The first round of The Players Championship was full of low scoring combined with costly errors which is synonymous with the TPC Sawgrass layout. It was a day where some big names struggled while others got themselves into a position from which to launch a winning campaign.
Thursday Recap
On a day where the likes of Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia and Jordan Spieth all shot over par we were left with two men at the top of the leaderboard. They are Mackenzie Hughes and William McGirt.
Four men finishes a shot off the lead including the European duo of Jon Rahm and Alex Noren while a huge bunch on three under par, two back, have formed. They include Louis Oosthuizen, Daniel Berger and Rafa Cabrera Bello.
It was an up and down day for out bets on Thursday. We landed the first of the three ball punts when David Lingmerth was a shot too good for his playing partners but Justin Thomas and Steve Stricker couldn’t quite hang on to early leads for more success.
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Friday 3 balls
With such a bunched leaderboard I’m not seeing too much value in the second round leader betting so I’ll wait until the board eases up in terms of its bunched nature before I have another go at that. Instead there are a few 3 balls I like on Friday.
Rafa Cabrera Bello/John Huh/Jamie Lovemark
Match tees off at 14.00 BST
Rafa Cabrera Bello saw off his playing partners by five and six shots respectively on Thursday so I’m not really getting how he is odds against to win the group on Friday either. The foundation for success for the Spaniard was the quality of his long game. He hit half the fairways and 12 of the 18 greens in regulation and when you do that around here you’ve got every chance. The way he is hitting the ball he is going to be hard to beat here. Huh had a great ball striking day and never got head him while Lovemark was wretched from tee to green and shot 75 as a result.
Pat Perez/Cody Gribble/William McGirt
Match tees off at 19.03 BST
I had a feeling that William McGirt would have a big tournament this week hence why I took him to finish in the top 20 and he proved me right so far by taking the lead into the second round. He saw off Cody Gribble by two shots on Thursday while Pat Perez was much further back. I don’t really see McGirt going backwards on Friday either. He has a good game for this course and while you have to respect the putter of Cody Gribble you need some sort of long game to get by around here consistently. Perez might have something to offer on Friday but the 11/8 on McGirt looks good to me given his fit around this track.
Tommy Fleetwood/Ian Poulter/Cameron Tringale
Match tees off at 19.36 BST
Cameron Tringale won this group by a couple of shots from Ian Poulter on Thursday with Tommy Fleetwood two further shots back. Tringale shot -2 for his round with Poulter even par and Fleetwood two over.
I fancy Poulter can turn the tables here though. He only missed four fairways all day on Thursday but three of them ended up in sand with his second shot which led to bogeys each time. The rest of the round he was solidly three under par for and if he can keep himself out of sand I see no reason why he won’t have a decent day on Friday. Fleetwood got nothing going on the greens which would be a concern and I think Poulter had Tringale covered apart from that 45 minutes that he switched off. If he stays focused for all 18 on Friday I think Poulter can deliver at a decent price.
Tips
DEAD HEAT – Back R.Cabrera Bello to beat J.Huh & J.Lovemark for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with Skybet
Back him here:
Back W.McGirt to beat P.Perez & C.Gribble for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Paddy Power
DEAD HEAT – Back I.Poulter to beat T.Fleetwood & C.Tringale for a 4/10 stake at 2.88 with Paddy Power
Back them here:
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