Steve Palmer's Players Championship day-three tips and best bets

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 12pm Saturday

Best bets

Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa dual forecast
1pt 12-1 bet365

Viktor Hovland top-ten finish
1pt Evens bet365, Betfair, Power

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Story so far

Thunderstorms curtailed play prematurely on Friday of the Players Championship, meaning round two must be completed on Saturday morning before a cut is made. Round two will resume at noon UK and Ireland time, with round three starting as soon as possible thereafter.

PGA Tour maiden Christiaan Bezuidenhout is tied for the lead with Florida-based Canadian Adam Svensson at TPC Sawgrass, both having reached eight under par before the horn blew to signal the end of Friday's play.

Bezuidenhout and Svensson, both available at 200-1 ante-post, are setting the pace in an elite field. Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland are lurking just behind them, but a number of big names have already blown their title hopes.

Rory McIlroy needs a brilliant finish to round two just to make the weekend. The 2019 Sawgrass champion is six over par with eight holes to play. The cut is set to fall at either one over par or two over. Justin Thomas and Shane Lowry, who finished at two over, face a nervous wait to see whether they qualify for round three, but Matt Fitzpatrick has already departed and Jon Rahm withdrew after round one with illness.

Jordan Spieth made the cut after a spectator saved his drive at the ninth hole (his final hole of round two). The tee shot was water-bound until it hit the spectator's knee, then Spieth went on to chip in for eagle. “Everything from here on out is because I hit him,” said Spieth.

Leaderboard
-8 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (through 32 holes), Adam Svensson (29)
-6 Ben Griffin (36), Min Woo Lee (33), Collin Morikawa (29)
-5 Taylor Pendrith (31), Scottie Scheffler (28)
-4 Will Gordon (36), Jason Day (36), Viktor Hovland (36), Denny McCarthy (32), Byeong Hun An (31), Chad Ramey (28), Adam Hadwin (26)

Best prices
5-2 S Scheffler, 11-2 C Morikawa, 9 C Bezuidenhout, 11 A Svensson, 12 V Hovland, 14 J Day, 16 M W Lee, 20 A Hadwin, 25 B Griffin, 33 bar

Day-three preview

Punters playing the outright market in-running need to know where the contenders' balls are before play resumes. The arrival of thunder sent players scurrying to the clubhouse with many having started a hole.

The most important piece of information – and one reason why Scottie Scheffler is such a short price – is because he will return facing an eagle putt from 16 feet at the par-five 11th hole. Scheffler birdied the ninth and tenth, so seems almost certain to complete a hat-trick of birdies which would take him to a share of third place.

If Scheffler pops in the eagle putt, he will move third on his own, breathing down the neck of two inevitably nervous frontrunners. Christiaan Bezuidenhout has a good record in Florida and appears to relish Sawgrass, but a maiden PGA Tour victory coming in this class of event would be a remarkable achievement. Adam Svensson has been talking a good game, saying: “It's super relaxed and calm – I just feel I belong here.”

But such statements are easy to make on a Friday afternoon – a serious test of fortitude will come on Sunday if Svensson is still in contention. Given the magnitude of the event – the so-called 'fifth Major' with a first prize of $4.5 million – it would be a surprise if one of the more established players on the circuit did not hold their emotions together the best.

The market seems right to make Scheffler and Collin Morikawa first and second in the betting. Scheffler, who won the Phoenix Open last month, has been churning out greens in regulation this season and is starting to walk with the same swagger we saw when he was dominating the sport at the start of last year.

Morikawa, Racing Post Sport's pre-tournament headline selection at 25-1, is ideally suited to the examination of approach-play precision served up by Sawgrass. He did not do much damage to his scorecard in the tough Friday afternoon conditions and should be in the thick of things for the final 36 holes if he can get through the 17th and 18th holes unscathed in round two. Morikawa will start on Saturday from the tee at the par-four 12th.

Scheffler also has the 17th and 18th to negotiate. Relatively calm weather is expected when Morikawa and Scheffler arrive there, so both of these class acts should be able to get to the clubhouse without destroying their scorecard.

A sunny weekend – and calm skies for the vast majority of it – mean players should be advancing their score from here. The forecast is for a bit of lingering breeze on Saturday morning, but fairways and greens will be more receptive after the storm.

Confidence remains high that Morikawa can go close to adding the Players Championship title to his two Major victories. His ball-striking has been generally excellent this year and he just needs a warming of his putter at Sawgrass to light up this iconic venue. The Players could develop into a battle between Morikawa and Scheffler come Sunday down the stretch, with Viktor Hovland just behind. Bezuidenhout and Svensson may tread water as the tension increases.

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