We are three rounds into the Deutsche Bank Championship and the big three have all perished from the leaderboard leaving someone slightly down the ladder to have their moment in the spotlight on what is Labor Day out in the United States.
Henrik Stenson will take a one shot lead into the final round of the second playoff event and if he converts that lead he will give himself every chance of a second FedEx Cup title. He isn’t short of big name challengers to his lead though. Rickie Fowler is a shot back on 12 under with Sean O’Hair and Matt Jones two behind on 11 under.
The likes of Danny Lee, Jim Furyk, Hideki Matsuyama, Hunter Mahan and Matt Kuchar are all within striking distance of the leaders with good rounds on Monday so it promises to be another thrilling climax at TPC Boston.
Stenson is now the even money favourite to land the title while Fowler can be backed at 11/4. Away from the main two you can still get 10/1 on Jones to win from here while O’Hair is 12/1. Russell Knox is 20/1 and it is 40/1 bar that quintet.
For the final round the players left in the field are out in two balls which helps from a betting point of view and there is one pairing that really stands out to me.
Every time we saw Luke Donald on the TV on Sunday he was in the rough or sand or somewhere he doesn’t want to be and then in his interview after the round he made reference to the amount of golf he has played recently and how tired he was. His performance on Sunday was that of a tired man it has to be said.
Donald needs to go hard on Monday as he’s currently outside the cut off for the next tournament so he might need to take the odd risk that isn’t there to be taken and his playing partner for the round could be the one to benefit from that.
Zac Blair assured himself of a trip to Chicago in two weeks time with a big finish last week and with that pressure off he can enjoy himself and shoot a positive round of golf here. Blair has driven the ball brilliantly this week and has made a number of putts and if he can just tidy up his iron play there is a low round in him.
It will need a really big effort for Donald to pull something out of the bag on Monday and given the added pressure on him I’m going to take the Englishman on here at a perfectly acceptable price.
Back Z.Blair to beat L.Donald for a 4/10 stake at 2.45 with Coral
