Steve Palmer's Players Championship second-round preview, best bets, free tips

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 4pm Saturday

Best bets

Alexander Noren to win Players Championship
0.5pt each-way 100-1 BoyleSports

Story so far

The weather gods have already played a significant role in this week's Players Championship at Sawgrass - and the earliest the tournament will finish is Monday evening.

Three inches of water fell on the course in less than 48 hours, saturating Sawgrass, bringing an early end to Friday's play. The event is set to resume at 11am local time (4pm UK and Ireland) on Saturday, if the famous Florida track becomes playable.

Winds, rain and lightning are expected at Sawgrass until 10am local time Saturday. From 11am onwards, PGA Tour chiefs are hopeful there will be no further suspensions in play. The forecast for late Saturday, Sunday and Monday is good.

A longer Saturday delay - if the bad weather fails to move clear by 11am local time - would lead to the possibility of a Tuesday finish. The Players Championship, with a $3.6m first prize, is too prestigious for Tour bosses to consider anything other than a 72-hole event. It must also be noted that the Players has a three-hole playoff, so time must be allowed for the chance of at least a trio of extra holes being needed.

Leaderboard
-6 Tommy Fleetwood, Tom Hoge, Brice Garnett (through 13 holes)
-5 Kramer Hickok, Joaquin Niemann, Keith Mitchell, Anirban Lahiri, Daniel Berger (16)
-4 Brian Harman, Sam Burns, Abraham Ancer, Talor Pendrith, Kevin Kisner, Dustin Johnson (16), Scottie Scheffler (15), Patton Kizzire (15), Doug Ghim (12)

Best prices
12 S Scheffler, D Berger, J Rahm, 16 D Johnson, X Schauffele, 20 J Niemann, T Fleetwood, 22 J Thomas, 25 B Koepka, T Hoge, 30 S Burns, C Smith, 40 bar

Second-round preview

Round three of the Players Championship will still be taking place on Monday - that is the sad truth about how much the weather has affected this great tournament. If the event is finished on Monday, it will be with darkness falling in Ponte Vedra Beach.

The provisional 11am start time for resumption (4pm UK and Ireland) today seems optimistic - 1pm (6pm) seems more realistic given the weather forecast - so that would allow only six hours of play today.

There was much speculation before the event about how the weather could deliver a draw bias. Many punters latched on to the late-early draw in the expectation that the early-late half would have to play their round two in the Saturday winds. But with so much play lost over Thursday and Friday, the early-late half of the draw appear to have become favoured.

The late-early half look set to play their second round in soggy, windy (22 mph) conditions on Saturday. The early-late half should get cold but less windy (12 mph) weather for their round two on Sunday.

Outright punters are pointed towards Joaquin Niemann (20-1) and Cameron Smith (30-1), while Jon Rahm (12-1) and Alex Noren (100-1 with BoyleSports) will also feel they can get into contention for next week's denouement.

With BoyleSports still offering six each-way places, the 100-1 Noren is worth taking. The Florida-based Swede has been in excellent ball-striking form, finishing fifth in the Honda Classic last time out, and a first-round 69 has set him up well at Sawgrass.

Hideki Matsuyama withdrew prior to the event (stakes returned), so Racing Post Sport followers had only four players go to post on Thursday. Noren can be added to the stable given he is on offer at such disrespectful odds.

Not got a William Hill account? Sign up and bet £10 to get £30 in free bets

Open a new account using Promo code H30 only, Min £10 stake, min odds 1/2, free bets paid as 2 x £15, free bets credited after settlement of first qualifying bet, free bets will expire 30 days after the qualifying bet is placed, payment method/player/country restrictions apply. 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