The second round of the opening European Tour event of 2019 will be played out on Thursday, when the Abu Dhabi Championship heads towards the halfway stage. The tournament is bubbling up nicely after the first round so we should be in for a good day of golf.
Given the riches that are on offer in this tournament, with it being a Rolex Series event, those who had poor starts will be desperate to get themselves inside the cut line while those who played well on Wednesday will be out to enhance their position and place themselves for a shot at the title.
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Round 1 Recap
After the opening round of the year it is Shane Lowry who takes a three shot lead into the second round with him after a quite remarkable round of 62 which featured 10 birdies and only eight pars. He leads by three on 10 under from a quartet of players including recent winner Louis Oosthuizen and the former champion here Pablo Larrazabal while Richard Sterne and Mike Lorenzo-Vera make up that group. Our two main outright bets, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer, sit in a huge group on six under, four off the lead.
It was a decent day betting wise for us on Wednesday with Oosthuizen securing a place for us in the first round leader market and Joost Luiten coming through his three ball with a few shots in hand. Sadly Sam Horsfield was a couple of shots too good for Thomas Detry but it was profit for the first day with the potential to build on it over the remainder of the week.
Thursday Betting
There is the early signs of a second round leader market forming but not too many bookies have gone live with it yet so I’m not going to have too much of a look at it. In truth, you would think that it is largely about Shane Lowry but if he has a slow day there are any number of players who could top the leaderboard at the end of Thursday’s play. When the market is fully formed there should be some value around but too many possible leaders are in situ for a confident bet. With that in mind it is off to the three balls for me for Thursday.
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Thursday 3 Balls
The field are out in the same groups on Thursday as they were on Wednesday but those who played the morning on Wednesday will play the afternoon on Thursday and vice versa. That means that the morning will be headlined by Ian Poulter, Thorbjorn Olesen and Eddie Pepperell with the Branden Grace, Martin Kaymer and Byeong Hun An getting plenty of coverage too. In the afternoon it will be all about the threesome of Louis Oosthuizen, Henrik Stenson and Dustin Johnson with Tommy Fleetwood, Brooks Koepka and Tyrrell Hatton also in the spotlight too. I’ll go with three bets.
Branden Grace/Martin Kaymer/Byeong Hun An
Match tees off at 03.50 GMT
One of the pick of the morning groups onto the golf course is the one featuring Branden Grace, three time winner Martin Kaymer and the Korean star Byeong Hun An, who will all be expecting to shoot a low score on Thursday.
Kaymer won this group by four shots and six on Wednesday and I see no reason why he won’t go on and win it again on Thursday. It is evidently clear that he is comfortable and at home on this golf course and while the other two players are top draw, Kaymer looks in good touch at the minute and I think there is enough value in him to come out on top in this three ball.
Robert Karlsson/Richard McEvoy/Joost Luiten
Match tees off at 07.45 GMT
The first group out onto the golf course in the afternoon session sees Robert Karlsson, Richard McEvoy and Joost Luiten teeing off. I got involved in this three ball on Wednesday when Luiten won by four and six shots and I’m getting involved again.
I mentioned on Wednesday just how proficient the Dutch star is from tee to green and he was third in fairways hit and fifth in greens. If he gets the putter going he is going to shoot another very low round on Thursday. McEvoy was way down the field for both fairways and greens and the same can be said for Karlsson too. Barring something very surprising Luiten will win this group again.
Matt Wallace/Haotong Li/Thomas Pieters
Match tees off at 08.15 GMT
One of the headline groups in the afternoon session sees regular winners Matt Wallace and Haotong Li going out alongside the World Cup champion Thomas Pieters in a really classy three ball, all of whom begin on an under par score after the first round.
Pieters was brilliant with the driver in hand on Wednesday and we can expect that to continue. I would imagine as a result of a good round in the first 18 holes he will deliver much better play with the irons and the putter so I’m expecting him to go well. Haotong Li could barely find a fairway in the first round while Matt Wallace looked off the pace. I’ll go with Pieters here.
Tips
Back M.Kaymer to beat B.Grace & B-H.An for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Betfred
Back him here:
WON – Back J.Luiten to beat R.McEvoy & R.Karlsson for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with 888sport
Back him here:
Back T.Pieters to beat M.Wallace & H.Li for a 3/10 stake at 2.70 with Betfair
Back him here:
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