The Italian Open reaches the halfway stage on Friday with those who got off to good starts looking to maintain their position on the leaderboard, or even better it, while those who were not quite so fortunate will be looking to get themselves through to the weekend.
Thursday Recap
It was a very low scoring opening day with a six way tie at the top on seven under and no fewer than 92 players breaking par. That almost guarantees the cut will be well under par so those around level or over par need something special on Friday.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat is one of the leaders on seven under while home hero Francesco Molinari is another as he bids to defend his title. Jamie Donaldson, Matt Wallace, Alexander Bjork and Eddie Pepperell complete the leading pack with George Coetzee and our pre-tournament pick Byeong Hun An one shot back on six under. Masters champion Sergio Garcia is one of a number of players on five under along with Alex Noren.
It was not the best start to the tournament betting wise for us with Fabrizio Zanotti well below par which resulted in him shooting one of very few over par scores but we have three days to get that back.
Friday Betting
We don’t have a market for the second round leader which is probably just as well as with 30 players within three of the lead it would need a pin and a blindfold to attempt to find the winner of it. Hopefully the five outright bets we have at three under or better can make their way through the field but we’ll head to the three balls for a bet.
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Friday 3 balls
As with the opening day the majority of the groups on the golf course have been priced up on Friday. The big group of Tommy Fleetwood, Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm are out in the morning but there are some really good groups out in the afternoon including the majority of the leaders and it is one of those which has caught my eye for a bet.
Graeme Storm/Ryan Fox/Ashun Wu
Match tees off at 11.35 BST
Three men who are hugely competent golfers go out relatively early in the afternoon session when Graeme Storm, Ryan Fox and Ashun Wu take to the golf course. Fox was the only one of the group to shoot under par on Thursday.
Storm was four over which has already put him out of the tournament barring something special. He produced seven bogeys which around here is not good and maybe a heavy schedule has caught up with him. Wu needed a run of four birdies in a row to rescue his opening round but even then he failed to break par.
Had it not been for a late double bogey then Fox would have been much further up the field but as it is he can repair the damage on one under and I expect him to fire in a decent round on what should be a fair course by the time this trio get out onto the course. At 6/4 Fox looks a fair bet here.
Tips
Back R.Fox to beat G.Storm & A.Wu for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
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