Steve Palmer's Sanderson Farms Championship third-round preview, best bets

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 9pm Saturday

Best bets

Will Zalatoris (1-2) to win twoball & Sam Burns to win twoball (5-8)
2pts double bet365

Cameron Young to win twoball
1pt 6-4 general

Hayden Buckley to win twoball
1pt 6-5 Betfred, BoyleSports

Story so far

Will Zalatoris has used Ryder Cup inspiration to propel himself to the top of the Sanderson Farms Championship leaderboard at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi.

Zalatoris, one of the best American youngsters in the game, grew up playing golf alongside Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler - and he explained that watching his pals win the Ryder Cup last week has put some extra fire in his belly.

Zalatoris was jostling for ante-post favouritism in the lead-up to the Sanderson Farms, available at a best-price 20-1, and a sizzling second-round 61 has cemented the Californian's position as a market principal. He shares the lead at 13 under par and is no bigger than 11-4 going into the weekend.

Nick Watney and Sahith Theegala, 300-1 and 100-1 respectively ante-post, are tied for the lead. Sam Burns is in seventh place, three shots off the pace. Defending champion Sergio Garcia was among those to miss the cut.

Leaderboard
-13 Will Zalatoris, Nick Watney, Sahith Theegala
-12 Cameron Young, Hayden Buckley
-11 Roger Sloan
-10 Aaron Wise, Stephan Jaeger, Henrik Norlander, Sam Burns, Denny McCarthy, Kurt Kitayama

Best prices
11-4 W Zalatoris, 7 S Theegala, S Burns, 14 H Buckley, N Watney, 16 C Young, 18 A Wise, R Sloan, 25 S Im, 28 S Jaeger, C Conners, 40 bar

Third-round preview

Will Zalatoris made more than 148 feet of putts in round two to set the Country Club of Jackson course record and lead the strokes-gained putting rankings through 36 holes.

Zalatoris appeared to have made breakthroughs with his troublesome putting in the wake of the Open Championship, making some improvements with his equipment and his stroke, but a poor display on the greens in the Fortinet Championship last time out was a setback.

Had Zalatoris putted well in the Fortinet, his share of 11th place would have been turned into something much more spectacular, but assured rock-rolling in Jackson has yielded immediate results.

It seems only a matter of time before the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year sheds his maiden tag - and a share of the Sanderson Farms Championship lead at the halfway stage provides an excellent opportunity. This is a low-grade affair in which Zalatoris does not have much to beat, so anyone who took the pre-tournament 20-1 can expect to get a strong run for their money.

It is a field full of nervous maidens and ageing strugglers, summed up by the fact Sahith Theegala and Nick Watney are alongside Zalatoris on the board. Theegala is a promising 23-year-old, while Watney is a 40-year-old winless since 2012.

Cameron Young and Hayden Buckley are talented and dangerous from a shot behind, but Zalatoris may find his biggest weekend challenge comes from Sam Burns, who can move into the thick of things from a share of seventh.

Burns, fresh from taking the best part of a month off since the Tour Championship, has been slowly but surely moving through the gears in Jackson. Racing Post Sport's pre-tournament 18-1 recommendation can be expected to find full throttle at some stage over the closing 36 holes and pile pressure on Zalatoris.

The Zalatoris (against Watney, 8.10pm UK and Ireland time) and Burns (against Henrik Norlander, 7.30pm) twoballs double appeals, while Young and Buckley are value outsiders against Theegala and Roger Sloan respectively.

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