Steve Palmer's Phoenix Open first-round preview and free golf betting tips

Where to watch

Live on Sky Sports Golf from 3pm Thursday

Best bets

Collin Morikawa top American
2pts each-way 12-1 Betfair, Hills, Power

Martin Laird to win 3.43pm threeball
2pts 9-4 BoyleSports

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Phoenix Open first-round preview

PGA Tour bigwigs will be thrilled with the quality of field which has assembled at TPC Scottsdale this week and the strength of the Phoenix Open line-up is highlighted by some mouthwatering first-round threeballs.

World number one Rory McIlroy tees off alongside two-time Phoenix champion Hideki Matsuyama and two-time Major champion Collin Morikawa in a stellar 2.48pm (UK and Ireland time) group, with cool but calm conditions forecast for the early starters.

Jon Rahm, Max Homa and Keegan Bradley comprise the 7.33pm threeball, with Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland and Tom Kim teeing up together at 7.55pm. The wind is not expected to get up for these players until the final hour or so of their rounds.

Punters looking for non-outright investments on tournament-eve should consider the 12-1 about Morikawa ending the week as top American. The Californian ace has started the year in imperious ball-striking form and that tee-to-green control should result in him finding Scottsdale a fairly straightforward task over the next four days.

Morikawa finished 25th in his only previous Phoenix Open, but that was in 2020 when he was ranked 56th in the world. He has returned with vastly more experience and belief, hitting his ball with great authority, with a runner-up finish in the Sentry Tournament of Champions followed by third spot in the Farmers Insurance Open.

Morikawa has even been putting better this year, particularly in the Sentry, and he may end up as the biggest title threat to Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy this week. Of course, Rahm and McIlroy can be eliminated from the equation in the top American market.

Pick of the first-round threeballs may be the 9-4 about Martin Laird outscoring Cameron Young and Richy Werenski in the 3.43pm contest.

Young is odds-on across the board, but the New York man has just trekked back from Saudi Arabia, where his duel with Abraham Ancer ended in defeat. If Young makes a sluggish start, Laird may boss the group, given his love affair with Phoenix. Laird, who used to live in Scottsdale, was third in the 2011 Phoenix Open, fifth in 2015, seventh in 2017, ninth in 2018 and 14th last year.

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