The last major of the year will be won on Sunday when the final round of The Open takes place at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake on what is always one of the biggest days in the sporting calendar.
Heading into the final round it looks like the winner has already been crowned but history will tell you that this thing is rarely won without plenty of twists in the tale and if they come then we could be in for a special Sunday.
Round 3 Recap
Brian Harman took a five shot lead into the third round and he maintained it by the end of the day and sits on top of the leaderboard on 12 under. Cameron Young went well in this tournament a year ago and will be his closest pursuer at the start of play on seven under with Jon Rahm a shot further back on six under. There is a large group on five under that includes Viktor Hovland, Tommy Fleetwood, Jason Day and the recent John Deere Classic winner Sepp Straka. Former winners Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth are three under and two under respectively.
It was a better day for us betting wise with our two ball bet safely landing thanks to a decent finish from Matthew Jordan. He trailed initially when finding a fairway bunker off the first tee but Stewart Cink plateaued when the conditions got a little tougher than the course softer and Jordan rallied strongly to end up winning by a couple of shots and eat into some of the deficit that we had built up over the losing bets on Friday.
Sunday Betting
We only have the outright markets to go at on Sunday and so the first decision to make is whether you think the five shot lead of Brian Harman is a safe one. If you do, unless you want to risk a bundle of cash you won’t be getting very rich. I personally don’t see him messing up from here. I suspect if that was going to happen it would have done after a poor start on Saturday so someone will have to go and get him and there just isn’t anyone who is value to do that.
There are other outright markets to go at though and one of those which throws up an interesting proposition is the top 10 finish one. The forecast suggests that the wind will kick up around 3pm with rain coming in not long after so there is a chance for someone out a bit before all that to post a score and watch the contenders sail the other way and you can get 11/2 on Tyrrell Hatton finishing in the top 10. He starts the day -1 for the week and T24, three shots off the current top 10 but had it not been for a quad at the final hole on Friday he would be -5 and tied for fourth right now. That shows his week hasn’t been as bad as the score would suggest. He might feel he is able to free wheel in from here so if he can repeat his Saturday 68 and post -4 or hopefully go one better then if the last few holes toughen right up he can land a top 10 finish.
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Sunday 2 Balls
As was the case on Saturday, the field will go out in two balls on Sunday with the opening tee time coming at 07.45 BST as the 18 hole leader Christo Lamprecht goes out alongside former Masters champion Danny Willett. At the other end of the draw the last pair out onto the golf course are Brian Harman and Cameron Young who tee off at 14.15 BST. Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland make up the penultimate group and they go off at 14.05 BST. As with Saturday, the TV coverage will start with the first tee ball and there are plenty of good groups to follow before the leaders head out. Robert MacIntyre and Padraig Harrington will be popular at 08.15 BST while many would have expected the Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka pairing to be out much later than 08.45 BST. Two former winners go out at 11.15 BST when Henrik Stenson and Stewart Cink are paired together while the defending champion Cameron Smith and Patrick Reed set off at 12.00. There is one bet I like on Sunday.
Jordan Spieth vs Max Homa
Match tees off at 12.30 BST
The last two American players out on the golf course prior to the final group go out together when Jordan Spieth is paired up with Max Homa in another of the many appealing two balls throughout the course of play on Sunday.
These two tee off two under for their week so winning from here is a pipedream unless something quite remarkable happens to Harman at the top of the leaderboard but both have motivation in their own way. Spieth will be fighting for Ryder Cup points while Homa will be looking to improve a poor major record by his strong standards. I fancy the plight of the latter to be most important here and I think Homa will win this two ball. I really think with conditions the way they are expected to be, playing this course from the fairway will be the way forward. Homa leads the field in fairways hit this week and I suspect he might be higher up the leaderboard had he not been part of a completely flat group with Rory McIlroy on Saturday. Homa has struggled on these greens but Spieth hasn’t performed any better on them and if he starts spraying it everywhere off the tee, the 2017 winner could soon land himself in difficulty. I think as the outsider the much more reliable from tee to green Homa is well worth following on the final day.
Tips
Back T.Hatton Top 10 Finish for a 2/10 stake at 6.50 with Betfred
Back M.Homa to beat J.Spieth for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with Boylesports
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