The first round of the Scottish Open takes place at the Dundonald Golf Links in Ayr on Thursday with one of the best fields we’ve seen on the European Tour teeing it up for the opening 18 holes each looking to get off to a fast start.
156 golfers will tread the fairways and greens of the Scottish track across the two sessions of play on Thursday and given the quality on show we should be in for some day of golf.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
First Round Leader
As I’ve mentioned in the recent events I have covered I am reluctant to get involved in this market in events like these before the fields are condensed into two sessions so at least half the field are going to get the same conditions which doesn’t really help with reducing the field to find the value.
I prefer the tournaments where there is no split in the draw so we can get closer timings to the conditions and split the field up into a more manageable number so I will leave this market until next week and focus on the three balls for betting purposes on Thursday.
Thursday 3 balls
As ever the majority of the three balls have been priced up for this opening round and I would much rather bet with two opponents than 156 as at least we know the three men will be in the same conditions.
There are some great groups going out onto the golf course on Thursday. No doubt the pick of them is the one featuring Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler. Russell Knox, Jason Dufner and Bernd Wiesberger is another good group as is the afternoon one of Tyrrell Hatton, Adam Scott and the defending champion Alex Noren. I like three bets on Thursday but they are in other groups.
Pablo Larrazabal/Dylan Frittelli/Paul Lawrie
Match tees off at 08.50 BST
One of the later groups out in the morning is the former Open champion Paul Lawrie alongside the Lyoness Open winner Dylan Frittelli and Pablo Larrazabal in what should be a decent group to follow home before lunch.
I think Paul Lawrie is worth a go here. I’ve heard plenty of players suggesting that the wedges are going to get a lot of use this week and that should be right up Lawrie’s street. He is a wonderful wedge player and has been for a while and his scrambling is never in question. In fairness the same can be said about Larrazabal albeit he is much more erratic. Frittelli hasn’t really done it on a links yet so at 11/4 the Scot could be worth a go here.
Daniel Im/Scott Jamieson/Peter Hanson
Match tees off at 12.40 BST
One of the stars of last week goes out in the second group in the afternoon on Thursday in Daniel Im and he will be partnered by the local lad Scott Jamieson and the Swedish player Peter Hanson.
Im was right in contention last week but I’m not convinced he is going to follow that up. Certainly little in his career so far suggests he will and while I like Hanson he isn’t the force he was. Jamieson is playing a home game this week and that is never a bad thing and we’ve seen in the last two events in England and Ireland that he enjoys playing in the UK and close proximity. With question marks over the other two Jamieson could just be value here.
Patrick Reed/Rafa Cabrera Bello/Martin Kaymer
Match tees off at 13.10 BST
This is another group that will have a decent buzz around it as Patrick Reed takes on two of his Ryder Cup opponents in Rafa Cabrera Bello and Martin Kaymer in what should be a high quality three ball.
On a normal links could I may well consider the Spaniard here but I can’t ignore Reed on this track. We saw he’s swinging the wedge nicely in the Hero Challenge the other night and his prowess on and around the greens combined with his imagination and creativity gives him a strong edge here. He’s my idea of the winner of this group given the freedom from the tee.
Tips
Back P.Lawrie to beat P.Larrazabal & D.Frittelli for a 3/10 stake at 3.75 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back S.Jamieson to beat D.Im & P.Hanson for a 3/10 stake at 2.88 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back P.Reed to beat R.Cabrera Bello & M.Kaymer for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with William Hill
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
