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

When to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 8pm Saturday

Best bets

Justin Suh third-round leader
1pt each-way 9-1 Sky Bet

Story so far

Hudson Swafford leads the Corales Puntacana Club and Resort Championship by two shots going into the weekend, having reached 12 under par through two rounds in the Dominican Republic.

Swafford, an ante-post 200-1 chance with post-lockdown form figures of MC-MC-30-MC-MC-MC-56, is an unexpected pacesetter. Given the low-grade of the Corales, though, his fast start has been enough to assume favouritism with 36 holes to play.

Rising star Justin Suh is among a trio tied for second place, two shots behind Swafford, while in-form Canadian Mackenzie Hughes is in a share of fifth spot, a further shot adrift.

Corey Conners, Branden Grace and Graeme McDowell were among those to miss the cut, while Will Zalatoris needs weekend fireworks to contend, sharing 54th place with a nine-shot deficit to overcome.

Leaderboard
-12 Hudson Swafford
-10 Sean O'Hair, Luke List, Justin Suh
-9 Adam Long, Mackenzie Hughes, Xinjun Zhang, Sepp Straka
-8 Kelly Kraft, Sam Burns, Patrick Rodgers, Tyler McCumber, James Hahn, Joseph Bramlett

Best prices
7 H Swafford, 15-2 L List, 9 M Hughes, 12 S Burns, A Long, 14 J Suh, S Straka, 16 X Zhang, 20 S O'Hair, 22 P Rodgers, 28 T Detry, 33 J Hahn, J Bramlett, 40 bar

Third-round preview

The wide-open nature of the Corales Puntacana Championship is reflected by the fact a player who has been performing like an angry elephant for most of this season has become favourite after a bright two rounds.

Hudson Swafford has dropped to 345th in the world rankings after a dire run of form. When he won the 2017 CareerBuilder Challenge for his PGA Tour breakthrough, further progress was anticipated and he was full of confidence, but he has just been consistently mediocre since.

Maybe Swafford has suddenly found the answer at the Corales Course? Or more likely he will tread water in front over the weekend and invite the chasing pack to swamp him in glorious sunny weather. A little wind is forecast, but nothing hugely significant, and a weekend birdie-fest seems on the cards.

That should suit the two runners who Racing Post Sport followers have got in contention - Justin Suh at 150-1 and Sam Burns at 20-1. Both of these attacking sorts have been impressive over the first two days and can set up a winning opportunity for Sunday.

Suh, who has been beating US PGA champion Collin Morikawa in practice games in recent weeks and knows he is a class above most of the rabble in attendance at this event, has laid the foundation for a PGA Tour breakthrough with back-to-back 67s.

Suh is obviously desperate to claim a PGA Tour card as soon as possible, so will inevitably feel plenty of pressure over the weekend, but there has been a swagger from the 23-year-old this week which suggests he is ready for the challenge. The short birdie putt he missed at the 12th in round two had the potential to derail him, but he played to the hut in two under par, which was a greatly encouraging response.

The list of dangers is long - including Luke List and Adam Long - but Suh and Burns have become 14-1 and 12-1 respectively and hopes can be high.

The third-round twoball card is unattractive, with a series of highly competitive matches. Punters looking for a Saturday investment are pointed towards Suh to be leading after round three. The Swafford and Sean O'Hair twoball has the potential to be a lifeless, nervy affair between two typically edgy characters, and Suh could leave both behind if arriving at the course in the same positive mood of Thursday and Friday.

The final twoball of Swafford and O'Hair is scheduled on the tee at 6.55pm UK and Ireland time.

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