Steve Palmer's Players Championship day-five preview, best bets, free golf tips

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 12pm Monday

Best bets

Paul Casey top Englishman
2pts 4-5 Coral, Ladbrokes

Sebastian Munoz third-round leader
1pt each-way 14-1 Betfair, Power

Sam Burns top American
1pt 7-2 Coral, Ladbrokes

Story so far

The Players Championship is into its fifth day and the watching world is still a long way from knowing who will be pocketing the $3.6m winner's cheque at the famous TPC Sawgrass.

Bad weather caused significant delays early in the tournament, meaning 17 players still have at least nine holes of round three to play. The third round will resume at noon UK and Ireland time (8am Florida time), then the final round will take place after that.

Pace of play was good on Sunday, so it seems unlikely that Tuesday will be required. PGA Tour chiefs will be relieved that their flagship event looks set to end on Monday evening. This will be the fourth time in Sawgrass history the Players has seen a Monday finish.

That said, the leaderboard is bunched and the Players playoff is over three holes, with sudden-death thereafter. The tournament is wide-open, with PGA Tour maiden Anirban Lahiri leading the way. Lahiri has completed 11 holes of round three, but many players opted to mark their ball when darkness fell on Sunday night, so punters need to be aware of locations (pgatour.com, leaderboard, click on player, Shot Tracker) before investing at this stage.

Leaderboard
-9 Anirban Lahiri (through 47 holes)
-8 Tom Hoge (45), Harold Varner (45)
-7 Sebastian Munoz (50), Paul Casey (45), Sam Burns (45)
-6 Francesco Molinari (51), Daniel Berger (49), Cameron Smith (46), Doug Ghim (46)
-5 Shane Lowry (50), Kevin Kisner (49), Joel Dahmen (48), Patton Kizzire (48), Doc Redman (47), Erik Van Rooyen (45), Tommy Fleetwood (45)

Best prices
15-2 S Burns, 8 T Hoge, 9 P Casey, 10 C Smith, 12 H Varner, 14 A Lahiri, D Berger, 16 J Thomas, S Munoz, 22 S Lowry, 28 T Fleetwood, 40 F Molinari, 50 bar

Day-five preview

The challenge before the final day of a golf tournament is to narrow the field down to as few potential winners as possible, but that is particularly difficult for the weather-ravaged Players Championship. The favourite is 15-2 and the list of runners is large.

The price of defending champion, Justin Thomas, shows how much golf is still to played. Despite being only four under par, five shots off the pace, Thomas is no bigger than 16-1. Bookmakers are expecting the world number eight to catch up over his closing 25 holes.

Racing Post Sport's four pre-tournament runners are all still in contention, but have little margin for error on a day when somebody needs to play superbly to emerge triumphant from this congested leaderboard. Cameron Smith, three shots behind but with a birdie putt to come from 15 feet when he returns to the track, is doing best of the Racing Post Sport quartet.

Shane Lowry, who enjoyed a thrilling hole-in-one at the 17th hole yesterday, is four shots behind with four round-three holes to play. Joaquin Niemann, five behind and facing a par putt from nine feet on his return, is in danger of falling too far off the pace, while Corey Conners, also five adrift, has a five-foot par putt to come when play resumes.

Smith and Lowry seem best placed to throw down a Monday title tilt, but punters have every right to consider extra options with so many players in contention. Anyone within five shots of the inevitably nervous leader can consider themselves in the thick of things. Lahiri has two low-grade European Tour victories to his name - the Players Championship would be the biggest win of his career by a ridiculous amount.

Smith, Lowry, Paul Casey and Sam Burns are the four names offered to punters looking to narrow their options. Smith, a local resident who knows this course like the back of his hand, is ultra-comfortable at Sawgrass and has already won a high-class event this year (Sentry Tournament of Champions). His putting prowess counts for plenty in a tight shootout laced with pressure.

Lowry will be hopeful of birdies at the sixth hole and the ninth hole on his return. A birdie, par, par, birdie finish could lay the foundation for a glorious final round from seven under par.

If Casey holes for par from four feet at the tenth on his return, he will expect to forge forward from seven under par and contend at a layout he likes. Casey finished fifth at Sawgrass last year.

Burns, who won his maiden PGA Tour title in Florida, is a class act. He lacks experience at Sawgrass, but rediscovered his A-game at Bay Hill last week and has carried that form to the Players. Burns will start from the tenth tee on Monday.

Smith (10-1), Lowry (22-1), Casey (9-1) and Burns (15-2) are the most appealing outright prices, but Sebastian Munoz may end up earning a place in the final threeball. The Colombian sensibly got his tee shot away at sixth hole before calling it a night yesterday, leaving himself 131 yards to the pin on his return. Munoz could finish birdie, par, par, birdie to reach nine under par. With the breeze increasing as the day wears on, nine under could easily be enough for a spot in the final group. The 14-1 about Munoz finishing third-round leader (each-way terms of a quarter the first three) is worth considering.

Casey can repel Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton to finish the event as top Englishman, while Burns seems the pick of the American challengers. He is 7-2 for top American honours.

Temperatures are set to increase from 12C to 20C during Monday, with wind speed increasing from eight miles per hour to 13 miles per hour. No rain is forecast and sunset time is 7.33pm local (11.33pm UK and Ireland).

Not got a bet365 account? Bet £10 & get £50 in free bets

Open account offer. Minimum deposit requirement. Free Bets are paid as bet credits and are available for use upon settlement of bets to value of qualifying deposit. Minimum odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude bet credits stake. Time limits/T&Cs apply. 18+ begambleaware.org

CLAIM OFFER HERE

MORE FREE BETS

Sign up to emails from Racing Post Sport and get all the latest news and tips

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport