The first round of the Open de France was a high scoring affair, although we are used to that in this tournament, but it has produced a high class leaderboard where already we look set for an amazing weekend in the third Rolex Series event of the season.
Those who began well on Thursday will be out to consolidate their position in the second round on Friday while those who did not get the first round they would have wanted will be eager to make up for it. The cut is going to be over par though so there is no need for most to panic just yet which should give us an intriguing day of golf.
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Round 1 Recap
At the end of the first round of action there is one man out in front in Bradley Dredge. He shot four under for the opening 18 holes and he leads by one from our pre-tournament pick Graeme McDowell and Andy Sullivan with a trio of players another shot further back which includes Ryder Cup hopeful Thomas Pieters and vice-captain Robert Karlsson. Just 14 men shot under par on the first day with Justin Thomas among them.
It was not a good day for us betting wise with all three of our three ball bets going down with a late run of four bogeys in five holes costing us what was looking like an easy winner for Max Kieffer so there is work to do over the final three days.
Friday Betting
With 14 players under par the second round leader market might well be a competitive one but in truth I’m struggling to see much in the way of value here. In previous years it has not been unknown for the leader to kick on again which could make Dredge a fair bet at 13/2 but there are some seriously tough players in behind him so I’m not really sure who I would want to back. With that in mind I’ll keep my powder dry and head for the Friday three balls for a bet.
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Friday 3 Balls
The field is split up into the same groups of three that they played in during the opening round with the two marquee groups being exactly the same. The only difference is that those out in the morning on Thursday are out in the afternoon on Friday and vice versa. Once again I’m leaving the main groups alone and focusing on a couple of others, both of which go off in the afternoon.
Matthew Southgate/Nicolas Colsaerts/Brett Rumford
Match tees off at 11.40 BST
The first afternoon group out onto the golf course sees Matthew Southgate going back out alongside Nicolas Colsaerts and Brett Rumford with Southgate and Rumford beginning on level par and Colsaerts two shots worse off.
The real surprise on Thursday was that Rumford barely hit a green in regulation but he holed nearly everything that he saw on the greens. I would be amazed if he misses so many greens again as his iron play is usually one of his strengths so I’m expecting him to have a good round. Southgate is solid but rarely delivers the goods at this level while the tendency to lose the odd tee shot too many puts me off Colsaerts. I’ll go with the Australian here.
Richie Ramsay/George Coetzee/Chris Wood
Match tees off at 13.20 BST
Chris Wood is out in the last group of the afternoon when he is back out alongside Richie Ramsay and George Coetzee. The Englishman shot one under the card on Thursday which was three better than Ramsay and four better than Coetzee.
Wood’s success was built on a very hot putter on Thursday but that is encouraging because usually his tee to green game is very strong so that should make him tough to beat on Friday especially with his playing partners likely to be worried about making the cut rather than going really low. This isn’t really a course for Coetzee anyway and with the iron play of Ramsay leaving a lot to be desired on Thursday I think Wood can win this group for a second day in a row.
Tips
Back B.Rumford to beat M.Southgate & N.Colsaerts for a 3/10 stake at 3.50 with Boylesports
Back him here:
WON – Back C.Wood to beat R.Ramsay & G.Coetzee for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with LeoVegas
Back him here:
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