Fearless Ian Poulter can ruffle the feathers of frontrunning American

Sky Sports Golf, 3am Sunday

Story so far
Brooks Koepka has given himself a golden chance of becoming world number one for the first time by forging a four-shot lead through three rounds of the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges, Korea.

The American powerhouse will go atop the rankings with a victory – and even second place on his own will be enough if Justin Thomas fails to take the title. With Thomas languishing in 43rd place, 12 shots behind, Koepka has top-dog status at his mercy.

The lure of the rankings summit may have been the reason for Koepka adding the CJ Cup to his schedule. He has taken to the Nine Bridges layout like a duck to water and ante-post 10-1 quotes have been replaced a general 1-4 with 18 holes to play.

Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter is tied with Scott Piercy for second place, while Aussie ace Cameron Smith is among a group of six sharing fourth spot, five shots off the pace.

Leaderboard
-13 Brooks Koepka
-9 Ian Poulter, Scott Piercy
-8 Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Cameron Smith, Jamie Lovemark, Pat Perez, Gary Woodland, Chez Reavie

Best prices
2-7 B Koepka, 16 I Poulter, 20 C Smith, 22 S Piercy, 25 G Woodland, 28 J Day, 33 R Cabrera-Bello, 40 C Reavie, P Perez, J Lovemark, 80 bar

Final-day advice
Brooks Koepka has become a machine of a golfer, an emotion-free robot programmed to destroy any course he tackles, and the flying Floridian certainly wouldn't look out of place as world number one.

Koepka has won three of the last six Majors he has entered and is bursting with confidence. There is little that can ruffle him these days, but perhaps his playing partner for the final round of the CJ Cup is the exception to the rule.

Koepka will not want reminding of his disastrous Ryder Cup, an event where he partially blinded a spectator with an errant drive, had an alleged bust-up with Dustin Johnson on the plane over, then a reported fracas with Johnson at the course afterwards, and there is no better man to provide that reminder than Ian James Poulter.

The in-running prices do not adequately reflect the chance that Poulter has of getting under the skin of the leader and grinding his way close to him down the stretch. The layers make Koepka almost unbeatable, but Betway's 16-1 Poulter (each-way terms of third the odds, first two) is full of juice, and the 14-1 offered by Paddy Power with terms of a quarter, four places, is also worth attention.

Poulter nonchalantly holed a downhill putt for birdie from ten feet at the final hole of round three, the swagger suggesting he is not going to go down quietly on Sunday.

The only negative against the name of Poulter ante-post was that he did not play in the CIMB Classic last week to warm up for the CJ Cup. Jet-lag has not stopped the fiery Englishman from moving into contention, though, and his winning record in Asia will leave him bullish about hunting down Koepka. Poulter has won three European Tour events in Asia, including the 2012 WGC-Champions.

Cameron Smith is also still in with a chance. The rising star provided a tee-to-green masterclass in round three, which resulted in a bogey-free spin, but he paid the price for leaving countless putts short. The Aussie is definitely hitting his ball well enough to get close to Koepka with a more positive putting performance in round four.

Koepka is obviously by far the most likely winner, but Poulter and Smith can provide a stiff Sunday challenge, while Pat Perez and Gary Woodland, who have a good record in these early-season US Tour events in Asia, could complete the top five.

Final-round threeball punters are pointed towards Poulter for the final match against Koepka and Scott Piercy (1.30am UK and Ireland time), while local man Si Woo Kim, who closed round three with back-to-back birdies, is the value option against Paul Casey and Brendan Steele in the 12.50am contest.

Outright recommendation
I Poulter
1pt each-way 16-1 Betway

Threeballs recommendations
I Poulter
1pt 15-8 bet365

S W Kim
1pt 7-4 bet365

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