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Vic Open halfway update and in-play betting tips from Ben Coley
Ben Coley looks at the state of play in the men's Vic Open, where a rookie Frenchman has established a two-shot cushion after 36 holes.
Recommended bets
1.5pts e.w. Travis Smyth at 8/1 (1/5 1,2,3,4,5)
0.5pt e.w. Zach Murray at 33/1 (1/5 1,2,3,4,5)
France's Robin Sciot-Siegrist finds himself in an unfamiliar position atop the leaderboard in the Vic Open.
A 250/1 chance before the off, this is the first time he's led at the halfway stage on either the European or Challenge Tour, although a pair of weekend 65s for eighth place in Mauritius before Christmas at least provides some meaningful recent form.
Behind him, though, are a couple of the best young Australian players around - the most promising of which from a long-term perspective is superstar-in-waiting Min Woo Lee.
Sent off at around the 18/1 mark, Lee is into 7/1 having moved into third place and that seems perfectly fair. This big-hitter will hope for similarly low-scoring conditions over the weekend and it's hard to see him being all that far away.
The pick of the outright prices, however, is TRAVIS SMYTH at 8/1.
Ahead of the tournament, a poor record at the course meant Smyth was more than twice the price of Lee. Otherwise he looked to have an outstanding chance, having been contending in bigger and better events than this of late.
To start the year, Smyth was 13th in the Hong Kong Open where Shane Lowry and Tony Finau were in the mix, and then he finished 11th in Singapore, where Matt Kuchar and Justin Rose filled the first couple of places with Jazz Janewattananond not far behind.
That's some of the very best recent form on display here and he's simply a much improved player from the one who failed to make an impact in previous editions of the Vic Open.
He's not quite of Lee's potential, but he is already a winner, he's got a full Asian Tour card to mitigate concerns over the pressure of playing for European Tour membership, and for now he's probably just a little less prone to making ruinous mistakes.
It's hard to choose between the two but they should be the focus against a vulnerable leader and the vote goes to Smyth at a marginally bigger price and with a shot in hand over the favourite.
Smyth really ought to go really close from here so with five places on offer he's worth backing, but keep something back for ZACH MURRAY, too.
Having shown real promise when 21st in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the 22-year-old made an excellent start here only to struggle a little during round two, played at the Creek Course.
Now returned to the host layout, where he shot a bogey-free 66 on day one, this hot putter looks poised to charge past a collection of veterans and unproven youngsters and get into contention over the weekend.
A two-time winner already, Murray is more than capable of matching the third-round 66 he produced at this course in 2016. Four years on he's very comfortable in this sort of grade and the way he held it together against some of the world's best last time means he has nothing to fear here.
Those with Betfair Sportsbook or Paddy Power accounts should also have a look at the top continental European market, where 6/5 favourite Sciot-Siegrist could be worth taking on - he looks something of a sitting duck ahead of moving day having relied on the putter so far.
There's still hope of a pre-tournament winner with Alejandro Canizares, Wil Besseling or Sean Crocker, but two of the most capable youngsters from Australia are right where they want to be, both of them striping it. Smyth rates the pick of them on this occasion.
Posted at 1100 GMT on 07/02/20
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