The second round of the 150th running of The Open takes place on the Old Course at St Andrews on Friday when we reach the halfway cut of the final major of the season, a golfing day that will be important for a number of players.
Those who started the tournament well on Thursday will be looking to push on and consolidate their position but those who failed to break par will need a good round on Friday in order to be here for the weekend of this historic event.
Round 1 Recap
The R&A made the course as tough as they could on the opening day but Cameron Young still managed to open up a two shot lead having gone round in 64 blows. He leads from Rory McIlroy who is two back on six under with Cameron Smith and Robert Dinwiddie on five under par. A huge group on four under includes Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland and Lee Westwood among others. It wasn’t such a great day for some big names though with Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and Tiger Woods all shooting over par and needing an improvement on Friday if they are going to be here for the weekend.
It wasn’t the best betting day for us on Thursday with the two three ball bets performing terribly and never really ever being at the races. Thankfully most of the losses were returned courtesy of a big priced place in the first round leader market when the four under shot by Kurt Kitayama was enough for a share of fourth. It meant we came out of the opening day 2.75pts down so there is work to do for the remainder of the tournament.
Friday Betting
We have a second round leader market that has been priced up but the market is fully reflective of the state of the leaderboard with Cameron Young a favourite ahead of Rory McIlroy and Cameron Smith, in keeping with the way the scoring went on Friday. I suspect Young might work out where he is overnight and not function as well on Friday. The problem with betting on the market is McIlroy, Smith and then players like Scottie Scheffler are fairly bunched together and there isn’t a whole lot in it so I wouldn’t be backing anyone with any confidence. I’ll take my winnings from the first round market and run.
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Friday 3 Balls
As with the opening round, the field go out in three balls again on Friday in the same groups they went out in on Thursday. The only difference is that the morning starters on Thursday are out late on Friday and vice versa. That means the marquee morning groups will be the 09.58 group of Tiger Woods, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Max Homa and the 10.09 group of Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm and Harold Varner III. In the afternoon the focus will be on the 14.59 BST group of Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele as well as the 15.10 BST group which consists of Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas and Viktor Hovland. There are two bets I like over the course of the day.
Tiger Woods/Matthew Fitzpatrick/Max Homa
Match tees off at 09.58 BST
My first bet on Friday comes in the marquee group of the morning session which will see Tiger Woods out alongside the US Open champion Matthew Fitzpatrick and the rising American player Max Homa.
Woods will have to do something special to be here for the weekend. You can bet he will try but with a level par or one over cut he needs a 67 to stand any chance and that didn’t look within him on Thursday. Matthew Fitzpatrick actually won this group on Thursday despite holing absolutely nothing in his opening round. He continually set up chances, especially on the front nine, but couldn’t find the hole. Homa actually flushed it from tee to green but he didn’t hole anything over and finished a shot further back from Fitzpatrick. I don’t expect Fitzpatrick to struggle on the greens as much in this round as he did on Thursday purely because it is one of the strengths of his game and he knows these greens so well. I got the feeling that the longer Thursday went on the more Homa was holding on with some favourable bounces and things. I like Fitzpatrick to get the job done again here.
Stephen Dodd/JT Poston/Lee Westwood
Match tees off at 14.04 BST
The second bet I like comes fairly early in the afternoon when the Senior Open champion Stephen Dodd goes out alongside the PGA Tour star JT Poston and the veteran Lee Westwood who has given himself a chance to win a first major of his career with a fine 68 on Thursday.
This is one of those three balls which we can turn into a two ball because Stephen Dodd doesn’t have it at the top level anymore. He did brilliantly well to win the Senior version of this event at Sunningdale last year but he’s missed the cut in his three appearances in this tournament and after going round in 77 on Thursday is closing in on a repeat here. Poston actually pinged the lids on Thursday, opening with three birdies in his first three holes, and walking off the third green he was five shots ahead of Westwood but he couldn’t maintain his start and lost by five which would have been a lot more had his putter not saved him on some holes. Westwood knows this course like the back of his hand and the condition of the track being firm and fast will benefit the veteran who might have lost a few yards off the tee but will get them back on these runway like fairways. Westwood won by five and nine on Thursday yet he’s odds against to win here. That is wrong in my eyes so I’ll take the Englishman in this one.
Tips
Back M.Fitzpatrick to beat T.Woods & M.Homa for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back L.Westwood to beat S.Dodd & JT.Poston for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Boylesports
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