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Golf tips

Steve Palmer's Wells Fargo Championship third-round preview, best bets

Jason Day seems vulnerable to Keegan Bradley and the rest of the chasing pack

Keegan Bradley is steadily rediscovering form
Keegan Bradley could be set for another great dayCredit: Mike Ehrmann

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf red button, 4pm Saturday

Best bets

Rickie Fowler to win 4.34pm threeball
1pt 15-8 general

Martin Laird to win 4.12pm threeball
1pt 7-5 general

Cameron Young to win 3.50pm threeball
1pt 11-10 BoyleSports, Hills

Story so far

Jason Day leads the Wells Fargo Championship by three shots going into the weekend - the former world number one reaching ten under par through 36 holes at TPC Potomac.

Day, who was a 60-1 chance at the outset, has become a general 7-4 favourite. The Australian's last victory came in the Wells Fargo Championship four years ago. Max Homa is alone in second place.

Rory McIlroy, emphatic market leader ante-post, has a ten-shot deficit to overcome. The Northern Irishman made the cut by a shot. He famously won the 2010 edition of this event from the cut-line, shooting weekend rounds of 66 and 62 for a PGA Tour breakthrough, but that was at Quail Hollow. TPC Potomac is a different test.

Level-par was required to make the cut (a tie for 50th). Sepp Straka, Francesco Molinari, Seamus Power, Marc Leishman, Gary Woodland, Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed were among those to miss out.

Leaderboard
-10 Jason Day
-7 Max Homa
-6 Luke List, James Hahn, Kurt Kitayama, Denny McCarthy
-5 Chad Ramey, Brian Harman, Keegan Bradley
-4 Rory Sabbatini, Anirban Lahiri, Tyrrell Hatton, Matthew Fitzpatrick

Best prices
7-4 J Day, 11-2 M Homa, 16 K Bradley, D McCarthy, 18 L List, 20 M Fitzpatrick, 22 T Hatton, 25 B Harman, 28 K Kitayama, 40 A Ancer, J Hahn, C Ramey, 50 A Lahiri, 66 R McIlroy, T Finau, J Vegas, S Garcia, 80 bar

Third-round preview

Jason Day has bossed the Wells Fargo this week, carding rounds of 63 and 67, but there is a fragility about the injury-plagued 34-year-old these days which means this tournament is a long way from over.

Day has changed his golf swing to ease pressure on his brittle body - and in post-round interviews at TPC Potomac he has admitted that the new technique is still work in progress. His brain is loaded with swing thoughts, rather than him being a free-flowing force.

Day still has plenty of talent, but his injury issues got so bad a couple of years ago he considered retirement, and he still moves carefully around the course to protect himself. In short, Day is not a player to be backing at 7-4 at the halfway stage of a PGA Tour event.

TPC Potomac is drenched and heavy rain is forecast for all of Saturday. The PGA Tour have condensed the tee-times, with the small field out in threeballs, which gives the greenkeepers the best hope of making the course playable.

If waterlogging does not suspend play, round three should be another slog. The best round of Friday - with horrible conditions throughout - came from Keegan Bradley. The 2011 US PGA champion made seven birdies in a 65 to move into seventh place. He has been in rock-solid form over the last two months and the pre-tournament 33-1 Racing Post Sport recommendation is well worth considering at 16-1 with two rounds to play.

Bradley's catch phrase has become: "It's a great day to have a great day!", and this positive mindset clearly helped him overcome the miserable Friday weather. If he has another great day over the weekend, a fifth PGA Tour title could be his.

Max Homa, Luke List and the locally-raised Denny McCarthy appear the other main threats to Day, while English duo Matthew Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton are also lurking just off the pace. It seems unlikely Day will take a significant lead into the final round if another 36 holes are possible, and the forecast for Sunday and Monday is better.

Day, Homa and List are scheduled to tee off at 5.40pm UK and Ireland time. Some heroic work will be required from the TPC Potomac greenkeepers to make that possible.

Third-round threeball punters are pointed towards Rickie Fowler, Martin Laird and Cameron Young - three players with the punch off the tee to handle a soaked Potomac.

Fowler has proved himself in wet weather in the past - he seems to relish such conditions - and he can upset a distracted Sergio Garcia in the 4.34pm contest. Garcia is under intense scrutiny from the media after his outrageous anti-PGA Tour comments during round one - and the Spaniard seems bound to feel a backlash from his peers. Ben Martin, the third member of the group, is a powder-puff driver who should find the course a slog.

Laird, third at TPC Potomac in the 2017 Quicken Loans National, can boss Ryan Armour and Henrik Norlander off the tee, while Young, a powerhouse who seems destined to develop into a PGA Tour superstar, seems a strong favourite against Dylan Wu and Ben Kohles.


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Steve PalmerRacing Post Sport

Published on 7 May 2022inGolf tips

Last updated 10:34, 7 May 2022

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