CJ Cup at Nine Bridges: Steve Palmer's final-round preview, best bets

When to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 3am Sunday

Best bets

Justin Thomas to win the CJ Cup
3pts 8-11 Betfred, Betway

Story so far

Justin Thomas has been wearing hoodies while playing in the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges – a trendy new look – and the American raider must have felt like pulling a hood over his head after his second shot to the final hole of round three.

Thomas was in total control of the tournament standing in the middle of the 18th fairway with a three-shot lead, about to fire at the green to set up a probable eagle putt on the par-five closing hole, but he sliced his approach into water and ended up with a bogey.

While Thomas made a mess of the 18th, his playing partner Danny Lee rolled in an enormous eagle putt, which meant the pair will go into the final round tied at the top of the leaderboard.

Bookmakers will be praying that Lee can sustain his challenge. The 250-1 rag was in dismal form prior to the event and will have lacked ante-post support. Thomas, in stark contrast, was the well-backed 7-1 favourite, who won the inaugural CJ Cup two years ago.

World number one Brooks Koepka withdrew after two rounds, with knee problems, having slipped on some wet concrete.

Leaderboard
-15 Justin Thomas, Danny Lee
-12 Cameron Smith
-11 Wyndham Clark, Jordan Spieth
-10 Byeong Hun An
-9 Collin Morikawa, Gary Woodland, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Tyrrell Hatton, Kevin Streelman, Emiliano Grillo
-8 Hideki Matsuyama, Kyoung-Hoon Lee, Ryan Moore

Best prices
8-11 J Thomas, 7-2 D Lee, 9 C Smith, 16 J Spieth, 33 W Clark, 40 B H An, 66 bar

Final-round preview

Justin Thomas lost concentration on the 18th hole in round three and hit the worst shot of his CJ Cup career, but the prolific PGA Tour champion will not be panicking and can be expected to resume normal service after a good night's sleep in Korea.

Thomas shares the lead with Danny Lee, a largely wasted talent who has slipped to 162nd in the world rankings after a miserable spell, and Lee has only one PGA Tour title to his name. That came in the 2015 Greenbrier and he has not looked like adding any silverware this year.

Lee has posted only one top-ten finish this year and the form figures from his eight tournaments prior to the CJ Cup were MC-MC-MC-DQ-81-36-MC-71.

Thomas may have more to worry about from Cameron Smith, who has performed well in the previous two CJ Cups and enjoys the Nine Bridges layout, but a three-shot buffer should prove decisive. Smith has never won as an individual on the PGA Tour.

Gary Woodland and Hideki Matsuyama seem likely to make charges from off the pace and may run into the places, but catching Thomas is probably Mission Impossible, and the 8-11 available about the world number five is more than fair.

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