The Celtic Classic got underway with some low scoring and some very high scoring on Thursday and on Friday the field will make it to the halfway stage with everyone looking to make sure they make the cut to enjoy two more rounds on the Celtic Manor layout.
Just over half the field shot under par on Thursday so we are looking at an under par cut, so those who were not good enough to get off to a start in red numbers need to find some on Friday else they may not be here for the weekend. Those who started well on Thursday will be looking to keep their foot on the gas.
Round 1 Recap
For all the talk of players getting better with each week they play it is a man who is playing for the first time since lockdown who holds the lead on seven under par as Thomas Pieters cleared the field by one shot on Thursday. He leads from Jake McLeod and Toby Tree with a large group of players two back on five under par, headed by recent Austrian Open winner Marc Warren and European Tour winner Guido Migliozzi. Nacho Elvira and Adrian Meronk are others on that total while another extended group on four under includes Nicolas Colsaerts, Thomas Detry, Andrew Johnston and Sam Horsfield so the big names have gathered towards the top end of the leaderboard.
It was a pretty decent opening round for us betting wise. To be fair we got the first round leader bet all wrong. The storms never really arrived and the rain didn’t have much of an impact so Ashley Chesters ended up being in the wrong half of the draw. We did come out of the day with a profit though as Nicolas Colsaerts was far too good for his playing partners to give us a nice three ball winner at a tidy price.
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Friday Betting
A couple of bookmakers have priced up a second round leader market and with Thomas Pieters a very short priced favourite in it I’m itching to get involved but I don’t like either of the players on six under and then behind them we have no fewer than 18 players on four and five under and even the 12 players on three under can’t be ruled out so it is hard to pick someone to take him on with as a confident pick. The likes of Sam Horsfield and Nicolas Colsaerts are tempting with their power but both would be better from the front you would think. I’ve had a good thing about it but it is a market with too many live runners for me to get involved in really.
Friday 3 Balls
As with the first round the players go out in three balls on Friday with the groups being the same as they were on Thursday. Those who had an early tee time on Thursday will have a later one on Friday and that also works the other way round too. That means that the headline group out in the morning is the Pablo Larrazabal, Sam Horsfield and Adrian Otaegui one which tees off at 08.28 BST while in the afternoon it will be all about the threesome of Brandon Stone, Renato Paratore and Andy Sullivan at 12.51 BST. The same number of groups have been priced up as there was on Thursday and we’ve picked out one.
Edoardo Molinari/Lucas Bjerregaard/Shubhankar Sharma
Match tees off at 12.18 BST
One group full of big names on the European Tour tees off just after midday in Wales when Edoardo Molinari, Lucas Bjerregaard and Shubhankar Sharma embark on their second set of 18 holes together each looking for a low round.
We can almost forget about Bjerregaard here. He shot +7 for the opening round so he’ll be going home barring something miraculous. The Dane played three events in America after lockdown but missed the cut in all three and he is likely to suffer the same fate here. His long game doesn’t really suit this place. I have this between the two pure ball strikers of Molinari and Sharma and I think the Italian is worth taking, not just because he beat Sharma by four shots on Thursday but because he did so with his long game not really the best. He’s known for being straight and striking the ball true so I expect him to go equally as well on Friday if not better. Add in the experience Molinari has of this course – he has twice finished fourth here and was part of that winning Ryder Cup side of 2010 – compared to Sharma who is making his debut here and I think the Italian is a more than fair bet here.
Tips
Back E.Molinari to beat L.Bjerregaard & S.Sharma for a 3/10 stake at 2.40 with Betfair
Back him here:
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