The first round of The Open is in the books and it is Dustin Johnson who leads the field going into the second round of the event on Friday. He shot a flawless seven under par round of golf around the Old Course to lead by one from a group of players who are on six under. Jordan Spieth is another shot further back in a group with Louis Oosthuizen so the tournament is set up nicely.
The conditions were good for scoring on Thursday but the golf course is set to bite back on Friday as rain and heavy winds are on the forecast for the players which makes this set up a completely different proposition. That is something to bear in mind when we take three ball bets.
The first one I like is out quite early. Danny Willett, Thongchai Jaidee and Gary Woodland embark on their second round at 8.11 BST which is when the rain is expected to be coming down and the winds getting up. That will make the course longer which won’t suit Jaidee and I’m not convinced the American is suited to wet and windy golf either.
Danny Willett won this group by a staggering six shots in the trickier conditions on the opening day of the tournament and that is a hell of a gap to bridge on someone who loves the golf course and is competent in all sorts of tough conditions. Early in the morning he may be out but the Englishman looks the best bet of the day to me.
Slightly later in the day when the winds are forecasted to be at their worst there is another Englishman I like the look of and that is Luke Donald. He partners Carl Pettersson and Hunter Mahan. This was a group going along nicely in the opening round but then Pettersson slipped five shots over the final six holes and Hunter let four go in the same spell and both could only finish level par.
Donald got stronger as the round progressed and given his ability to cope in the tougher conditions he is another one who looks a good bet in the tricky conditions. Pettersson and Mahan must be ruing their poor finish in good conditions so you would think they will struggle more here so I’ll take Donald to win this group again.
Finally I’m going to take Stewart Cink again. He proved a couple of shots too good for David Duval in the first round with Ben Curtis further back and while Duval and Curtis weren’t as bad as I expected they were fortunate that the conditions were benign for them. They won’t be benign here so I’m expecting the out of nick duo to struggle and Cink can come through for me once again.
Back D.Willett to beat T.Jaidee & G.Woodland for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Ladbrokes
Back L.Donald to beat C.Pettersson & H.Mahan for a 4/10 stake at 2.15 with Betfair Sportsbook
Back S.Cink to beat B.Curtis & D.Duval for a 5/10 stake at 1.80 with BetVictor
