The BMW PGA Championship continues at Wentworth on Friday when the second round of the biggest tournament on the DP World Tour gets played out on a day where the cut takes place in the latest Rolex Series event.
We had a low scoring opening day on Thursday, albeit not as incredible as anything we saw last year. With the temperatures set to soar in the London area on Friday we should be in for a hot day of action on the course.
Round 1 Recap
At the end of the opening round of the tournament it was the Danish player Marcus Helligkilde leading the way after he shot an eight under par 64. He leads by two from the very competent Matt Fitzpatrick and Richie Ramsay. There is a larger group on five under which includes our outright pick Connor Syme as well as Rikuya Hoshino, James Morrison, Matthew Baldwin and the Spanish pair of Jorge Campillo and Pablo Larrazabal. Adrian Meronk and Thomas Detry complete that group with Ryder Cup players Ludvig Aberg and Tyrrell Hatton among a larger group on four under. Rory McIlroy went round in level par while Jon Rahm was a shot better.
It was a profitable opening day for us on Thursday when we came away with one winner from the two three ball bets that we advised. It looked like being one of those days when Fabrizio Zanotti made a mess of the last hole to lose his three ball but profit was delivered by Rafa Cabrera Bello who comfortably saw off Marcel Siem and Dan Bradbury to give us the bigger priced winner of the two bets and start us off on the right foot.
Friday Betting
There isn’t actually a market for the second round leader at the time of writing this preview, which is disappointing because with a couple of large groups just two back of a pair who are probably the favourites to usurp a leader not used to being in this position, there could have been some value to be had. That isn’t the case but if a market does go up between now and the start of the round it could be worth looking at the price of Adrian Meronk or Pablo Larrazabal who are three back and who are out in the morning and should get fresher greens as a result of that. Until that market appears though we can’t really offer anything up.
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Friday 3 Balls
As was the case on Thursday, the field go out in threes on Friday and in the same groups they were in over the course of the play in the opening round. The only difference is the order is flipped so the morning wave will be headlined by the Jon Rahm, Nicolai Hojgaard and Tyrrell Hatton group at 08.40 BST and the Justin Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick and Robert MacIntyre one at 08.50. In the afternoon the attention will be firmly on the 12.40 BST start time of Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland while 20 minutes latter Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka are out alongside each other. I’ll take one after looking through the odds.
Connor Syme/Paul Waring/Oliver Bekker
Match tees off at 11.45 BST
The three ball which gets my attention on Friday goes out shortly before noon where out outright pick Connor Syme is back out alongside Paul Waring and Oliver Bekker, two men he outshot by five strokes in the opening round on Thursday.
Syme shot five under par on Thursday compared to the level par rounds of the other two and that came about by being so much more dominant from tee to green. The Scot was second for that discipline in strokes gained with Bekker losing shots to the field ranking at 81 with Waring even worse. This course is a tee to green track the way it is playing and the purity of the ball striking of Syme and the control he has with the long clubs makes me think he is a worthy favourite to see off two men who sit outside the top 100 in the Race to Dubai standings which highlights the quiet season they are having.
Tips
Back C.Syme to beat P.Waring & O.Bekker for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with William Hill
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