The BMW PGA Championship reaches the halfway mark on Friday when the latest Rolex Series event embarks on its second round on the West Course at Wentworth. This is the flagship event on the European Tour and everyone involved will be eager to win it.
That means those who didn’t get off to the best of starts on Thursday will be looking for much better on Friday to attempt to be here for the weekend while those who did hit the ground running will be looking to keep their foot on the pedal, so this should be an exciting day of golf.
Round 1 Recap
At the end of an entertaining opening 18 holes we have three men tied for the lead. They are Tyrrell Hatton, our pre-tournament pick Justin Harding and the Spanish star Adri Arnaus who all carded six under par and lead by one from Shane Lowry, Gavin Green, Eddie Pepperell and Matthew Fitzpatrick. Justin Rose, Andrew Johnston, Aaron Rai and Wade Ormsby are just some of the players who are four under par so the cream has risen to the top pretty early this week.
It was a wonderful start to the tournament for us from a betting point of view. Not only is Harding currently leading the way but our 80/1 first round leader punt Adri Arnaus got a nice slice of the lead to bring in a 22pt return for that bet. That wasn’t our only win on the day either. Victor Perez won his three ball in style to deliver more than five points of profit while we got most of our money back on the Sean Crocker three ball bet when he tied with the other two members of his group. It was a day of around 25pts of profit with hopefully more to come as the week goes on.
Friday Betting
We have a second round leader market to get stuck into on Friday and this time I’m going to have a go at it because the morning players look like they have lucked out once again with a band of rain going across the course during the afternoon. Tyrrell Hatton is the only one in the top seven who is out in the afternoon but it does mean we can take him out of the picture. Of the others, on Thursday it looked like starting on the ninth tee held an advantage. All three men to post six under did that, as did six of the next 12 on the leaderboard.
That means that we can drop Justin Harding and Adri Arnaus and focus on the players on five under, one shot back. Gavin Green immediately goes as he is off the first tee. That leaves us with Shane Lowry, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Eddie Pepperell and I’m going to take a chance on the latter at 16/1. Lowry and Fitzpatrick are class acts and we should expect them to move forward but Pepperell is no mug and he spoke on Thursday that he has found something in his game that has given him confidence. I don’t think he’s too far behind the other two in terms of quality yet he is double the price even though he is out at roughly the same time as them. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me as after a few wayward shots early on Thursday, when Pepperell found his swing he played nicely. That 16/1 is overpriced.
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Friday 3 Balls
For the second round in a row the field is out in three balls on Friday and go out in the same groups that they were in on Thursday, albeit those out in the morning on Thursday get the afternoon wave on Friday and vice versa. That means that the morning attention comes in the form of the Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Danny Willett group that leaves the ninth tee at 07.55 BST while the Justin Rose, Ian Poulter and Sam Horsfield group goes off that hole 10 minutes later. The TV coverage will centre around the marquee three ball of the week of Patrick Reed, Lee Westwood and Tyrrell Hatton that leaves the first tee at 12.25 BST. I like bets in two other groups.
Adri Arnaus/Kurt Kitayama/Marcus Kinhult
Match tees off at 08.55 BST
One of the later groups off the first tee in the morning wave sees one of the co-leaders, Adri Arnaus, out alongside Marcus Kinhult and Kurt Kitayama for the second day in a row with the Spaniard looking to continue his dominance over his playing partners.
Arnaus won this group by six over Kinhult and eight over Kitayama on Thursday and I’m not sure of a reason why he won’t go in again here. Kitayama isn’t suited by tight tracks where there is an emphasis on driving the ball straight and as the week goes on that will only gather importance as the crew at Wentworth get the moisture sucked out of the fairways and greens, while Kinhult isn’t convincing me that he likes anything other than links or exposed golf and this certainly isn’t that. What this is from a test point of view is perfect for Arnaus, a player who is known for a strong tee to green game but who put some form together on the greens on Thursday. The concern for Kinhult and Kitayama is that Arnaus didn’t even hit half of the fairways and he still walloped them both on Thursday. I expect him to drive the ball better here and win this three ball once again.
Guido Migliozzi/Matthias Schwab/Nicolas Colsaerts
Match tees off at 11.55 BST
One of the earlier groups off the ninth tee in the afternoon wave sees three players from the continent out together when the Italian star Guido Migliozzi tees off alongside the popular Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and the young Austrian ace Matthias Schwab.
Schwab won this group on Thursday but five from Migliozzi and eight from Colsaerts and I’m not sure those pair are going to make that gap up over the course of Friday. Schwab would have come into my outright thinking had he not been playing this track for just the second time and not been playing in America recently but the travelling doesn’t look like it has been an issue for him as he shot four under on Thursday and probably has more in him. He is a very straight driver of the golf ball which is the standout requirement here, whereas his playing partners are a little more hit and miss with the big dog, a little more erratic too. Schwab had his long game in great order on Thursday with nobody in the field hitting more greens in regulation than him. If he continues to give himself plenty of chances I expect him to win this group again.
Tips
Back E.Pepperell Second Round Leader (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with 888sport (1/5 1-4)
WON – Back M.Schwab to beat G.Migliozzi & N.Colsaerts for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with 888sport
Back them here:
Back A.Arnaus to beat M.Kinhult & K.Kitayama for a 3/10 stake at 2.70 with Betfair
Back him here:
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