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Thorbjorn Olesen 1 point each-way @ 66-1 Stan James 1/4 1234 Callum Shinkwin 1 point each-way @ 80-1 BVictor 1/4 1234 Paul Lawrie 3 points Top-20 finish @ 7-2 Corals Stan James look to have made an error in pricing the Dane after round one. Proven in the wind and on the links. as wins in Perth and at the Alfred Dunhill Links indicate, he has plenty of form in the desert to think he can move forward with a very early start tomorrow morning. With two podium finishes in his last three outings here, he has also shown he can come from off the pace after the initial rounds - 31st to 10th in the Irish last season, 34th to 8th in Shenzhen in April, 16th to 1st in the Dunhill in October 2015 and 15th to 3rd here in 2014. Not shirking the issue when shooting 65/62 on his way to winning in Turkey, he looks overpriced to take advantage of some decent GIR stats in the calmer mornming conditions. Followers of 23-year-old Shinkwin know that he is capable of mixing it in this class when it all clicks. He clearly has a bit to learn when in contention judged on his collapse last year at Shenzhen, but that was entirely understandable given he led a class field after a superb 61 third round. With a reknowned judge on the bag, connections do expect him to reach the top echelons of the game and today's bogey-free 68 is a perfect start. Although driving distance isn't a huge advantage here, Shinks had three par-5s today and will expect to take bigger advantage over the next few days. 35th here in his initial outing last season, he followed that with top-20s in Morocco and at the K-Club whilst top-10s at the French and Scottish Open show his class. With no doubts about his ability to act on links or in wind, he is onky going to improve and is another with a very early tee-time that can build on a very promising opening 18 holes. Lawrie is more specualtive given he probably does not have the improvement of many of these but after a initial 2-under, he also has the chance to rise up the board tomorrow. Clearly suited to any wind that may arrive, he has 6 top-20 finishes here including two victories and a 13th last season having led into payday. I can't suggest he will be competing down the stretch on Sunday but a top-20 finish is definitely not a pipedream. AFTER ROUND 2 Chris Wood 1 point each-way 50/1 Stan James
Multiple winners appear in the history of the event, with proven links and wind players Paul Lawrie and Branden Grace (winner last two years). On a packed leaderboard, the lanky Englishman can become another name on the list. Finding almost 80% of greens after good tee shots, the putts aren't dropping, but he has to have good memories of winning here especially after the eagle on the 72nd hole in 2013. He missed the cut last week but it was always going to be uphill after a forgivable first round 76, however the following 68 was a sign that may well have simply been rust, being his first top-grade outing for a couple of months. Previously, he closed the 2016 season with a final round 65 and with plenty of weekend rounds here below 70, he can confirm his liking of conditions. Paddy Power offer a shorter price but first 6, but I've gone for the biggest price which I believe to be ten points too big.
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