man from Kentucky is in the field for his 10th start and is easily in his best form since a T8 finish in 2022.

Russell Henley ($8,400) ran T4 in 2023 and has not missed the cut in seven straight appearances. The winner at a demanding Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard in March owns four top-10 paydays from seven 2025 starts and wreaks of value. For the course historians, Will Zalatoris ($8,300) has entered three times and has produced a T9, T6 and T2 on his 2021 debut. For the recent form followers, the Dallas native does not own a 2025 top-10 paycheck from seven events.

For those digging deeper to zig when the masses zag, I would look at Cameron Smith ($8,200). Cashing in the top 10 in four of his last five, the favorable driving conditions combined with his all-world short game make him stand out at this price. Making his 14th start, Jason Day ($7,600), when healthy, has shined on this track from the word "go." Sharing second on debut in 2011, he knows all the nooks and crannies and owns four top-10 results. Patrick Reed ($7,300), the 2018 champion, has added T12 or better in four of his last five editions. Along with Scheffler and Garcia, he’s the only winner in the last decade to rank outside the top 10 in SG: Approach. Why? His short game is incredible, and Augusta National gives the players plenty of room to work it off the tee. Balancing a ball-striking lineup with elite short-game players, especially putters, will not hurt.

The top 50 players and ties will make the cut and play the final 36 holes. Getting six players to the weekend will take a bit of luck and skill. Maverick McNealy ($7,100) is one of 21 debutants, but not many others have four top-10 paydays from 10 events this season and won last November. Three debutants in the last five years have finished second. Only Fuzzy Zoeller (1979) has won on debut outside the first five events here. Cameron Young ($7,000) missed the weekend in 2022 and returned for a T7 in 2023 and a T9 in 2024. He’s made 38 birdies in his last 144 holes. Brian Harman ($6,800) would join Bubba Watson, Phil Mickelson and Mike Weir as the left-handed champions this century. He would also match Mickelson (2006) as the only other player to win the week before a Masters triumph.

The field of 95 players provides longshot opportunities – and plenty of them. Michael Kim ($6,700) returns to Augusta National for the first time since 2019. Playing his way into the Official World Golf Rankings' top 50 at the buzzer, he rattled off seven results of T-32 or better in eight events, including three T6 or better paydays, to qualify. Tom Hoge ($6,400) cashed a T5 at the Valero Texas Open after racking up a T3 at THE PLAYERS. Not a bad two-tournament run! Ángel Cabrera ($6,000), the 2009 winner, returned to PGA TOUR Champions this season and won last week in Boca Raton, Florida. Hey, everyone needs a longshot!

Here's how I would devise a six-man lineup this week at the Masters, staying within the $50,000 salary cap for DraftKings contests:

• Collin Morikawa ($10,400)
• Jordan Spieth ($9,000)
• Russell Henley ($8,400)
• Cameron Smith ($8,200)
• Patrick Reed ($7,300)
• Tom Hoge ($6,400)