David John can see Brandt Snedeker upsetting favourite Hideki Matsuyama in their third-round twoball at the US Open.
Recommended bets: US Open round three
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No-one has been able to take a firm grasp on the US Open and with just eight shots separating the surviving players, even those who scraped in on one over could still make an impact granted scoreable conditions at Erin Hills.
Mother Nature is thwarting the USGA from setting up the course as hard and fast as they would like so ‘keeping out of the junk’ from the tee as Brendan Steele put it, will allow players to still be aggressive if the greens remain reasonably receptive.
The situation will toughen up regardless though over a major championship weekend and anyone still on the current lead of seven under come Sunday evening will probably have a nice piece of silverware to take home.
There are some fascinating two-balls on Saturday but it looks tough trying to find some standout selections.
The final three matches all contain odds-on shots in Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka and Paul Casey as they respectively duel with Jamie Lovemark, Tommy Fleetwood and Brian Harman.
I would have been keen to get with rapid improver Fleetwood today as he has both played some excellent golf and impressively embraced the challenge in what has been another eyecatching performance so far in the USA.
The laconic Koepka looks the toughest nut to crack, though, from that closing trio of favourites and putting up Fleetwood would have been a more hopeful than confident selection.
I am going for a sporty play, though, on Brandt Snedeker at odds-against in his clash with Hideki Matsuyama (1934BST).
The former’s spring was disrupted at a bad time when a hand injury flared up during Masters week and forced him to take a month off to recuperate following the RBC Heritage.
He missed the cut at the Byron Nelson on his comeback then did manage to get four rounds in at Colonial but the whole situation means Snedeker has arrived at this event more refreshed than most.
There have been some errors but no big numbers from him so far and he is now right in the mix to make an assault on the title over the next two days.
Matsuyama was out of sorts in his opening effort (74) but a high-class 65 after a blistering front nine of 30 on Friday has him right back in the argument as well.
With nine shots between his first two efforts, it is hard to predict precisely what we will get from the Japanese in round three but the bookmakers assume he will keep going in the right direction – and at the very least see off his playing partner.
But Snedeker looks cherry-ripe currently, is well-versed at big tournaments and more closely matched with his rival than the betting would lead us to believe.
Posted at 1035 BST on 17/06/17.
