show me the money
Masters 2025: Why this surprise contender is making Vegas really sweat
JD Cuban
It’s an absolutely stacked leader board heading into the weekend of the 2025 Masters—Rory, Bryson, Scottie … you will be surprised to hear the name that has officials at one Las Vegas sportsbook most nervous. Some casual golf fans might not be familiar with Matt McCarty, but there’s at least one believer in the Masters debutant, apparently.
We’ve confirmed that a bettor out in Las Vegas placed a wager on McCarty to win the Masters that would result in a $2-million payday. The Scottsdale resident opened with 775-1 odds of winning, meaning someone put around $2,500 on McCarty to win, despite implied odds of winning around 0.13 percent. Now? Data Golf still only thinks McCarty wins 1.1 percent of the time despite being three back of Justin Rose’s lead. Circa’s live odds are 65-1 on him. Even with all the popular players close to the lead, McCarty would be the worst case scenario for the popular Circa Sportsbook out in Las Vegas, said Jeffrey Benson, director of operations at the Circa. Benson said McCarty is Circa’s biggest liability, followed by Shane Lowry and McIlroy out of the competitors within shouting distance.
You’d think there’s no way anyone would’ve bet McCarty to win the green jacket, right? Not only is he a debutant—and knowledgeable golf fans understand a Masters newbie hasn’t won since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979—but he also hasn’t done much in 2025, with just two finishes inside the top 40 in 10 starts.
We know McCarty is extremely talented—earning a promotion to the PGA Tour after winning three times on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024. A few months later, he won in Utah for his first PGA Tour victory—earning the invitation to Augusta National.
Of course, we also know lefties have cleaned up at Augusta. Man, the more we talk about this, the more we think this bet actually made some sense.
We documented the $1.2 million payday that a Wisconsin man James Adducci netted when Tiger Woods won the 2019 Masters. Tough to believe McCarty would top that by a large margin.
Is McCarty ready to help this gambler clean up? We still doubt it, but it’s a heckuva bet, no matter what happens.
