Free golf in-play betting tips: Final-round preview of Sanderson Farms Championship

Golf betting tips: Sanderson Farms Championship, final round

3pts win Mark Hubbard to win outright at 9/4 (Sky Bet, Coral, Ladbrokes)

1.5pts e.w Garrick Higgo to win outright at 14/1 (Unibet 1/4 1,2,3)

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We have reached the 54 hole stage of this week's Sanderson Farms Championship and it is PGA Tour maiden MARK HUBBARD who holds a slender one-shot lead over the field as he heads into Sunday on 15- under par.

Hubbard, who is yet to win on the PGA Tour in over 160 starts, had low expectations coming into this week following a freak accident at home when his wife inadvertently knocked a knife off the kitchen counter, which stabbed him in the toe. As a result the 33-year-old came into this week lacking practice and more with a mindset of tuning up for next week's event in Las Vegas.

As the old adage goes ‘beware the injured golfer’ and Hubbard somewhat free wheeling has brought a solid run of form to Jackson, which stems back to the summer and now sees him on the cusp of that elusive first win.

The Denver native forged his way to the top of the leaderboard on Saturday courtesy of a hot stretch on the back nine, which saw him post six birdies in his final eight holes and leading the field from both tee to green and in approach play this week he is clearly dialled in.

This will be the first time Hubbard has found himself in this position on the PGA Tour so clearly nerves could will be a factor, however he does have experience of closing out from the front when he converted a 54-hole lead at the Lecom Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019. Furthermore he will be more than comfortable alongside his playing partner, Mackenzie Hughes, having got the better of him for a win way back in 2013 on the PGA Tour of Canada when they were paired together for the final day.

It won't be easy but my hunch is that in an event that has produced more than its fair share of first-time winners over the years, Houston resident Hubbard can become the next to bag his first title here and continue the recent run of success for Texas-based players in the event.

If Hubbard is to falter then the aforementioned Mackenzie Hughes is the man in pole position to take advantage. The Canadian, who now bases himself in Charlotte, has been playing with something of a chip on his shoulder this week having made no secret of the fact that he was disappointed to have been overlooked for a wild card for last week's Presidents Cup in his adopted home city.

In all honesty there was very little in Hughes’ play over the second half of last season's PGA Tour campaign which would have warranted a phone call from Captain Immelman, as he posted nothing better than 46th in his last six starts of the season, however he posted a solid season's opening 25th place at the Fortinet and has built on that this week.

Known predominantly for a stellar touch on the greens it has been Hughes’ long game that has actually done the work this week as he ranks second behind Hubbard from tee to green and fourth in approach play. After an untimely bogey on the 17th Hughes holed out from off the green on the 18th on Saturday to put himself just the one shot back heading into the final day.

A one-time winner on Tour at the RSM Classic in 2016, the 31-year-old has that advantage over Hubbard of a PGA Tour victory and he could well push the leader all the way. However, Hubbard, as noted earlier, did taste success albeit on the Korn Ferry Tour much more recently and I just feel this is his time.

On a course that can yield plenty of birdies this is far from a two-horse race and if the front two stall there are a host of players stacked up behind who could take advantage including the trio of Sepp Straka, Scott Stallings and GARRICK HIGGO who will all start three back on 12-under.

Straka will enter the final round as the only player in the top ten and within five of the lead who has won within the past 12 months, having come so close to another win at the Fedex St Jude Championship recently, a second tour title certainly can’t be ruled out. Stallings conversely has now been winless in over eight years and while this could be his day, having had plenty of chances of late he is not someone I am particularly keen to trust at the odds on a Sunday, particularly as he closed with two late bogeys on Saturday.

Of the this trio then the one who makes the most appeal to me at the biggest odds is Higgo. The South African’s price is no doubt a reflection of his lack of recent form, a run, which, aside from his top-five finish in the Zurich pairs event with Branden Grace, has seen him post nothing better on the tour this year than a 14th at the Memorial alongside a swathe of missed cuts.

This week though on greens comparable to that which he landed the Palmetto at Congaree in 2021 something has clicked for the 23-year-old and a solid performance from tee to green allied to a strong putting week sees him in contention again.

Higgo, a prodigious talent who in posting four wins across the DP World Tour and PGA Tour over the past two years has shown he has no fear when in the hunt, makes plenty of appeal at the odds to get over the line again.

Sitting a further shot back on 11-under are the duo of Keegan Bradley and talented youngster Nick Hardy and with Bradley possibly struggling to back up Saturday’s 63 it was Hardy who made some appeal, ultimately though they, as will those on 10-under, will need some help from those at the top and I am happy to stick with Hubbard while chancing Higgo to make a charge.

Published at 1015 BST on 02/10/22