Steve Palmer's Houston Open third-round preview, best bets, free golf tips

When to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 2.30pm Saturday

Best bet

Viktor Hovland top-five finish
1pt 11-2 Betfair, Power

Story so far

PGA Tour maiden Sam Burns has set the halfway pace in the Houston Open - the 24-year-old Louisianan reaching seven under par through two rounds at Memorial Park.

Burns, 100-1 ante-post, has shortened to 5-1 favourite in the wake of his fast start. He leads by two shots from Jason Day and Carlos Ortiz.

Punters looking for clues for next week's Masters will have noted the strong performance of Dustin Johnson. The world number one, returning after going down with Covid-19, was rusty in round one and made six bogeys in a 72, but a Friday 66 rocketed him up to a share of 14th place.

Adam Scott is one shot ahead of Johnson, while Francesco Molinari and Tony Finau, who played alongside Tiger Woods in the final threeball of last year's Masters, are tied with Johnson after 36 holes in Houston.

Leaderboard
-7 Sam Burns
-5 Jason Day, Carlos Ortiz
-4 Brandt Snedeker, Dawie van der Walt, Corey Conners, Aaron Wise, Patton Kizzire

Best prices
5 S Burns, 13-2 J Day, 10 D Johnson, 14 C Conners, A Scott 16 T Finau, 18 C Ortiz, 22 B Snedeker, 25 A Wise, 28 bar

Third-round preview

The Houston market highlights just how little faith bookmakers and punters alike have in Jason Day these days. The former world number one and US PGA champion is only two shots behind a PGA Tour maiden with 36 holes to play, but is not even considered favourite.

Fitness and form seems to disappear in a flash for Day, so risked are always attached to backing the Australian. That said, Sam Burns has failed to build on many bright starts like this - getting twitchy at the head of affairs - so Day will fancy his chances of applying pressure and overtaking.

The event seems wide-open with two rounds to play and anyone making the cut will be within ten shots of Burns, capable of making a charge to set up a Sunday chance.

The cut is yet to be made because darkness brought the second round to a premature close, with just Charl Schwartzel left on the course. He has to up-and-down from 81 feet away on the ninth to make the cut on three over par. A bogey and he would miss it, along with Jordan Spieth, who three-putted his final hole to finish a shot shy, Sergio Garcia (five over), Lee Westwood (six), Henrik Stenson (seven) and Phil Mickelson (nine).

Outright punters getting involved at this stage are pointed towards Norwegian duo Kristoffer Ventura and Viktor Hovland. At 50-1 and 33-1, these two explosive young guns are well capable of forcing their way into the thick of things from just five and six shots off the pace.

Hovland is entirely focused on the Houston Open, having failed to qualify for the Masters, and could easily finish the tournament with a flourish.

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