Steve Palmer's Zurich Classic third-round tips and best bets

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 1.45pm Saturday

Best bets

Cantlay-Schauffele and Im-Mitchell dual forecast
1pt 17-2 bet365

Hardy & Riley to win 5.01pm match
1pt 23-20 bet365, Coral, Ladbrokes

Kitayama & Montgomery to win 4.35pm match
1pt 17-20 Coral, Ladbrokes

Story so far

Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay were short-price favourites for the Zurich Classic ante-post, going off 3-1 market leaders, and the supposed hotpots have had an up and down week.

The Californian dream team opened with a 67 in the Thursday fourballs to fall well off the pace, but a magnificent 63 in the Friday foursomes has seen them reclaim favouritism, lurking just two shots off the pace.

Schauffele and Cantlay drifted to 16-1 after their humdrum fourballs effort, but are no bigger than 14-5 going into the weekend after excelling in the tougher format of foursomes.

Two sunny final days are forecast, with a stiff breeze expected for Sunday, so a super-low Saturday fourballs score will be the order of the day, before the pairs hang on to their score on Sunday. The final group of leaders Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler, and Sam Ryder and Doc Redman, is scheduled to tee off at 5.40pm UK and Ireland time.

Leaderboard
-16 Wyndham Clark & Beau Hossler
-15 Doc Redman & Sam Ryder, Keith Mitchell & Sungjae Im
-14 Xander Schauffele & Patrick Cantlay, Martin Trainer & Chad Ramey, Sean O'Hair & Brandon Matthews, Matthew NeSmith & Taylor Moore, Nick Hardy & Davis Riley

Best prices
14-5 X Schauffele & P Cantlay, 9-2 W Clark & B Hossler, K Mitchell & S Im, 14 S Ryder & D Redman, 16 M NeSmith & T Moore, N Hardy & D Riley, 28 bar

Zurich Classic third-round preview

Some bad weather delayed the Friday foursomes round of Keith Mitchell and Sungjae Im – and they got off to a slow start after the restart – a double-bogey at the sixth hole threatening to derail their title challenge.

The response to that setback was hugely encouraging for their backers – a bogey-free, six-under-par stretch over the closing 12 holes – and hopes remains high that Racing Post Sport's only pre-tournament recommendation can take the trophy.

Mitchell and Im are gelling well and and from just one shots behind heading into the weekend, they will fancy their chances of setting up a winning chance. The pre-tournament 12-1 chances have shortened to 9-2, which is a perfectly acceptable price for any punters yet to get involved.

The Mitchell-Im, Xander Schauffele-Patrick Cantlay dual forecast was a Racing Post Sport recommendation at 30-1 on Wednesday, and a press-up at 17-2 is advised at this stage.

Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler are two PGA Tour maidens who have made a habit of squandering golden winning opportunities. Whatever their position after the round-three fourballs, the foursomes in tough conditions on Sunday should be their undoing.

Doc Redman and Sam Ryder are also PGA Tour maidens and there is not much quality on the leaderboard. The event looks set to become a battle between Mitchell and Im and Schauffele and Cantlay, so it is a surprise to see 17-2 is still available about the dual forecast.

The partnerships of Nick Hardy and Davis Riley, and Kurt Kitayama and Taylor Montgomery are well suited to fourballs golf and can outscore weak opposition in round three.

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