The PGA Tour finale moves into a second day on Friday with the 28 remaining players all looking to get themselves into position to strike for a big bounty over the weekend.
The Tour Championship began with 29 players but then Louis Oosthuizen pulled out in the first round so we’re down to 28 men in the field. 27 of them can still win the FedEx Cup so there is plenty to play for.
Henrik Stenson trailed the early blaze with a stunning seven under 63 to take a two shot lead into the second round with him. At one stage early in the round the Swede, who has won here before, was eight under and eyeing up the iconic 59 but he slowed up towards the end of his round.
Paul Casey is Stenson’s nearest challenger. The Englishman shot a five under 65 on the opening day to launch himself right into the mix for another big tournament. Rory McIlroy and Zach Johnson both shot four under and are the only other men in the field within five of Stenson.
All of that has seen the odds change dramatically. Stenson is now a 2/1 favourite to win a second Tour Championship and FedEx Cup title. McIlroy is now 19/5 to win while Jason Day, six behind Stenson is now as big as 9/1 to land the title. Jordan Spieth is a shot better off than Day but he’s a point bigger. Johnson and Casey are 12/1 and 16/1 respectively.
Just like in the opening round the players are out in two balls on Friday. Stenson and Casey are the final group out while Day pairs up with Rickie Fowler in the high profile group of the day but it is one of the early groups which catches my eye.
Jimmy Walker goes out alongside Sang-Moon Bae and the American is the favourite in that group. I’m not sure I would have it that way though.
Both men shot three over in the first round but Walker didn’t show much and worryingly his driving coming into this week has not been good and you can’t score around here without driving it well.
Contrast that to Bae who drives the ball well but didn’t have his short game where he would like it on Thursday. I’m sure he’ll have worked on that though going into this round and with the Presidents Cup to follow he’s more of a reason to find some form and keep going.
You can get even money on the Korean without the tie in place in this match and I think that looks a perfectly attractive price to me on a pairing I would expect Bae to win.
Back S-M.Bae to beat J.Walker (DNB) for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Paddy Power
