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16-3; +9.05pts Pre-tournament plays: BACK 1pt Patrick Cantlay 40 48th
Anirban Lahiri 95 mc
Cantlay has been extremely consistent this year, never being lower than 55th after any round this year, and with two top-3 finishes in 2017, he is a player who can be a contender on any course this year
Lahiri's last two PGA Tour starts have yielded finishes of 2nd and 17th, so he is a player in form and one who looks to have finally settled to playing at this level on this Tour LAY 20pts liability Matt Kuchar 13.5 32nd
Chez Reavie 60 23rd
Jim Furyk 80 75th
Ryan Palmer 140 mc
Stewart Cink 150 62nd
Curtis Luck 160 mc
Cameron Percy 160 70th
William McGirt 180 wd Pre-rd3 plays: BACK 1pt Martin Flores 22 19th
It's a long way until the finish line from the 36-hole cut, but these odds are much higher than I would have expected for a player in sole possession of the lead at this stage. He has shown good form in recent weeks - he was 11th at the halfway cut in the John Deere Classic two weeks ago and was leading after rd1 last week in the Barbasol Championship. He is 0-for-1 when leading after 36 holes on the PGA Tour, but even though he failed to win the 2014 Wells Fargo Championship, he finished 3rd and two shots off the pace so didn't buckle significantly under the pressure. I would price him lower than these odds, so there is value here even if he still strongly odds-on not to win. LAY 20pts liability Dustin Johnson 8 8th
Charley Hoffman 9.4 2nd
Kevin Chappell 12.5 8th
Johnson is the World #1, but is not playing like it - his last three finishes have been mc-mc-54th and he struggling with his short game so far this week, ranking 76th in strokes gained - putting and 100th in strokes gained - around the greens, so these odds look short for a player back in 14th place
Hoffman is a shot closer in 5th place, but single digit odds for such a position with 36 holes to play seems a little short for Hoffman
Chappell is also 5th and has hte best ball-striking stats of the three so far this week, but he had missed his last two cuts and has a best finish of 68th on this course, so I would price him a little higher Pre-rd4 plays: LAY 20pts liability Robert Garrigus 15.5 5th
Chad Campbell 55 32nd
Harold Varner 85 23rd
Ian Poulter 90 3rd
C.T. Pan 670 14th
Garrigus shot the low round of the day by three shots yesterday and it is always very difficult to follow up such a round, so I would price him at much higher odds
From outside the top-10, Campbell is appropriately priced as an outsider to win and given that it has been five years since he finished in the top-5, I would make him a bigger outsider
Alongside Campbell is Varner who has struggled for form - his best finish in any event this year is 19th - so will be playing under the additional pressure of trying to save his Tour Card
A shot fuirther back is Poulter in 16th place and while his form is good, he has too many players to pass to be a realistic challenger for this title on this low-scoring course
A shot further back is Pan and I can't see any way that a six-shot gap will be made up on the leader on this course with such a congested leaderboard
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