Steve Palmer's Genesis Invitational third-round preview, best bets, free tips

When to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 6pm

Best bets

Rory McIlroy to win Genesis Invitational
4pts 9-4 general

Collin Morikawa to win threeball
2pts 5-4 general

Day-three preview

The Genesis Invitational featured the top six players in the world and nine of the top ten – a line-up bursting with quality – and identifying the likely winner was not straightforward. After 36 holes, though, the picture is much clearer and it seems the highest-ranked player of them all is going to prevail at the famous Riviera Country Club.

Rory McIlroy arrived in California with the swagger of a man who has just returned to what he – and many others – consider his rightful place at the summit of the world rankings. Consistency of performance has allowed the Northern Irishman to usurp Brooks Koepka as the best of the best – and it could be a long stay at number one for roaring Rory on the evidence of the first two rounds of the Genesis.

McIlroy is clearly at ease with all departments of his game and looks set to overcome a relative lack of experience at Riviera by claiming the trophy. He Genesis form figures of 20-20-4 are not as deep as many others at this long established track, but he appears ultra comfortable at the classic layout, despite the fact that faders have traditionally been favoured there.

When McIlroy putts well, the rest of the field is in trouble, and there has been much to like about the way the four-times Major champion has been going about his business on the greens. He knows his game is in good order throughout the bag and there is a frightening – for his rivals – self-assurance about Rory on and off the course. He has made off-course changes – including spending far less time on social media – in a bid to keep himself mentally sharper and energetic. There is a new-found calmness which bodes extremely well for the rest of 2020.

When you compare the post-round interviews this week of McIlroy and Jon Rahm, the 9-4 McIlroy appeals so much more than the 14-1 Rahm, who is three shots behind him. Rahm admitted that he scored better than he played and that his swing is in poor shape by his standards.

With Rahm seemingly pessimistic about his chances of closing the gap on the lead and many of the other main pre-tournament threats having already kissed their title hopes goodbye, this has become a golden opportunity for McIlroy to get a victory on the board early in the season.

Justin Thomas, wild off the tee and abysmal on and around the greens, failed to impress his hero Tiger Woods in their threeball. Thomas has missed the cut, Woods is nine shots off the pace, while Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Bubba Watson also felt the halfway axe.
Hideki Matsuyama, Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka, Marc Leishman and Jordan Spieth must operate on Saturday from on or just above the cut-line, while Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose, like Rahm, have a five-shot weekend deficit to overcome.

Matt Kuchar leads and will probably hang about on the leaderboard all week, but McIlroy can be fancied to assert his superiority over the final two rounds from a share of second place. He is scheduled to tee off at 6pm UK and Ireland time for round three and can take command of the tournament.

Collin Morikawa, who settled nicely into his Riviera debut with a second-round 67, looks a solid threeball wager against Brian Harman and Adam Schenk at 4.26pm.

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport