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Our golf betting guru Dave Tindall is on hand at Sandwich for the whole of the 132nd Open Championship. Throughout the four days he brings you colour commentary and betting updates live from Royal St George's.

Friday

8.15pm: Well, that's about it from me. Paraguay's Marco Ruiz briefly threatened to ruin hundreds of journalist's nightleads by taking the lead but he's slipped back to +1 with three to play. The last Connex train goes just after 9pm so I'm going to make sure I get there early. Fishcakes are on the menu tonight so it's time to head back to Canterbuy and re-fuel on another one of my auntie's late-night suppers.

7.45pm: Sergio seems in good spirits in his brief press conference, so brief that the young Spaniard mutters “that was quick” as he leaves his seat. Garcia admits that he hasn't felt inferior to playing partner Tiger Woods over the last two days and is happy with his swing. He also says he's hitting a lot of good putts so we're very happy with our 50/1 tip. It looks like all our five recommendations will make it through to the weekend and we certainly have more grounds to be positive than we did yesterday. As I write, Garcia is just three of the lead in tied fifth while Els and Price are also in the top 20, five back on +4. Allenby is tied 37th on +6 while Clarke is +8 and tied 60th. The cut is virtually certain to fall at +8 now.

7.30pm: With Tiger in the clubhouse on +3, he's now only second favourite with Ladbrokes at 3/1. Davis Love is the 9/4 favourite. Defending champion Ernie Els is 12/1 alongside Kenny Perry while Sergio is now 14/1. It's then 16/1 Thomas Bjorn and Vijay Singh. Those odds are unlikely to change now although Bjorn's price could move as he still has two holes to play.

7.25pm: Tiger declines the offer to come into the press tent but says he will talk to the press in the interview area near the clubhouse. But Sergio will be in shortly. It's easy to tell when Woods has finished his round. About five minutes after he's putted out on the 18th, a flock of press and cameramen suddenly file through the door.

7pm: Both Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia will be called into the press tent for interview so it should be interesting to see what they have to say. Leader Davis Love said after his round that he'd had to deal with some of the hardest pin placements he'd ever seen.

6.30pm: Ladbrokes now make Woods and Love 5/2 joint favourites. Our 50/1 tip Garcia is 10/1.

6.25pm: A good friend of mine recently took up a teaching post in South Korea. And if he bought a newspaper today he'd have seen the face of SK Ho on the cover. The man currently tied second in the Open was front page news after his good start yesterday and will surely be so again today. Although golf fans in this country associate South Korea with top women golfers, KJ Choi, who has two US Tour wins to his name, once revealed that the man's game is still much bigger in his native country. Ho played alongside Choi in the World Cup and could be a name that we recognise more in the next few years.

6pm: Latest Ladbrokes betting. 2/1 Woods, 5/2 Love, 12/1 Perry, 14/1 Els, Garcia, 16/1 Bjorn, Levet, Singh, 20/1 Harrington.

5.45pm: Just as I buy a sausage sandwich (£2.20) from the press canteen, Davis Love is called in for interview. Well, I'm starving so I'm not going to let this baby go cold. And, anyway, he was a bit short with me when I asked him a question yesterday. It's still all happening out on the course with Tiger three-putting from inside four feet and Garcia making an amazing par after his drive appeared to be lost.

5.30pm: Love makes a remarkable par on the last after his chip from off the green seems to be heading astray before turning back towards the pin like a remote control car. He's the only man in the clubhouse in red figures and it will be a big surprise if anyone can better his –1 halfway total.

5.20pm: The remarkable Roe almost makes it seven threes in a row as his eagle putt on the 7th slides narrowly by. But he taps in for birdie and is now six under for the day after seven holes. This is unheard of in an Open! Almost in a flash he's just one off the lead.

5.10pm: Ladbrokes bet now: 5/4 Woods, 3/1 Love, 10/1 Garcia, Perry, 16/1 Els, Bjorn, Levet. And expect them to change again soon with Love failing to get out of a bunker on 17 and Woods and Garcia finding sand on 11. It's all happening!

5.05pm: Davis Love is now the only player under par as the greens firm up this afternoon. The American is two-under and leads by two from Thomas Levet and Tiger Woods. And make that Sergio Garcia too! Our 50/1 tip has just rolled in a bomb to move back to level par.

5pm: Sensational stuff from veteran Mark Roe who has started 3,3,3,3,3. Norris McWhirter, is this a record? That eagle, three birdies and a par put him five under for the day and one over for the tournament.

4.45pm: It's a shame that SK Ho didn't hang onto the lead after reaching -4 earlier today. The Korean would have given us some great punning opportunities. Nevertheless he must be pleased to be +1 for the tournament at the halfway stage. Did you know by the way that he has two brothers and they all dress up as father christmas.

4.40pm: Some good old-school quotes from Ian Woosnam today after his early-morning round. "Who wants to get up at 4.30 and play golf?" said Woosie. "I didn't even have a drink last night but I'm going to have one now though and I'm going to have something to eat and laze around and watch TV. It's too windy to go and practice really." Not surprising that the Welsh maestro is regarded as such a man of the people.

4.30pm: Why are Swedish golfers dressed better than British ones? This isn't a joke but a question posed to Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson today. “We spend over 200 days a year in the clothes we wear and this is something I like to wear,” he replied rather oddly. Do we infer therefore that Swedes spend the other 165 days of the year naked?

4.25pm: US Open champion Jim Furyk won't be here for the weekend after a seven-over-par 78 today. Furyk's explanation? “They were the toughest pin positions I have ever seen in this tournament.”

4.15pm: 44,000 have made their way through the gates today and that's a record for a Friday in any Open played in England. The crowds are certainly thick but because this course is spread out on such a vast piece of land, I wasn't aware that the numbers were so high.

4.00pm: A sudden move at the top of the leaderboard. Last year's runner-up Thomas Levet adds another birdie to move to -3 and Love carlessly bogeys the 12th. We now have joint leaders. And racing through the field now is in-form Kenny Perry. The veteran, who can boast three wins in his last four starts, has made three birdies in five holes to climb back to +1.

3.55pm: So how do they bet now? Davis Love, who leads the tournament by two from Thomas Levet, is 3/1 with Ladbrokes. But Tiger is now as short as 6/4 after moving to within four of the lead and up to fourth place. Defending champion Ernie Els is 20/1 third favourite alongside Sergio Garcia. Els finished at +4 this morning while Garcia is +1 after six. Levet is 25/1.

3.50pm: Although 77 players are at +7 or better, the cut prediction at the moment is +9. That explains why I've just seen Trevor Immelman on the practice ground after he finished at eight over.

3.40pm: While Allenby and Clarke are struggling to stay in touch, Sergio Garcia, our 50/1 ante-post tip, is still right in the hunt. He's played his first five holes in one-under and his +1 total puts him in a tie for fifth at present.

3.30pm: The idea of following Robert Allenby is pretty quickly abandoned. After watching Ernie Els finish off with a par four at the last to complete a second round 68 – the only sub-70 scored so far today – I reach Allenby on the second fairway. And it's bad news. The young chap holding the trio's scores turns my way and I see his board shows that Allenby has double bogeyed the first. The Aussie adds a bogey at the second and suddenly he's +5. The most memorable thing he does is apply sun cream on the third tee. It indicates how warm it is outside and reminds me that I haven't put any on. A quick glance in the mirror of a mobile toilet confirms my worst fears. I have a shiny red forehead. After giving up on Allenby, I catch up with another of our tips, Darren Clarke, at the par five seventh. In now familiar frustrating fashion he misses his birdie putt but Davis Love makes his and suddenly goes into a two-shot lead. Love pars the eighth and then after a glorious drive and deft approach at the ninth, rolls in his birdie putt. He now leads the tournament by three strokes. Clarke, who sits down on a mound while Shingo Katayama - the other member of their trio - holes out at the eighth, misses another good chance for birdie on nine. He's still not out of the tournament but he doesn't look like a winner at the moment. Boy, is he frustrating. Love must think this is a great chance for him with many of the big names so far back but guess who's making a move? That's right Tiger has birdied two of his first four holes to move back to even par and is looming large in Love's rearview mirror.

1pm: It's time to follow one of our tips and I'll plump for Robert Allenby. The Aussie is unlikely to feature in the TV coverage so this is a good chance to really assess his play rather than just relying on his scorecard and stats. He goes out alongside future US Ryder Cup captain Hal Sutton and Japan's Katsuyoshi Tomori. At the time of writing his +2 score makes him just four off the lead. As I leave Ernie makes another birdie to move to -3 on the day and +4 overall. Excellent stuff by the champion. Hopefully I can watch him finish his round at the 18th.

12.50pm: Our tips have been slow to come to the boil so far but certainly the signs are more encouraging. Nick Price, thanks to two birdies in his last three holes, has finished +4 and is safely into the weekend. Els is +5 with two holes left and certainly capable of closing the seven-shot gap the leaders hold over him. Sergio Garcia and Robert Allenby will tee off this afternoon at +2 and that's currently good enough for tied 16th. And Darren Clarke, despite a bogey at the first, can still turn his current score of +5 into something better.

12.30pm: The best two completed rounds so far – one-under-par 70s - belong to Alastair Forsyth and Vijay Singh. I passed Forsyth on my earlier trek around the course and he was being cheered on by three chaps with a big Scottish flag. His 70 left followed on from an opening 74 so he's right in the tournament on two over. Singh, a further shot back on +3, is also a poised to make a big challenge. Out on the course the best score still belongs to Paul Casey although he's `only' three under for the day now after two bogeys. After Thursday's 85 his hopes of making the cut have gone. The second best in-play score belongs to defending champion Ernie Els who is still hanging in there on +5. Els is two-under for the day and if he can get to the clubhouse without any blemishes he will still have one hand on the claret jug.

12.05pm: As they did with Freddie Jacobson late in his round, the wheels are starting to come off the Scott McCarron bandwagon. He's dropped three shots in five holes to move back to level par and has just shanked his third shot even further away from the green at the par four 17th.

12pm: It's about now that the winds are due to ease slightly. But I've just been outside to the toilet and it was still very windy… the weather that is.

11.55am: Plenty of fixed odds punters and spreads players will be starting to wonder about the cut at this stage. The rules state that the top 70 players and ties make it through to the weekend. At present, 71 players are at +5 or better so if it stayed the same Ernie Els (+6) is on his way out. However, the way the course is playing, we should expect the cut figure to rise.

11.50am: Adding to the list of unfamiliar names who have appeared on the leaderboard this year is Ben Curtis. The 26-year-old American is in his rookie year on the US Tour after enjoying a successful amateur career. He carded his best ever finish (T13) at the Western Open on his last start so he's another who arrived at Sandwich with his confidence up. Curtis shot a 72 yesterday and a birdie at the sixth has put him back to level par and just two off the lead.

11.40am: First round leader Hennie Otto gets his second round under way and immediately bogeys the first. It means he slips back into a tie for the lead with Greg Norman and Davis Love.

11.30am: McCarron may have dropped a couple of shots but he's the only player under par for the tournament currently out on the course. His performance should come as no surprise. Last year he carded a battling 72 on the wild Saturday at Muirfield and eventually finished just four shots out of the four-way play-off. And interviewed after yesterday's round, McCarron revealed: “I've come in playing pretty well. I really love this golf course and hopefully it will stay windy like this for the next three days.”

11.20am: Fact for the day: The last three Major champions – Jim Furyk, Mike Weir and Rich Beem – were all born in 1970. So can we complete the set this week? Apart from the three mentioned, there are seven players in the field who can help complete the “1970 Slam”. They are KJ Choi, Matthias Gronberg, Anders Hansen, Jonathan Kaye, Phil Mickelson, Nobuhito Sato and David Smail.

11.10am: In 1999 Australian Rodney Pampling led the Open after day one but then collapsed on day two and missed the cut. Hennie Otto beware! However, we seem to be looking at a “reverse Pampling” today. Paul Casey, who shot a woeful 85 yesterday, has played his first seven holes in five under. He's back to +9 for the tournament and if he keeps going could even make the cut.

10.55am: The official Open Meteorologist, Mike McClellan, believes that the players who had an early-late start are the ones with the advantage. According to the latest forecast the winds are set to drop this afternoon so, unlike yesterday, the late starters will have the calmest conditions. When I was on the course about an hour ago the wind had certainly freshened from its early morning calm and now it really looks to be blowing. These brisk winds are expected until noon but are set to diminish from the south west as the day goes along.

10.45am: Jacobson makes it four bogeys in a row to fall back to +2 but he doesn't exactly seem concerned as he laughs with his caddie at the side of the green.

10.35am: Ernie Els backers shouldn't lose hope yet. The defending champion has played his first six holes in -2 to move back to +5 and is now on the easy par five seventh. Another mover today is Lee Westwood who is three-under after six on the day and back to +2. As I write, Els misses his birdie putt on seven. Blast!

10.30am: After 29 bogey-free holes took him to one off the pace, Sweden's Freddie Jacobson has run into trouble after carding a hat-trick of bogeys. Angus Loughran, who backed him at 100/1, isn't around at the moment but I imagine he will be cursing heavily.

10.20am: A mate of mine told me yesterday that he'd managed to get some 500 matched on Scott McCarron on Betfair. So his heart must be thumping with the American reeling off five birdies in seven holes to move into a tie for the lead. McCarron hit 14 out of 18 greens yesterday (joint best) so the signs were good that he'd come out today and shoot a decent score. Looking at McCarron's betting history shows that £4 was matched at 960 so there's some great laying back opportunities for the McCarron backers right now.

10am: Nick Price, under my watchful gaze, plays some good golf and pars the first four holes. But playing partner Justin Rose suffers a nightmare start and looks set to miss the cut. Rose doubles the first after taking two swishes in the rough and failing to get up and down. And, still miffed, bogeys the next. American amateur Ricky Barnes shows off his power game and smashes his second through the back of the green at the par five fourth but fails to get down in two. Although slightly into the wind at first, this hole then doglegs left and helps a drawn second shot. We should see plenty of birdies there today. The second par five, the seventh, is also a birdie hole. At present, the wind is directly behind off the tee and although the second shot is into a left-to-right crosswind the flag is on the right of the green. That allows players to aim left and let the wind ease their ball back towards the flag. Phil Mickelson is playing the hole as I approach the green and he gets up and down from the edge for a birdie. I've just checked the computers to the left of me which contain all the stats and they're showing that the two outward par fives are indeed ranked the easiest two holes on the course. On the way back to the press tent I pass JL Lewis teeing off. If you've seen a worse shirt than his, let me know.

8.10am: Nick Price is the first of our tips to go out this morning so I'm heading out on to the course to cheer him on for a few holes. Justin Rose and American amateur Ricky Barnes are his playing partners so it should be a good group to watch.

8am: Here's a brief look at when our tips and some of the other key names tee-off today. Our tips are in capitals. 8.20am NICK PRICE (+3), 8.58am ERNIE ELS (+7), 11.26am Hennie Otto (-3), 12.32pm Davis Love (-2), DARREN CLARKE (+4), 1.05pm ROBERT ALLENBY (+2), 1.38pm Greg Norman (-2), 2.05pm Tiger Woods (+2), SERGIO GARCIA (+2), 2.16pm Padraig Harrington (+4), 2.38 Nick Faldo (+5).

7.50am: Some of the early starters are taking advantage of the early conditions with a flurry of birdies being posted on the giant leaderboard at the front of the press tent. The most notable move is being made by 30-year-old Irishman Gary Murphy who has birdied the fourth and fifth to get back to level par. Murphy finished fourth at Loch Lomond last week so he's a man in form.

7.40am: If the cameras pick up Jacobson this morning, you may wonder why he's now playing in a two-ball given that neither of his playing partners have withdrawn. The explanation is that earlier this morning Steve Elkington, who lost in a play-off last year, withdrew with a shoulder injury. The Elk was playing in the same group as Colin Montgomerie who, of course, pulled out himself on Thursday due to a wrist injury. So rather than send Brad Faxon out on his own, the organisers have switched Mark Calcavecchia from the Jacobson group and paired him up with his American Ryder Cup colleague. Jacobson, who has started with three solid pars, is now in a two-ball with KJ Choi. I hope that's all clear!

7.30am: Further woe for Woosie as he makes it three bogeys in a row to slip to +5.

7.25am: The attendance figures have been impressive so far this week. 30,000 came through the gates yesterday (2,000 up from day one at Muirfield last year) and 32,000 were here for the practice days, a rise of 7,000 from last year.

7.20am: After yesterday's cancelled train disgrace, Connex redeemed themselves to some degree this morning. The 6.08am train from Canterbury West was on time. All was going smoothly until a 20-minute wait outside Sandwich station but I'll settle for that.

7.15am: A solid start from Jacobson, who pars the tricky opening hole. But there's not such good news for Ian Woosnam. Woosie posted one of the best afternoon scores yesterday but bogeys at the opening two holes have sent him to +4.

7am: It's an ideal morning for golf. So backers of Freddie Jacobson who goes out at 7.03am will be hoping the Swede can build upon his superb bogey-free 70. There's only the lightest of winds out on the course while sun is starting to sneak through the clouds.