Thanks to Hideki Matsuyama’s collapse on the back nine today we finished +0.4 units on the day for our 2nd Round bets and when you take into account Bryson Dechambeau barely making the cut by 1 shot today/Joaquin Niemann becoming the only player in our tournament matchup bet to make the cut then we netted +0.2 units on Friday. Regardless of the “woulda, coulda, shoulda” we’re +2.793 units for the tournament, +24.068 units on the year and we’ve now posted 12 profitable rounds out of 14… I’ll take those numbers all day long.

Rolling into Saturday we still have over 81% of our futures finishing position bets in play. 8 of our Outright Winner picks currently sit inside the top 25 of the field (5 inside the top 20, 3 inside the top 6) and Rory looks like a player of destiny right now. Sure, Cameron Smith showed up in a big way today but that doesn’t mean the wheels won’t fall off for him over the weekend like they have in every other major he’s contended for. History tells us that St. Andrews doesn’t typically play host to many huge comebacks at British Opens but only sitting 3 shots back heading into the weekend (Rory McIlroy) definitely wouldn’t require a “massive” comeback by any means. Fun fact, the only other two times that Rory has entered the weekend at a major championship -10 or better… He won both majors.

We feel good about our positioning heading into the last major weekend of the season, we’ve built a decent cushion for Saturday and we feel great about our picks on moving day. Keep the faith, let’s finish strong and always remember to bet smarter, not harder.

3rd Round Bets

We’re going to focus mostly on individual player performances for Saturday given the favorable weather conditions for the field. This isn’t a fade against the respective picks’ competition but more of a fade as to how St. Andrews is playing this week.

3rd Round Props

Scottie Scheffler – To Shoot Under 70.5 (-110) (1 unit): Scheffler has battled all week thus far, he’s been vocal about how he doesn’t feel respected like a true #1 in the world and you don’t get to the top of the FedEx Cup standings by not being active on moving day. He’s posted a pair of 68s thus far, he’s playing with DJ on Saturday and it just looks like he’s been left wanting the past couple of rounds. I think there’s a good chance Scheffler could go very low on Saturday and realistically he’ll have to post a decent number just to stay in contention heading into Sunday. -2 or better feels very attainable from the best player in the world at a major. 

Shane Lowry – To Shoot Under 70.5 (+105) (1 unit): The golf gods appear to be testing Shane Lowry. He currently sits at 4 strokes under par but he could easily be 5-6 strokes off the lead if it wasn’t for a blow up hole and his putter deciding to work from home Thursday and Friday. It’s hard to think that Lowry won’t start draining some putts soon considering the amount of opportunities he’s giving himself as well as the overwhelming home field favoritism he’s experienced all week from the gallery. Don’t be surprised to see Lowry make a solid leap up the leaderboard tomorrow afternoon once he starts capitalizing on his stellar play off the tee/into the greens.

Cameron Smith – 3rd Round Leader (+150) (0.5 units): I still think Cam Smith will ultimately blow the lead he’s built for himself over the weekend (no offense to his talent, I honestly think he’s the best putter in the game) but I’m not ignorant to the fact that he averages the most birdies per round on tour and he’s walking into Saturday with a 2 shot cushion. There’s also a chance that I’m totally wrong and this is his breakthrough at a major (finally) so I’m hedging our bets a bit and trusting Smith to hold the 54 hole lead heading into Sunday given the preferable odds.

2 Way Parlay (+140) (0.75 units): Xander Schauffele/Jordan Spieth – To Shoot Under 71.5

Schauffele is 2nd on tour in 3rd Round Scoring Average and I am officially convinced of Spieth’s advantage on links golf courses. I thought about parlaying their matchups here instead of individual performance but, given their respective playing partners tomorrow (Thriston Lawrence and Thomas Detry), I opted to eliminate a variable and simply bet on the guys I have faith in to show up on Saturday. Detry and Lawrence are playing out of their minds right now so it makes sense to bet against the Old Course (which has been vulnerable to low scores all week so far) vs two younger players who are undoubtedly looking at Saturday as their chance to make a name for themselves. Schauffele and Spieth should both make moves up the leaderboard tomorrow but a parlay requiring them to simply break even feels quite juicy.

3rd Round Futures

Patrick Cantlay – Outright Winner (+2800) (0.15 units): Ok I’m sold on Cantlay in majors at this point. It’s hard to say he’ll make his breakthrough this weekend but after posting a 67 on Friday I’ve seen enough to trust that he’s capable of playing up to his normal standards on large stages again. Most people are scrambling to get some type of action on Cameron Smith to win outright but Side Hustle Bets knows better… Cantlay has been a top 10 projection for almost every single major this year so if his mental game is finally in check then it’s time to invest more capital in him (this week and most likely the foreseeable future). 

Disclaimer: SidehustlebetsMJQ.com is not an online gambling operator or a gambling site of any kind. Our insights about sports/sports betting are purely for entertainment purposes only.