The Players Championship is wide-open after an almost uninterrupted first day at Sawgrass. Ben Coley previews the second round.
- 10/1 the field after first day at Sawgrass
- McIlroy among few big names to struggle
- Scheffler five back and out late on Friday
Golf betting tips: The Players round two
2pts Mitchell and Rai to win their three-balls at 33/10 (General)
2pts Cauley and Bezuidenhout to win their three-balls at 4/1 (General)
1pt Cauley, Bezuidenhout and Walker to win their three-balls at 19/1 (General)
The Players Championship is off to an excellent start after Sawgrass avoided the worst of the forecast weather. There was a brief suspension in play which ultimately resulted in four players being left to return to complete their rounds on Friday morning, but fears of havoc in the end proved unfounded.
One of those players, Austin Smotherman, will return with 13 feet or so between him and the outright lead, but whether he makes or misses that putt the leaderboard is congested. At the time of writing there are more than 50 players within five of the lead and while that doesn't include Rory McIlroy, who did at least play, it does include many of the best golfers in the field.
Scottie Scheffler is among them but a level-par 72 has seen his odds drift to 10/1. That he still clings onto a share of favouritism demonstrates how wide-open this tournament is, but may fail to reflect the struggles he faced on Thursday. It seems Scheffler still can't settle on the right driver set-up and it showed, as he was abysmal off the tee for so much of the round.
It was a day of what might have been for my selections. All five outright picks shot either 69 or 70, meaning all five are in the mix, though none of them finished particularly well. Matt Fitzpatrick signed off an up-and-down day with bogey, Jacob Bridgeman was four-under through 11 but shot two-under, Hideki Matsuyama couldn't grab one more birdie over the final seven holes and Viktor Hovland turned at three-under and stayed there.
Still, it would've been a highly satisfying day had Karl Vilips not finished with birdies at 16 and 17 then par from the trees at 18. Aaron Rai had led that three-ball but his one-shot defeat meant potential 3/1 and 11/1 winners were denied on a frustrating first day that was not without promise, particularly for those whose only concern is that The Players delivers an exciting weekend. That now seems close to a certainty.
That 3/1 double, which featured KEITH MITCHELL and AARON RAI, is worth trying again having in fact been eased a fraction to 33/10.
Mitchell might appear to have been fortunate in the end, holing from 25 or so feet on the 18th as Michael Kim made bogey, but there had been a three-shot turnaround when the former found water at the volatile 17th.
For most of the round Mitchell was much the best and with Erik van Rooyen struggling badly in a five-over 77, this again has the appearance of a match in which we can have a shade of odds-against about the form pick. That comment applies to both current and course form and it should be noted that Kim, whose birdie at the 17th came from outside 40 feet, relied heavily on his short-game.
It's immensely frustrating that a level-par 72 would've done the trick for Rai but that highlights why taking on Vilips and Ben Campbell made sense and I can't resist giving the Englishman another chance.
In the end, he gave Vilips 4.5 strokes on and around the greens and lost by one, so it's not only that the Aussie pinched it with two late birdies and a fine par on the 18th, it's that he did it despite being all over the place. That will be hard to remedy even if, like Rai, he does know the course well.
Campbell is what he is: the shortest driver in the field and not in good form. It's hard for him to compete if he's not putting well, which he isn't, and while his approach play was solid he doesn't set a high standard. It just so happens Rai had an off day but two in a row is rare for this largely reliable player and he can make amends.
Lee Hodges was the third leg of the treble and won by three but he was the best player in the field on the greens and both his playing partners fared better than expected. Andrew Putnam found some confidence with his putter, historically a major strength, while Sam Stevens hit the ball much better and will be hard to outscore if he holes his share today.
The pick of the remaining morning matches is therefore Cameron Young against Sam Burns and Davis Thompson, with Burns' form particularly concerning. Thompson though is a big talent, Burns does always have the ability to hole everything he looks at on a given day, and in the back of my mind is the fact that Young's strong first round was his first ever flash of form at Sawgrass.
Walker worth the wait?
I mentioned BUD CAULEY and Max Homa as two shortlisted options in the first round and both obliged, the latter after a whirlwind round which featured a hole-out eagle and a double-bogey in the first three holes and didn't settle down much from there.
Cauley's progress was much more serene and at 5/4 he can outclass Vincent Whaley and Chandler Phillips, who shot 77 and 81 respectively. Cauley's two-under 70 to win by seven followed last year's contending top-10 finish at a course he knows inside-out, and if he can shoot par or better it's highly likely to be good enough.
I'll pitch him in with CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT, who didn't have to be at his best on and around the greens in a one-over 73 which saw him match Max Greyserman, with Emiliano Grillo no kind of factor.
Grillo doesn't really strike me as the sort to come out and battle his way to respectability after shooting 84 and while Greyserman was for a while leading this tournament, he capitulated on the back-nine.
His short-game did all the heavy lifting and as Bezuidenhout is a better course fit, who didn't hole anything like as many putts as he can, then it seems sensible to rely on him to plot his way to the low-70s round that we likely require.
Those two make for a solid 4/1 double and I'll also throw in DANNY WALKER for a treble at nearly 20/1.
He was four shots too good for Kristoffer Reitan and Rasmus Hojgaard on Thursday and while these two European powerhouses could easily turn that form around, Walker has been left at a big price considering that he's from Florida and contended for this title last year.
His form is patchy but when he's on he's tended to stick around and for whatever it's worth, four of his last five Friday rounds have been sub-70. One more of those would make this price appear very generous and my sense is that it is, versus two players as capable of beating themselves as they are playing their way to the weekend from three-over.
The five-fold on today's selections pays about 66/1 for those who want to speculate but I'll split stakes by wave.
Posted at 06:00 GMT on 13/03/26
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