The opening round of the 2025 Masters is in the books, and major champion Justin Rose is off to a first-round lead for the fifth time in his career.
Rose carries a three-stroke lead into Friday, and he’ll look to stay ahead of a star-studded pack at Augusta National with a solid Round 2. Here are my Round 2 Masters predictions for Friday, April 11.
Best Masters Round 2 predictions
Outright pick: Ludvig Aberg
+500 with a 1/5 odds for a Top 4 places each way at bet365
There are two approaches to the outright market right now because there has only been a single Masters winner who hasn’t been within four shots of the Round 1 leader in the past 19 years.
The first is to look at those six golfers, and the second is to look at players within four strokes of those currently tied at T2 following opening-round 68s with the expectation that Justin Rose falls back into the pack.
I’m opting for Option No. 1, and taking advantage of the each-way market at bet365. Backing Ludvig Aberg at +500 with an each-way is a break-even bet if he finishes in the Top 4.
He hit 12 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens to rank first in true strokes gained off the tee and true strokes gained tee-to-green, and he also gained true strokes across the board. The two fairways he missed were on Par 5s, too, and expecting any notable decline in his tee-to-green play is shortsighted given his track record.
Round 2 score: Rory McIlroy Under 70.5
-125 at DraftKings
The double on 15 was more unlikely than poorly played for Rory McIlroy. His second shot was nuked, and more often than not, he’s making par or better following his first two shots. The double on 17 was sloppy.
Otherwise, he was in control and finished second in true strokes gained off-the-tee, 11th on approach, and 15th in true strokes gained tee-to-green. His distance gives him a huge advantage, and I’m anticipating a bounceback round starting in the early wave Friday morning.
Additionally, from an odds perspective, this prop doesn’t align with his +1200 DraftKings odds to win outright. It’s the fifth-shortest price on the board, after all.
Round 2 score: Justin Thomas Under 71.5
-105 at DraftKings
It’s hard to envision Justin Thomas’ tee-to-green game being any poorer than it was in Round 1. He only hit seven of 14 fairways and 11 of 18 greens in regulation while ranking 90th in true strokes gained tee-to-green, 50th in true strokes gained on approach, and 80th in true strokes gained tee-to-green.
Thomas made key putt after key putt to finish sixth in true strokes gained putting and save his opening round. With improved tee-to-green play, there’s room for him to negatively regress on the greens and still shoot 71 or better.
Round 2 matchup: Harris English over Aaron Rai
+100 at DraftKings
Aaron Rai put four circles on his card through the first eight holes of Round 1 to take an early lead, and then things unraveled. He shot a 38 on the back despite hitting every fairway because the Englishman lost true strokes putting on six of nine greens to finish the round listing -1.21 total to rank 72nd in the field.
The good news is he finished second in true strokes gained tee-to-green, including eighth off-the-tee and third around-the-green. Unfortunately, after gaining +1.96 on approach on the front, he lost -0.94 on the back. Simply put, I anticipate him continuing to hit fairways and have a solid approach game again in Round 2. I’m also just expecting his putting woes to continue due to his inexperience in the event.
Turning to Harris English, he ranked second in true strokes gained on approach and hit 16 of 18 greens. The veteran has gained true strokes putting in each of his past three trips to the Masters, and he finished a middling 40th in the metric in Round 1 (+0.29). I expect his complete game to show up again on Friday.
Latest Masters odds
- Scottie Scheffer: +200
- Ludvig Aberg: +600
- Bryson DeChambeau: +650
- Justin Rose: +750
- Rory McIlroy: +1200
- Corey Conners: +1800
- Tyrrell Hatton: +2500
- Collin Morikawa: +2500
- Shane Lowry: +3500
Odds courtesy of DraftKings.
Not intended for use in MA.
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