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The calm, serene conditions of yesterday were nowhere to be seen Friday at TPC Summerlin. A tale of two waves unfolded as those in the morning hours dealt with a pestering rain, yet little to no wind. Despite the annoyance of constant precipitation, Sam Burns, last week’s winner at the Sanderson Farms Championship, continued his strong play.
Not even a full week removed from capturing his second victory on the PGA Tour, Burns has picked up in Vegas where he left off in Mississippi. After opening with a 5-under 66 yesterday, the former LSU Tiger carded eight birdies against zero bogeys on Friday.
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Good for a round of 8-under 63, Burns has made only one miscue to this point in the tournament. Finding the water on the par-3 17th late Thursday afternoon, if not for one swing, Burns would have gone around TPC Summerlin in a mistake-free fashion the first two rounds.
Someone yet to make a blunder in Vegas is the 36-hole leader, Sungjae Im. Carding 12 birdies and an eagle thus far, the overnight favorite on PointsBet Sportsbook did nothing wrong on Friday. Backing up his opening 63 with a 66, the South Korean is primed to capture his second title on the PGA Tour.
Ranking third in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and eighth in SG: Putting, Im will need to keep the putter steady if he expects to hold off PGA Tour rookie, Chad Ramey who he shares the lead with at the halfway mark. Having struggled in said department towards the backend of last season, it has been a longtime since the 23-year-old has seen putts drop at this rate.
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Updated Odds to Win (Odds Via PointsBet):
+325: Sungjae Im, Sam Burns
+800: Chad Ramey
+1000: Matthew Wolff
+1200: Aaron Wise, Adam Schenk
+1400: Louis Oosthuizen
+2000: Talor Gooch
+2800: Adam Hadwin, Charley Hoffman
+3000: Viktor Hovland
+3300: Matt Jones
+4000: Harry Hall,
+5000: Andrew Putnam, K.H. Lee, Rory Sabbatini
Round 3 Plays (Odds Via PointsBet):
Carlos Ortiz (+101) over Martin Laird
I would rather not get in front of a runaway train that is Burns or fall victim to potentially lethal putting from Im. So instead of an outright addition, we will stick with a head-to-head matchup having had some success in this department on Friday.
In this case, we will be siding with Ortiz over the two-time Shriners Children’s Open Champion due to the Mexican’s steady ball-striking figures. Posting +2.67 SG: Ball-striking in the first-round, Ortiz was only able to muster together a score of 2-under 69. Poor chipping and poor putting were his downfall on Thursday, a wrong he righted in the second round.
As he gained strokes on the field in each strokes-gained metric on Friday, posting a bogey-free, 5-under 66 in the process. Hoping a similar result awaits in the third round, the 30-year-old ranks 25th in SG: Tee-to-Green, thanks to sitting sixth in SG: Off-the-Tee and 18th in SG: Approach for the tournament.
While also sitting at 7-under, the Scotsman has gotten to said number in a different manner. With rounds of 67-68 under his belt, Laird struggled from tee-to-green in the second round. Potentially triggering a trend into the weekend rounds, the iron play should be a major concern for the 38-year-old.
He was strong off-the-tee as he is usually is, but if not for a competent putting performance on Friday, he likely would have been taking an early flight home. We have seen approach play reign supreme in Las Vegas before and if that remains true on Saturday, it should be to Ortiz’s liking.
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