The second day of The Players Championship will be played out over TPC Sawgrass in Jacksonville on Friday on a day which will hopefully see the conclusion of the first round as well as the entirety of the second round out in Florida.
If that is the case we will have the halfway cut made at the end of the day so those who didn’t start the tournament particularly well will need big rounds on Friday to make it to the weekend while those who did kick off how they wanted will be looking to maintain their position.
Round 1 Recap
The first round of the tournament wasn’t able to be completed on Thursday with pace of play once again a problem but of those who did get their round finished Sergio Garcia is by far best placed after the former champion opened with a seven under 65. He leads by two from Brian Harman who carded a five under round with Shane Lowry, Matt Fitzpatrick and Corey Conners another shot back. Lee Westwood, Bryson DeChambeau and Rory Sabbatini are in the group on three under. The likes of Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Rickie Fowler and Tony Finau all had rounds to forget and need miracles to be here for the weekend.
It wasn’t our greatest first day from a betting point of view with Tony Finau absolutely terrible and Jon Rahm starting badly and not being able to recover enough to win his three ball. We did get some solace from the day though with Christiaan Bezuidenhout winning his three ball by the small margin of 10 and 13 shots to give us something back on the day but we certainly need a better Friday to get ahead for the week.
Friday Betting
With the first round having not yet completed it makes betting on any full markets for Friday a little difficult. At the time of writing there isn’t actually a second round leader market and if one does go up I would imagine it won’t be until the first round is fully complete and by then it will be far too late to assess the positions of the runners and riders and things. It will certainly be too late to include in a preview so in terms of any betting activity on Friday we will be heading to the three balls once again.
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Friday 3 Balls
The players go out in the same groups they were in on Thursday for their second round on Friday but the morning starters on Thursday get the afternoon start on Friday and vice versa. Those starting on the first on Thursday will begin their round on Friday on the tenth and that works the other way around too. That means the featured groups on Friday will be the major winning trio of Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa and Dustin Johnson who go off the tenth tee at 12.40 GMT and the former and current champion three ball of Sergio Garcia, Webb Simpson and Rory McIlroy who go out off the first at 18.00 GMT. Some firms have priced up the morning wave but they’ve not all finished their first round yet so I’m going to take a couple of bets in the later starts where we’ve had time to explore their rounds.
Lanto Griffin/Corey Conners/Rickie Fowler
Match tees off at 18.33 GMT
The North American trio of Lanto Griffin, Corey Conners and Rickie Fowler go out off the first tee almost smack in the middle of the later wave on Friday and it is from this three ball that my first bet comes on a big day for the three men.
Conners won this group on Thursday shooting four under while Griffin carded one over and Fowler five over. That means the latter is going to have to press quite hard if he is going to be here for the weekend and that is not advised around this place. That leaves it between Conners and Griffin for me and I’m picking the Canadian here, one because he’s in excellent form after a big week at Bay Hill, but also because his skill set suits this track. Griffin is a little loose off the tee for my liking here, as evidenced by him hitting just six of the 14 fairways. Conners carded four under without having his best stuff off the tee either but he is fourth in strokes gained on approach and seventh in strokes gained putting and probably feels he left a shot or two out there having birdied just one of the four par 5s. With Fowler struggling, Griffin not being suited to the demands off the tee and more to come from Conners, I like the Canadian here.
Byeong Hun An/Henrik Norlander/Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Match tees off at 18.55 GMT
The match which gave us a winning three ball pick on Thursday is the one I hope will do likewise on Friday as Byeong Hun An goes out alongside the Swedish star Henrik Norlander and the rapidly improving South African ace Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
I was on Bezuidenhout on Thursday and he delivered the goods by a double figure margin against both players. Norlander had a wretched back nine on Thursday, playing the six holes in five over par and that included a par on 17. An wasn’t so lucky on that hole as he carded a horrible 11 there and then doubled the final hole so he can’t be going to bed feeling good about his game. At +8 and +11 neither of them are going to be here for the weekend but this isn’t exactly a course you can relax and play with freedom on. Bezuidenhout actually relied on his short game to post -2 on Thursday but his iron play is often strong and if he finds that here he should have another comfortable day beating his playing partners.
Tips
Back C.Conners to beat L.Griffin & R.Fowler for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with William Hill
Back him here:
WON – Back C.Bezuidenhout to beat B.H-An & H.Norlander for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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