3-11; +0.58pts Pre-tournament plays: BACK 1pt Rory McIlroy 16.5 mc Hideki Matsuyama 18 23rd With the top-two in the market with less impressive record at TPC Boston, this looks an event where McIlroy can make a real statement about a return to form. He has won twice in the last five years here and after a couple of top-5 finish in his last four events, these odds are higher than I would have given Matsuyama missed the cut last week, but the World #3 is still very much a player in form and his performances have been improving on this course - he was 6th after 54 holes in 2015 and finished 15th in 2016. LAY 20pts liability Dustin Johnson 8.8 18th Jordan Spieth 11 2nd Opposing last week's stand out players as Johnson was very impressive in winning on Sunday, but a best finish of 4th in seven attempts is not a great return for a player ranked #1 in the World Spieth's best finish here is also 4th and he hasn't managed a top-20 finish in any of the last three years, so I'm backing the World #3 and #4 to get the better of #1 and #2 on this particular course Pre-rd3 plays: BACK 1pt Paul Casey 8.4 4th Kyle Stanley 23 25th Marc Leishman 25 3rd Adam Hadwin 27 13th Justin Rose 28 10th Phil Mickelson 28 6th Patrick Cantlay 38 13th Kevin Streelman 44 35th Bryson DeChambeau 50 30th Plenty of players in close range of the lead with two rounds left to play and one of those closest is Casey who is 2nd and two shots back - he is very good form and was runner-up last year, so should be a very strong contender over the weekend Stanley is also 2nd and also playing well this week - he ranks 2nd in greens in regulation; a winner of the Quicken Loans National in July, he can certainly convert from this position Leishman is a shot further back, but is a player having the best season of his career - currently ranked 20th in the FedEx Cup standings - and on this roll, he could certainly jump out of the pack on Moving Day Hadwin is 2nd is another having the best season of his career - currently ranked 18th in the FedEx Cuo standings - and while his form hasn't been particularly consistent recently, he has shown this year (and at the Bridgestone Invitational last month) that when in contention, he does stay there In 10th place and four shots back, Rose certainly has the pedigree to close this gap very quickly and that will certainly be the case if he plays as well as yesterday It has been 10 years since Mickelson won here, but he looked a likely winner yesterday when he got so close to the top of the leaderboard; he finished the day 6th and three shot back, so value at these odds Cantlay is a shot further back, but his ball-striking is particularly good - he ranks 4th in greens in regulation and 3rd in strokes gained - tee-to-green so far this week This is a very large price for Streelman who is 2nd after 36 holes and whose ball control is particularly good - he ranks 4th in both driving accuracy and greens in regulation so far this week It has only been seven weeks since Dechambeau won the John Deere Classic, so these odds look very big for a player only three shots back LAY 20pts liability Jon Rahm 3.85 4th In the one previous time that Rahm has held the lead after 36 holes (2016 Quicken Loans Nationa), he finished 3rd and while he is a better player now, his ball-striking hasn't been particularly strong so far this week - he ranks 51st in greens in regulation and 64th in strokes gained - approaches - so that doesn't bode well when his game is put under the pressure of leading over the weekend. No pre-rd4 plays.
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