Ryan Palmer can build on strong start at Trinity Forest

Sky Sports Golf, 5pm Friday

Australian Marc Leishman has no problems adapting to the new US Tour test at Trinity Forest, carding a ten-under-par 61 in his opening round to take a firm grip on the AT&T Byron Nelson.

His second round with Scott Piercy and Adam Scott tees off at the Texas track at 1.40pm BST, but the best threeball bet is set to arrive at 6.50pm, where Ryan Palmer looks a healthy price to get the better of fellow American Billy Horschel and former Masters champion Sergio Garcia.

Palmer, who carded a three-under 68 on Thursday, finished second at the Farmers Insurance Open in January but has not featured much on leaderboards since.

However, there have been signs of improvement. A first-round 74 at the Players Championship last week pointed to another indifferent effort but he got to grips with his game with rounds of 67, 69 & 69 to finish a creditable 23rd.

Although there were three bogeys in his opening round in Dallas, it was a consistent effort from the player renowned for his power off the tee.

The emphasis on long hitting is not hugely influential this week but Palmer showed he could be capable of a strong finish, as he hit 15 greens in regulation and found 12 of 14 fairways.

Horschel is in decent form having finish fifth at the Heritage, 11th at the Texas Open and won the Zurich Classic alongside Piercy since he missed the cut at Augusta.

However, while his course-management skills can come to the fore on quirky tracks like this week's test, at the prices it could pay to side with Palmer, who is playing in his home state.

Garcia had a miserable defence of his Masters title and things have not gone much better since as he missed the cut at the Texas Open and was 70th at Sawgrass.

His one-over-par 72 on Thursday suggests he is not quite back in the swing of things.

Recommendation
R Palmer to win threeball 6.50pm BST
2pts 5-2 Betfair, Paddy Power, Sky Bet

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