Steve Palmer's Travelers Championship third-round preview, best bets, free tips

When to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 12pm Saturday

Best bets

Viktor Hovland to win threeball
2pts 6-4 BoyleSports

Joaquin Niemann to win threeball
2pts 10-11 BoyleSports, Coral, Ladbrokes

Story so far

Phil Mickelson has thrived in his first PGA Tour event as a 50-year-old and the legendary left-hander tops the leaderboard going into the weekend of the Travelers Championship.

Mickelson, available at 150-1 at the start of the week before going off a general 125-1 chance, upstaged playing partners Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau to reach 13 under par through two rounds at TPC River Highlands.

Lefty is jostling for favouritism around the 5-1 mark with McIlroy, who has been a warm order ever since he opened up with a 63 on Thursday and is lurking four off the pace. Xander Schauffele (four shots behind) and DeChambeau (five) are still well in the hunt.

Thunderstorms are forecast, so the Saturday tee-times have been shunted forward, with the final group scheduled out at 2.15pm UK and Ireland time.

The cut-missers included Collin Morikawa, ending his cut-making streak at 22. Three-time Travelers champion Bubba Watson also failed to qualify for the weekend, along with Tony Finau, Gary Woodland, Justin Rose and Justin Thomas.

Leaderboard
-13 Phil Mickelson
-12 Will Gordon, Mackenzie Hughes
-9 Xander Schauffele, Brendan Steele, Rory McIlroy, Brendon Todd, Marc Leishman
-8 Kevin Streelman, Kevin Na, Sung Kang, Zach Johnson, Viktor Hovland, Patton Kizzire, Abraham Ancer, Troy Merritt, Bryson DeChambeau, Brian Stuard, Seung-yul Noh

Best prices
9-2 R McIlroy, 5 P Mickelson, 17-2 B DeChambeau, 9 X Schauffele, 14 M Leishman, 16 M Hughes, 18 A Ancer, 22 V Hovland, 25 W Gordon, D Johnson, 28 P Cantlay, 33 J Rahm, 40 B Todd, 50 B Steele, K Na, 66 bar

Third-round preview

Turning 50 appears to have injected some extra purpose into Phil Mickelson and it was interesting to note how much he throttled back in his marquee threeball alongside Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau.

Mickelson used plenty of three-woods off the tree, accepting he was going to be left behind by the young bombers, but plotted his way around TPC River Highlands superbly. He has dropped only one shot all week – after a pulled approach from the fairway at the second – and he has put a four-shot gap between himself and the next world-class talent on the leaderboard.

Mickelson has not won on the PGA Tour since February, 2019, but he has laid a strong foundation to contend in Cromwell. Sponsors invite Will Gordon, a nervous maiden, and Mackenzie Hughes, who has only the 2016 RSM Classic title to his name, seem likely to be bossed by Mickelson in the final threeball.

The dangers to the leader seem set to come from deeper on the board. McIlroy, Viktor Hovland (five behind), DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson (six shots behind) and Patrick Cantlay (six) are close enough and good enough. Even Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann – both seven shots off the pace – will still feel in the tournament at a course where super-low rounds are achievable. Jim Furyk carded a 58 at River Highlands in 2016.

Hovland, striking his ball magnificently, is a value 22-1 chance in the outright betting. The gifted Norwegian youngster can force his way into the thick of things should his cold putter warm up over the weekend.

Hovland can be fancied to account for Patton Kizzire and Abraham Ancer in the 1.31pm (UK and Ireland time) threeball, while a similar case can be made for Niemann in the 12.25pm contest. The Chilean, fifth in the Heritage on Sunday, has got his long-game in top order. If the putts start dropping in rounds three and four, he can make a charge similar to that which he conjured last weekend (63, 65). Luke Donald and Sam Burns can be left behind.

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