Shane Lowry was behind Daniel Brown after Round 1 at The Open, but the 37-year-old has a two-stroke lead heading into Round 3. Brown sits in second place after Friday’s round, and Justin Rose is tied with him. Lowry is the live betting favorite to win this tournament, but there’s a lot of golf left to be played. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is lurking at two-under, which is why he’s second on the odds board heading into Round 3. The top five on the odds board also includes Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, who are both sitting at one-under. Overall, we should be looking at an exciting day of golf. Check out what some of our VSiN golf experts are saying as we move to Moving Day at Royal Troon Golf Club.
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Kelley Bydlon
With the second round in the books, Shane Lowry (-7) holds a two shot lead at the Open Championship.
The conditions were tough, especially late today, and we did end up seeing a bit of an advantage for the guys who went late/early over the first two rounds. Those players shot about two strokes better than the rest of the field today, and 46 golfers from that wave will make the cut, while the early/late wave will only have 34 players in it.
The wind is expected to be a bit calmer tomorrow, but we should see a lot more rain. That will likely keep me away from adding any bets, but Joaquin Niemann and Jon Rahm sure impressed me today if you’re considering third round matchups or finishing positions. Niemann had a brutal experience at the eighth hole today, shooting an eight on the Par 3, but managed to go four-under the rest of the way home. A lot was talked about with his low ball flight being a weapon this week, and it sure looked that way today.
I did add a Scottie Scheffler outright early in the second round at +410 and wouldn’t hate the idea of anyone else doing that now but I was hoping to be in a better position with him after his round.
Matt Youmans
The addition of Shane Lowry at 5-1 odds after the first round looks like a good move for me. I have made some wrong moves on this tournament and hold a few dead futures and hopeless Top 10 plays. Lowry and Justin Rose (225-1) are putting me in decent position going to the weekend, and Collin Morikawa is still alive too.
Some bad golf has been played by several big names (starting from the bottom); Wyndham Clark, Sahith Theegala, Tiger Woods, Cameron Smith, Tom Kim, Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg, Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton all missed the cut. I had bad bets on McIlroy, Aberg and Hatton.
All things considered amid the carnage, it could be far worse. I’ll do OK if Lowry holds on to win and Rose would be a great result. I’m unlikely to add anything Friday because this tournament is too unpredictable. Lowry looks rock solid. Rose shot 68 in the afternoon, when the field scoring average was around 76, so he should stay in the hunt.
Matt Brown
Greetings from Wisconsin, where I just got my teeth kicked in by a very, very challenging Erin Hills golf course. It’s almost like this place could host a US Open or something.
After watching and digging in to the advanced stats for what is happening over at Royal Troon, I think I want to buy Brooks Koepka and fade Justin Rose.
Rose rode a ridiculously hot putter (3rd best in round 2) to a 3-under round while hardly doing anything on approach and around-the-green. Regression is coming, and likely as soon as tomorrow. I’ll try and find some H2Hs to get after Rose.
As for Koepka, it was the exact opposite. His iron game was on point, but he lost over two stokes putting (18th worst in round 2) and was below average around-the-green despite gaining 1.3 strokes ARG in round 1. Maybe an in-round top 5 or 10, while looking to see if any H2H seems advantageous.
They let Scottie hang around…that seems dangerous.
