Steve Palmer's Australian Open final-round preview, best bets, free golf tips

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 1am Sunday morning

Best bets

Min Woo Lee to win Australian Open
1pt each-way 10-1 bet365

Deyen Lawson won win 10.06pm threeball
1pt 5-2 BoyleSports

Story so far

Adam Scott eagled the final hole of round three to leapfrog Adrian Meronk and take a lead into Sunday of the Australian Open.

Scott has been loving his return to his homeland, following 28th place in last week's Australian PGA Championship with a bold effort in his national Open, and the 42-year-old has gone odds-on across the board with 18 holes to play.

Scott is 11 under par for the tournament - and ten under par for the 36 holes he has played at Victoria GC - so he will be pleased that the final round is at Victoria. A Thursday 71 at Kingston Heath - the other track used for this event - left Scott with catching up to do.

Scott, 10-1 ante-post, is no bigger than 8-11 to get the job done. He is seeking to win the title for a second time, having triumphed by five shots in the 2009 edition at New South Wales GC.

Leaderboard
-11 Adam Scott
-10 Adrian Meronk
-7 Min Woo Lee, Haydn Barron
-6 Conor Purcell, Josh Geary

Best prices
8-11 A Scott, 2 A Meronk, 10 M W Lee, 45 H Barron, 80 bar

Final-round preview

Adam Scott has been in vibrant mood in Victoria this week, loving life back in Oz, feeding off enthusiastic crowd support.

Scott has won six times in front of Australian galleries - most recently the Aussie PGA at the end of 2019 - and he seems in the right frame of mind to claim a second national title. The putter, a bugbear of Scott so often in his career, has been behaving over the last two days.

Scott at 8-11 is a perfectly acceptable option for punters who do not mind playing at odds-on, but the 10-1 about Min Woo Lee is a better value alternative.

Lee has had a hectic schedule recently, but he may be able to summon up one last surge to put some Sunday heat on Scott. Lee, who has been showing his sublime touch around the greens all week, carded an eagle and six birdies in a brilliant Saturday 65 at Victoria.

Lee won his maiden DP World Tour title in the 2020 Vic Open and he is back in the same state this week with a four-shot Sunday deficit to overcome. From a spot in the final threeball, the 24-year-old is ideally placed to pile pressure on Scott.

For decades, Scott has been one of the leading Australians - a global performer and a Major champion - but he knows a crop of talented youngsters like Lee will probably soon leave him in the shade. This clash of the generations will probably go the way of Scott given his four-shot advantage, but Lee is way too big at 10-1 to cause an upset.

Adrian Meronk has been enjoying himself. His girlfriend's parents live five minutes from Victoria GC, so he has had a supportive base, but it will take a herculean effort from the giant Pole to defeat both Scott and Lee. The 2-1 Meronk is the most unappealing price in the outright market.

With each-way terms of a third the first two places, Lee can be backed at 10-1 with profit made from a top-two finish. The Perth man loves playing in the wind - and moderate breeze is expected for the denouement.

With Lucas Herbert troubled by back problems in the last fortnight, it may be worth taking on the odds-on favourite for the 10.06pm (UK and Ireland) threeball. Deyen Lawson, who won the WA Open at the end of October, seems better value.

Scott, Meronk and Lee are scheduled on the first tee at 12.45am Sunday morning (UK and Ireland time).

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