Steve Palmer's Houston Open third-round preview, best bets, free golf tips

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 6pm Saturday

Best bets

Alex Noren top European
3pts 4-6 BoyleSports

Alex Noren top-five finish
2pts 11-8 bet365

Story so far

Tony Finau has gone odds-on across the board for the Houston Open as the tournament nears its halfway point. The giant Utah man has fired rounds of 65 and 62 to perch proudly in the clubhouse at 13 under par.

Finau is four shots ahead of Patrick Rodgers, who has also finished his round, but Alex Noren has a chance to get closer to the leader when play resumes on Saturday morning. Round two was curtailed due to inclement weather, with Noren having three holes to play.

Noren is aboard the par-five 16th green in two shots and will face an eagle putt from 41 feet when he returns to Memorial Park GC. The Swede is five shots behind Finau, who has been cut from 18-1 to a best-price 4-5 in the wake of his 36-hole firework display.

Ante-post 12-1 chance, Sam Burns, is almost certainly going to miss the cut, having opened with a wild round of 77, but pre-tournament 11-2 favourite, Scottie Scheffler, battled his way back into the event on Friday. Scheffler is five under par, tied for 14th place, with a birdie putt to come from seven feet on his round-two return. He has five holes to complete in round two.

Leaderboard
-13 Tony Finau
-9 Patrick Rodgers
-8 Tyson Alexander, Alex Noren (33 holes)
-7 James Hahn, Carl Yuan

Best prices
4-5 T Finau, 8 S Scheffler, 10 A Noren, P Rodgers, 14 A Wise, 55 bar

Third-round preview

The second round resumes at 12.45pm UK and Ireland time today - and Scottie Scheffler will probably struggle to get much closer to Tony Finau's lead.

Chilly, windy conditions are forecast for Saturday morning in Houston, so the players completing round two have been dealt a bad break. If Alex Noren gets in the hut at nine under par, he will be delighted.

Finau has taken charge of the tournament, having freewheeled in good weather, but his closing 36 holes will be much tougher. Punters should be looking to support players who can handle a breeze and grind out plenty of pars in round three.

Scheffler obviously fits that description, but it may be better to wait until he finishes round two before considering a wager. The world number two will be sensing the chance to start round three at seven under par, with birdies at the fifth at the eighth (a par five) on his closing nine. That would still leave him six behind his Ryder Cup colleague.

Patrick Rodgers regularly flatters to deceive, while Tyson Alexander is lacking top-flight experience. Scheffler, Davis Riley, Aaron Wise, MacKenzie Hughes and Noren are a quintet who could take advantage if Finau wobbles, but that is far from guaranteed given how much confidence the leader has gained in recent months.

Finau beat Cameron Smith in a playoff for The Northern Trust last year, then won back-to-back PGA Tour titles in July in the 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic. Long gone are the days when Finau could be considered a vulnerable frontrunner.

The wind and difficulty of the course means Finau has a challenging assignment, but his biggest dangers are a fair way behind, so there is no urge to play in the outright market at this stage.

Noren should finish round two in the top three, making the 11-8 that he ends the event in the top five worth an interest. The former Ryder Cup man is a grinder who has won ten DP World Tour titles in all sorts of weather, proving himself in the wind.

Noren also looks a big price at 4-6 in the top European market, with the likes of Aaron Rai and Ben Taylor to repel. Russell Knox is unfortunate to have eight holes of round two to play.