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

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 12pm Sunday

Best bets

Cameron Smith to be leading after round two
1pt 10-1 Betfred, Coral, Ladbrokes

Corey Conners to win 1.31pm threeball
1pt Evens Hills

Story so far

Strong winds blew at TPC Sawgrass on Saturday and several big names were blown out of the tournament. The carnage has left Jon Rahm as a general 7-1 market leader, with the Spaniard set to face much easier conditions for his second round today.

The weather has had a huge impact on the Players Championship - the PGA Tour's flagship event. With a $3.6m first prize on offer, 72 holes must be played, and many players in the field will wake up on Sunday morning with only 18 holes under their belt.

Thunderstorms caused suspensions on Thursday, then the course got saturated under a deluge of Florida rain, meaning the start of play was delayed on Friday. When half the field finally got out, winds made scoring extremely difficult, particularly at the notorious 17th hole and its island green.

Brooks Koepka carded an 81 in his home state, ending up nine over par for the tournament, and certain to miss the cut. Lee Westwood, Adam Scott, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Collin Morikawa and Matthew Fitzpatrick will also feel the halfway axe.

Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler both finished round two at two over par. It seems likely they will miss the cut, too, unless the Sunday wind is significant. The projected cut is at even par - and with sunshine and only light to moderate breezes forecast for Sunday, McIlroy and Scheffler might just miss out on the final 36 holes. They are tied for 84th place, with the top 65 and ties progressing to round three.

The clocks changed overnight in Florida, so they are only four hours behind the UK and Ireland. Play is scheduled to resume at 8.15am Florida time (12.15pm UK and Ireland). A cold, breezy start is expected, with temperatures of only 3 Celsius, but that is set to get up to 14 Celsius by late afternoon. Round three should start today and be finished tomorrow, with PGA Tour chiefs still hoping for Monday finish. A Tuesday finish is certainly a possibility.

Leaderboard
-6 Tommy Fleetwood (21 holes played), Tom Hoge (18)
-5 Joaquin Niemann (18), Keith Mitchell (18), Anirban Lahiri (18)
-4 Doug Ghim (32), Kramer Hickok (22), Brian Harman (21), Harold Varner (21), Will Zalatoris (21), Cameron Smith (19), Sam Burns (18), Abraham Ancer (18), Talor Pendrith (18)
-3 Bubba Watson (36), Justin Thomas (36), Seamus Power (34), Aaron Wise (20), Louis Oosthuizen (19), Jon Rahm (18), Jhonattan Vegas (18), Alexander Noren (18)

Best prices
7 J Rahm, 12 J Thomas, C Smith, 14 T Fleetwood, J Niemann, L Oosthuizen, 16 T Hoge, 18 S Burns, 22 W Zalatoris, A Ancer, 25 V Hovland, 28 K Mitchell, D Berger, D Johnson, 35 A Noren, 40 B Harman, 50 B Watson, C Conners, 60 bar

Day-four preview

Punters must check the exact location of a player's ball before considering wagers at this stage. Many players have finished round two, some are yet to start round two, but some have started round two without completing the hole they were on when darkness curtailed play on Saturday night. Using pgatour.com's Shot Tracker service will help.

Tournament favourite, Jon Rahm, has played one shot in round two - a drive which clambered over the fairway bunker on the right of the first hole, into the rough. He has got a good angle to the green, though, from only 151 yards.

Tommy Fleetwood is in the left rough at the fourth hole off the tee, with 144 yards to the hole, with water guarding the front of the green. Joaquin Niemann faces a par putt of 11 feet at the first when he returns, while Will Zalatoris must two-putt from 70 feet at the 13th to stay at four under par.

Cameron Smith, who can start Sunday on the easiest hole on the course (the second), is worth an interest to be leading after round two at 10-1. The Ponte Vedra Beach resident, who has been able to relax better than most during the long weather delays, should enjoy warmer, calmer conditions by the time he reaches the 17th and 18th holes - the potentially cardbusting duo.

The powder-puff driving of Brian Gay and Joel Dahmen may be exposed in the cold air of Sunday morning, especially with the turf still so soft. Corey Conners looks a solid threeball option for the 1.31pm (UK) match.

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