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

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 5pm Saturday

Best bets

Brooks Koepka to win the Phoenix Open
3pts 4-1 BoyleSports

Hideki Matsuyama to win 6.01pm threeball
3pts 11-10 general

Story so far

Sahith Theegala leads a high-class Phoenix Open field by two shots at the halfway stage - the PGA Tour maiden firing a second-round 64 to move clear at TPC Scottsdale.

Theegala, a pre-tournament 225-1 chance, has shortened to 8-1 through 36 holes of exceptional golf in the Arizona desert. The 24-year-old Californian, a superstar amateur in 2020, has made the cut in all five of his 2022 tournaments.

World number one Jon Rahm, 15-2 favourite ante-post, is seven shots behind Theegala, tied for 23rd place, having carded a disappointing Friday 70. The Spaniard is easy to back at 18-1 for a come-from-behind success.

Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay are the big names who have brought their A-game to Phoenix. Koepka and Schauffele are tied for second place, while Cantlay is alone in fourth spot. Viktor Hovland made a calamitous triple-bogey eight at the 15th hole and missed the cut, while Rickie Fowler, Gary Woodland, Sam Burns, Tony Finau and Daniel Berger will also have the weekend off.

Leaderboard
-12 Sahith Theegala
-10 Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele
-9 Patrick Cantlay
-8 Adam Hadwin, Talor Gooch, Max Homa

Best prices
4 B Koepka, X Schauffele, 5 P Cantlay, 8 S Theegala, 18 J Rahm, 20 T Gooch, 22 M Homa, H Matsuyama, 28 J Thomas, 33 A Hadwin, A Ancer, 40 bar

Third-round preview

Sahith Theegala is a raw talent who has quickly shown flashes of brilliance on the PGA Tour, but it is asking a huge amount of the youngster to repel a world-class chasing pack over the weekend at the most intense venue on the circuit.

The atmosphere on Saturday and Sunday at TPC Scottsdale will be electric - hordes of boisterous spectators lining the fairways and greens - and every shot a player takes is under immense scrutiny.

Theegala will not have had many eyes on him over the first two days, freewheeling to 12 under par, but there will be no hiding place in a final threeball alongside Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele.

In-running punters should probably be concentrating on Koepka, Schauffele and Cantlay, with Koepka standing out as the best bet.
Schauffele is on a long PGA Tour victory drought, which stretches back to January, 2019, and the Phoenix Open is a tough tournament to use to get back on the winning trail. He blew an excellent winning opportunity at Scottsdale last year - with only Covid-reduced galleries in attendance - and the pressure may tell again on Schauffele down the stretch on Super Bowl Sunday.

Cantlay has squandered opportunities for victory in his last two tournaments. He was a 6-4 chance at the halfway stage of The American Express, but dropped to ninth place, while he led during the final round of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am before finishing fourth.

Timid, negative putting has cost Cantlay this year - his putts have lacked speed - and it seems unlikely his flat-stick work will improve in the bearpit of a Phoenix Open weekend. His each-way backers may get another return, but the best outright option is arguably Koepka.

The Phoenix Open vibe typically brings out the best in Koepka, who seems to thrive in the most high-profile events. The four-times Major champion has twice won the Phoenix Open - and his chances of completing the hat-trick this week are helped by the fact his fitness problems appear behind him. His knees seem strong and it is difficult to see the cocksure Floridian going backwards from a ten-under-par foundation.

Koepka enjoyed a 66, 65 weekend last year - when he was far from full fitness - so will be licking his lips at the prospect of dazzling the vast galleries this time. The defending champion has bleached his hair blond for this event - and the blond bombshell could easily be parading the trophy tomorrow.

Hideki Matsuyama, another two-time Phoenix champion, looks a strong third-round threeball option against Patton Kizzire and Keegan Bradley (6.01pm UK and Ireland time).

The final threeball of Theegala, Koepka and Schauffele is scheduled on the tee at 6.45pm. Another sunny, calm day is forecast.

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