The second round of the Irish Open, the second Rolex Series event of the European Tour season, takes place at Lahinch Golf Club on Friday where the entire field look to put themselves in position for a big weekend.
Those who had a good first round on Thursday will be looking to consolidate that but with the cut looking like being a few shots under par, those who didn’t start so well will be eager for a low one to get among the huge prize pool by making the cut.
Round 1 Recap
At the end of the opening 18 holes of the tournament it is the local hero Padraig Harrington who holds a one shot lead on seven under par. Zander Lombard carded a six under round to sit one back and then a huge group containing our pre-tournament pick Eddie Pepperell sits on five under. Thorbjorn Olesen and Chris Paisley are among the group on five under with Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Shane Lowry in another large group on four under.
It was an up and down betting day for us with Robert MacIntyre winning this three ball but Scott Jamieson offered nothing and to make matters worse both our first round leader bets got it going but then had poor back nines to end up nowhere near the frame, so there is a bit of work to do over the last three days of the tournament.
Friday Betting
I was hoping that there would be a second round leader market for Friday as I would expect there to have been a fair bit of value on offer with the bunched up leaderboard and the quality within those groups on five under and four under. Nevertheless there isn’t one at the time of writing so we are reduced to betting on the three balls for our fix on Friday.
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Friday 3 Balls
The field are out in the same groups they went onto the golf course in on Thursday. Those who had an early tee time on Thursday will be off later on Friday and the same works the other way round as well. That means there are some decent groups going out onto the golf course for the fans to enjoy with the TV coverage likely to centre around the best of them throughout the course of the day. There are two bets I like.
Andy Sullivan/Robert Karlsson/Alex Levy
Match tees off at 09.10 BST
The first group that interests me on Friday is one of the earlier starting groups on the golf course as Andy Sullivan goes out alongside Robert Karlsson and the French player Alexander Levy with the first two under par and Levy having it all to do to make the cut.
Both Sullivan and Karlsson shot two under par but how Sullivan managed it I’m not sure. He hit only two fairways out of the 14 on offer on the golf course and that is not a successful long-term strategy. Levy was barely any better and holed nothing at all so I’m happy to leave him out of my enquiries. That leaves us with Karlsson who historically has a decent record on links tracks and if the wind gets up he won’t be too concerned. He didn’t hole a whole lot on Thursday but if he makes up for that here he can land the odds at a decent price.
Danny Willett/Marcus Kinhult/Gavin Moynihan
Match tees off at 13.45 BST
The second group that I am interested in goes out just after lunch and it has a couple of Masters title winners in it. Danny Willett, winner of the US version takes on the champion of the British tournament in Marcus Kinhult with local player Gavin Moynihan the other member of the three ball
Moynihan struggled a lot on Thursday and I’m not sure he is going to fare much better here. This level is probably a touch on the tough side for him. Willett has been in good form for a while now but so has Kinhult. The Swede won on a links course at Hillside in May and finished the US Open well last month. He was very good from tee to green in the first round and if he can get his putter to warm up a little he should have enough to come through this grouping.
Tips
Back R.Karlsson to beat A.Sullivan & A.Levy for a 3/10 stake at 3.70 with Betfred
Back him here:
WON – Back M.Kinhult to beat D.Willett & G.Moynihan for a 3/10 stake at 2.88 with Sky Bet
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