It is second round day at The Open on Friday, the day where we lose half the field and find out the identity of the men going forward to compete for the final major of the year over the weekend at Royal Portrush.
Those who got underway in good style on Thursday will be out to consolidate their position while for those who had a bad opening day, they have to go well on Friday to have any chance of being around for the weekend.
Round 1 Recap
On a day which threatened to be low scoring it was JB Holmes who claimed the sole lead on just five under par, with our pre-tournament pick Shane Lowry one shot behind him on four under. There is a whole bunch of players three under the card after 18 holes and they include another of our outright bets in Tyrrell Hatton. Lee Westwood, Brooks Koepka, Tommy Fleetwood and Sergio Garcia are other leading names in that group while Justin Rose is another shot back on two under. It was a day to forget for Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy on Thursday as their seven over and eight over respectively have ended their chances of seeing the weekend in Portrush.
It was a good betting day for us on Thursday but it could have been better as Brooks Koepka was tied for the lead two holes from home only to bogey hole number 17 to end up in a crazy share of a place. We did land a couple of the three ball bets though with Romain Langasque and Corey Conners having a little to spare in their groups. All in all that added up to a profit for the day which we’ll hope to build on during the remainder of the tournament.
Friday Betting
There is a second round leader market on the go but I’m not getting involved in it for a couple of reasons. The first one is that the top end of the leaderboard is too packed with 19 players within three shots of the lead. The second reason is that given how tightly quashed it is, the chances of there being a sole leader is not as high as I would want and if I’m taking a realistic runner I’d be looking for a full pay out rather than any ties and dead heats.
I’ve already got a couple of lofty runners in good position so them going well will do me in terms of interest in the leaderboard for the second round. I’ve also got a couple more players on one under who don’t need too much to get involved at the business end over the weekend so it is the three balls where my betting action will come from.
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Friday 3 Balls
The field will go out in threes again on Friday and in the same groups they played the first 18 holes in only those who were out in the afternoon get an earlier start and the morning starters on Thursday get a lie in for Friday. That means the centre of the early attention will be the Tiger Woods, Matt Wallace and Patrick Reed group which goes out at 10.09 BST while in the afternoon the centre of attention might well be the Henrik Stenson, Xander Schauffele and Graeme McDowell group given the demise of Rory McIlroy.
I’m going with three bets over the course of the day, two of which I was on for the first 18 holes where the price is still acceptable, and then I’ve found another one which interests me earlier in the day where I hope to build on the solid returns of Thursday.
Patrick Reed/Matt Wallace/Tiger Woods
Match tees off at 10.09 BST
The first group which interests me on Friday is the one I didn’t bet on in the opening round where Patrick Reed goes out alongside Matt Wallace and Tiger Woods in what is the marquee three ball in the morning play.
I’ve got to think that this is a match between Reed and Wallace. Tiger looked in all sorts of difficulty with his back in the opening 18 holes and at seven over par he is out of this tournament already because the cut isn’t going to be too much worse than a couple over if it is that high. We’ve seen in the past that when Tiger is struggling fitness wise it goes pear-shaped quickly. He lacked competitive reps coming in here anyway.
I fancy Wallace to land this three ball on Friday. Reed beat him by two shots on Thursday but Wallace played better than his +2 score. He didn’t make a single bogey on the day but the three mistakes he made were costly and resulted in double bogeys. I think he’ll iron that out ahead of this round and we’ll see more of the golf that saw him play the last 11 holes two under. Reed made three birdies and three bogeys on Thursday and while he was better than he has been he still didn’t convince me. At 2/1 Wallace is the call here.
Richard Sterne/Romain Langasque/Matthias Schmid
Match tees off at 12.20 BST
The second bet of mine on Friday comes in one of the groups out in the middle of the day where Richard Sterne goes out alongside the amateur Matthias Schmid and the French star Romain Langasque, who I think will win the group for the second day running.
He won by seven shots from Schmid and nine strokes from Sterne on Thursday so I’m surprised he remains a backable price on Friday. I highlighted both his form and his skill set coming into the tournament and if he hits it like he did on Thursday that should be more than enough for Langasque to nail this group for the second day in a row.
Zach Johnson/David Duval/Corey Conners
Match tees off at 14.48 BST
My last bet comes in the other three ball I landed a winning punt in on Thursday as Corey Conners goes out alongside the two former winners in Zach Johnson and David Duval. Conners won by two from Johnson in the opening round and a landslide over Duval.
The trials and tribulations of Duval has been heard plenty since that crazy hole of his and I can’t be having him in this match up. I mentioned Zach Johnson’s lack of form prior to the tournament and his iron play on Thursday was terrible. That is where Conners has a significant advantage and given that he isn’t too disadvantaged on the greens I expect him to win this group again.
Tips
Back M.Wallace to beat P.Reed & T.Woods for a 4/10 stake at 3.00 with Sky Bet
Back R.Langasque to beat R.Sterne & M.Schmid for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with 888sport
Back him here:
Back C.Conners to beat Z.Johnson & D.Duval for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with LeoVegas
Back him here:
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