Steve Palmer's Corales Puntacana Championship final-round preview, best bets

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 8pm Sunday

Best bets

Xinjun Zhang to win Corales Puntacana Championship
1pt each-way 12-1 Betfair, Power

Nate Lashley to win twoball
1pt 20-21 Hills

Story so far

Adam Long carded a third-round 64 to go clear at the top of the Corales Puntacana Club and Resort Championship in the Dominican Republic.

Long was a pre-tournament 25-1 chance, but the 33-year-old is no bigger than 10-11 carrying a two-shot advantage into Sunday.
Halfway pacesetter Hudson Swafford is alone in second spot, with Canadian raider Mackenzie Hughes in third and Chinaman Xinjun Zhang in fourth.

Corey Conners, Branden Grace and defending champion Graeme McDowell missed the cut, while Korn Ferry star Will Zalatoris needs a miracle to triumph after finishing round three in 45th place, 12 shots adrift of Long.

Leaderboard
-17 Adam Long
-15 Hudson Swafford
-14 Mackenzie Hughes
-13 Xinjun Zhang
-12 Nate Lashley, Sean O'Hair
-11 Anirban Lahiri, Tyler McCumber, Luke List, Justin Suh

Best prices
10-11 A Long, 4 M Hughes, 9-2 H Swafford, 12 X Zhang, 33 N Lashley, L List, 50 S O'Hair, 66 J Suh, 80 bar

Final-round preview

Golf punters have a series of tough decisions to make on a weekly basis - pre-tournament and in-running - and success or failure depends on the judgements. Some decisions are made quickly, some take much longer - and it probably will not take the vast majority of the betting community long to make up their minds when asked if they want to back Adam Long at odds-on to win a PGA Tour event with a two-shot lead and 18 holes to play.

Long is one of the most likeable characters on the circuit - a genuinely nice man it seems - but perhaps that kindness is weakness amid the muck and bullets of professional golf down the stretch on Sundays. At the age of 33, the Louisiana-born, Florida-based plodder has been a professional for a decade and has only one main-tour victory to show for those efforts.

The 2019 Desert Classic was his finest hour, edging Phil Mickelson and Adam Hadwin by a shot for a PGA Tour breakthrough, but Long has never been a prolific champion and 10-11 seems a far from watertight investment despite his Saturday Corales form.

After hitting the front, Long failed to find a green in regulation over the final three holes of round three, an ugly pulled drive at the 16th hole particularly alarming for his followers as it came to rest a few yards shy of the out-of-bounds markers. He finished 13th in the US Open last week, has been playing well, and anyone who chanced him at 25-1 ante-post can be on great terms with themselves, but punters getting involved at this stage are advised to ignore the odds-on quotes.

Hudson Swafford has been deep in a slump and the final twoball may be short of fireworks on a hot, sunny day with gentle breezes.
Justin Suh, Luke List and former Corales champion Nate Lashley are close enough to contend if Long wobbles in front - the 66-1 Suh seems generous about an explosive player clearly capable of a round in the low-60s - but perhaps more sensible ways of opposing the front two are through Mackenzie Hughes and Xinjun Zhang.

Hughes, strong post-lockdown, in superb form in the FedEx Cup playoffs, and Corales runner-up last year, is full of short-game confidence and should go close to success from three behind, while Zhang, a two-time Korn Ferry Tour champion who was fifth in the 2018 Corales event, has also had his scrambling boots on and seems a serious threat from four shots behind.

The 4-1 Hughes or 12-1 Zhang are attractive outright wagers. Zhang at 12-1 with each-way terms of a quarter the odds the first three places, as offered by Betfair and Paddy Power, is perhaps the best option of all.

Final-round twoball punters are pointed towards Lashley, who seems likely to prove to steady for Sean O'Hair in the 6.10pm (UK and Ireland time) match. O'Hair, unable to compete much over the last two seasons because of injury, struggled in the final pairing in round three and could drop further down the board on Sunday.

Not got a bet365 account? Sign up today and get up to £100 in bet credits.

Up to £100 in Bet Credits for new customers at bet365. Min deposit £5. Bet Credits available for use upon settlement of bets to value of qualifying deposit. Min odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. Time limits and T&Cs apply.

CLAIM OFFER HERE

MORE FREE BETS

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport