Racing Post's Irish Open final-round golf betting tips and predictions: More K Club glory for Rory?

Where to watch the Irish Open

Sky Sports Golf, 12.30pm Sunday

Best bets

Rory McIlroy to win the Irish Open
2pts 15-8 general

Irish Open leaderboard

-13 Hurly Long
-12 Jordan Smith
-11 Rory McIlroy
-10 Julien Brun, Grant Forrest, Ryan Fox, Ross Fisher, Shubhankar Sharma, Calum Hill
-9 Billy Horschel, Marcel Schneider, Min Woo Lee

Best odds for the Irish Open

15-8 R McIlroy, 9-2 J Smith, 7 H Long, 12 R Fox, 18 M W Lee, 22 B Horschel, 25 bar.

Irish Open final-round predictions

Hurly Long holds a slender lead heading into the final round of the Irish Open at the K Club, in County Kildare, this afternoon but the German will be looking over his shoulder when he tees off in the final group alongside Rory McIlroy and Jordan Smith at 12.30pm.

Smith, who shared the 36-hole lead, shot a Saturday 73 to leave himself one shot back and that failure to kick on has opened the door for McIlroy, who is two behind Long and favourite to win for a second time at the K Club.

Best known as the venue for the 2006 Ryder Cup, the K Club hosted the 2016 Irish Open, when McIlroy finished with a birdie-par-eagle finish to reel in a faltering Russell Knox.

Conditions are rather different seven years later but McIlroy is where he will want to be after a superb third-round 66 moved him into the final group, where his presence alone will add to the pressure on 54-hole leader Long.

The German's performance has come from nowhere - he has missed five of his last seven cuts and finished no better than 30th on the DP World Tour this season - and it would be no surprise were the Tour maiden to falter in the final round.

Smith is a superb ball-striker but he has never been the most solid operator at the business end of tournaments, as two career titles at this level illustrates, and he could struggle to live with McIlroy if the Northern Irishman turns on the afterburners.

There are a clutch of players who are three shots back, headlined by Ryan Fox, but none of them are close to McIlroy's class so it could pay to keep this simple and back the favourite.

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