The Masters is upon us, and if we evaluate the world of golf to this point, one name pops up atop the best-playing golfers of the season: Rory McIlroy. He may be just one of 87 names in the Masters field, but the favorite to capture the green jacket happens to be the hottest golfer in the world at this point.

McIlroy enters Thursday's opening around as a 7-1 favorite to win his first Masters, and he's followed closely by Dustin Johnson at 10-1 and Justin Rose at 12-1. Combined, that trio has 10 top 10s in 11 Masters over the last four years. McIlroy is not just a big name attraction, either. He leads the PGA Tour in strokes gained. He's also coming off a Players Championship win. Oh, by the way, he has also reasserted himself as either the best or one of the best golfers on the PGA Tour through a string of seven straight top 10 finishes to start 2019.

The 87-man field is not large by Masters standards -- in fact, it's the exact same size as a year ago. There are clearly different segments that each golfer belongs to in terms of their capability to legitimately win this event. So that's why we have broken down the field and each golfer's odds into a number of categories below.

Here are the top 12 favorites (or everyone at 20-1 or better).

  • Rory McIlroy: 7-1
  • Dustin Johnson: 10-1
  • Justin Rose: 12-1
  • Tiger Woods: 14-1
  • Justin Thomas: 16-1
  • Rickie Fowler: 16-1
  • Jon Rahm: 16-1
  • Jordan Spieth: 16-1
  • Brooks Koepka: 20-1
  • Tommy Fleetwood: 20-1
  • Francesco Molinari: 20-1
  • Bryson DeChambeau: 20-1

This is quite a crew. It would probably be surprising if the winner came from outside of this group of 12, but that's also where the most value is to be found. Let's look at the next tier of golfers up to the 50-1s next.

  • Jason Day: 25-1
  • Bubba Watson: 25-1
  • Paul Casey: 30-1
  • Hideki Matsuyama: 30-1
  • Tony Finau: 30-1
  • Phil Mickelson: 40-1
  • Adam Scott: 40-1
  • Matt Kuchar: 40-1
  • Xander Schauffele: 40-1
  • Louis Oosthuizen: 40-1
  • Marc Leishman: 50-1
  • Patrick Reed: 50-1

Oh yeah, this is the good stuff. There's not a name on this list I don't like at those numbers. Matsuyama has unfortunately dropped from 40-1 to 30-1 since just last week, but he's still of great value at 30. Day, Finau and Casey can all win here. Bubba and Scott have won here. Xander and Leishman aren't sexy quotes or big names, but they're on great numbers.

It's finally Masters week. It always feels like we wait so long, and then it always goes by so fast. In another week, we'll have a slam winner or a two-time green jacket champ or a first-timer or a fourth-timer (?!) or a fifth-timer (?!?!). Either way, in a week we'll have a 2019 champion. Now it's time to predict who exactly that's going to be.  

Below the usual suspects is rest of the field. These are the long-shots outside of the top 24, but it's still a strong field.

  • Henrik Stenson: 60-1
  • Sergio Garcia: 60-1
  • Patrick Cantlay: 60-1
  • Kevin Kisner: 60-1
  • Gary Woodland: 60-1
  • Ian Poulter: 80-1
  • Brandt Snedeker: 80-1
  • Charley Hoffman: 80-1
  • Si Woo Kim: 80-1
  • Cameron Smith: 80-1
  • Webb Simpson: 100-1
  • Keegan Bradley: 100-1
  • Rafael Cabrera Bello: 100-1
  • Charles Howell III: 100-1
  • Branden Grace: 125-1
  • Matthew Fitzpatrick: 125-1
  • Zach Johnson: 150-1
  • J.B. Holmes: 150-1
  • Tyrell Hatton: 150-1
  • Charl Schwartzel: 150-1
  • Billy Horschel: 150-1
  • Haotong Li: 150-1
  • Keith Mitchell: 150-1
  • Eddie Pepperell: 200-1
  • Alex Noren: 200-1
  • Kevin Na: 200-1
  • Danny Willett: 200-1
  • Matt Wallace: 200-1
  • Emiliano Grillo: 250-1
  • Shane Lowry: 250-1
  • Corey Conners: 250-1
  • Thorbjorn Olesen: 250-1
  • Lucas Bjerregaard: 250-1
  • Justin Harding: 300-1
  • Aaron Wise: 300-1
  • Kyle Stanley: 300-1
  • Kiradech Aphibarnrat: 300-1
  • Fred Couples: 300-1
  • Stewart Cink: 500-1
  • Patton Kizzire: 500-1
  • Adam Long: 500-1
  • Kevin Tway: 500-1
  • Bernhard Langer: 500-1
  • Shugo Imahara: 1,000-1
  • Vijay Singh: 1,000-1
  • Michael Kim: 1,000-1
  • Satoshi Kodaira: 1,000-1
  • Andrew Landry: 1,000-1
  • Trevor Immelman: 1,000-1
  • Mike Weir: 2,000-1
  • Viktor Hovland: 2,000-1
  • Devon Bling: 2,000-1
  • Kevin O'Connell: 3,000-1
  • Jovan Rebula: 3,000-1
  • Alvaro Ortiz: 3,000-1
  • Jose Maria Olazabal: 5,000-1
  • Sandy Lyle: 5,000-1
  • Larry Mize: 5,000-1
  • Ian Woosnam: 5,000-1

So who will win the 2019 Masters, and which long shots stun the golfing world? Visit SportsLine now to see the full projected 2019 Masters leaderboard from the model that nailed Patrick Reed's victory last year, and find out.