Golf Tips: Best bets for Myrtle Beach Classic, Truist Championship and Turkish Airlines Open

• Steve Rawlings looks past Rory to back Day at 74/175.00 

• Dave Tindall says Lowry can do the business at 34/135.00

• Course info, first round leader, outsiders to back at over 100/1101.00

Myrtle Beach Classic tips and predictions

The Punter's Preview: Venue might suit McGreevy at 60/1 

Steve Rawlings: "Although the fairways are described as fairly narrow, Driving Accuracy really wasn't an important stat last year. Greens In Regulation and Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green were fairly key metrics, but the event was decided on the greens with a good week with the putter proving decisive.

"The winner, Chris Gotterup, ranked eighth for Putting Average and third for Strokes Gained: Putting and the leaderboard was dominated by players that ranked highly for those two metrics...

"Max McGreevy was a fast-finishing fourth at the Cognizant Classic in March, shortly after the birth of his daughter, so we know he's been inspired by a significant life event previously and he turned 30 on May 3.

"Players often play well on or around a significant birthday and McGreevy appears to be doing just that given he shot three rounds of 66 in Dallas last week when finishing 15^th behind Scottie Scheffler. With a victory in Japan in November, at the Dunlop Phoenix, and two wins on the Korn Ferry Tour since the end of June last year, McGreevy has been fairly prolific of late, and his victory at Metedeconk suggests this venue might just suit him.

"McGreevy wasn't in the field 12 months ago but he has a little bit of state form given he was third in the BMW Charity Pro-Am in South Carolina back in 2021."

Truist Championship tips and predictions

The Punter's Preview: Day the play at 75/1

Steve Rawlings: "With Scottie Scheffler an absentee after his facile victory in Dallas last week, Rory McIlroy is the clear favourite and the only man in the field trading at a single-figure price.

"The defending champ arrives well rested after a week off and he's in search of his fifth Truist title but all four of his previous wins were at the tournament's usual host site - next week's US PGA Championship venue Quail Hollow - and he looks a bit short at less than 6/1.

"Rory may well take to the track, but he has fairly uninspiring Tillinghast course numbers reading 10-56-24-22-MC-31-8-8. Collin Morikawa is the only other man trading at less than 20/1 and I'm more than happy to swerve him too. Morikawa has been far from reliable in-contention of late and on the only occasion he's played in an event staged at a Tillinghast track (Winged Foot in the 2020 US Open), he missed the cut.

"Given we're in the dark with regards to the venue, I'm happy to play only Jason Day before the off. The experienced Australian appears to enjoy a Tillinghast layout, he's a former winner of the event, back in 2018, and he arrives in fair form.

"He was never a factor at the RBC Heritage last time out but that came shortly after his eighth-place finish at the US Masters. He also contended strongly at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, stumbling late on to finish eighth."

Find me a 100 winner

At the time of writing, the 2023 Open Champ, Brian Harman, is trading at 95.094/1 to win the Truist Championship but he's been matched at a 100.099/1 and he's highly likely to edge out to that price again before the off so I'm going to include him in the staking plan.

As highlighted in the preview, the Truist Championship is usually staged at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina, but it's being staged this week at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, as Quail is being used for next week's US PGA Championship.

On the last occasion that Quail hollow hosted the US PGA Championship, in 2017, this event was moved to Eagle Point Golf Course in Wilmington, NC, and it was won by Harman.

That was Harman's second victory on the PGA Tour and only last month he added his fourth at the Valero Texas Open.

Victory at TPC San Antonio was followed by a respectable 36^th in the US Masters the following week and a very solid third place finish at the RBC Heritage so he arrives in Pennsylvania in tip-top form.

First Round Leader

J.J. Spaun is a strong performer on shorter tracks and tends to start well on them too.

In his last four appearances on sub-7,200-yard courses he has no less than four top sixes.

The two most recent of those were second place at the Cognizant Classic and third at the Sony Open.

He was fifth after day one in the former while he's also been quick out of the blocks in two other recent events, leading the way in The Players Championship (R1 66) where he was runner-up and again sitting fifth after 18 holes of the RBC Heritage last time out.

Spaun, who tees off at 12.04pm, looks an appealing bet at 50s in this limited field.

Each-way picks: Lowry can thrive at 35/1

Dave Tindall: "This is a ball-striking test and Lowry should enjoy the examination paper. He ranks 11th for Strokes Gained: Approach this season and 4th Tee To Green. It certainly went well for him the last time he teed it up on Pennsylvania.

"That was in the 2016 US Open at Oakmont when he had a clear lead after 54 holes before finishing runner-up to Dustin Johnson. Also in the positive ledger is his eighth place in the 2019 US PGA. That came at Bethpage, another Tillinghast track.

"Add in a bit of testing weather and support from the heavy Irish contingent in the region coming out to watch and Lowry, a player who thrives off fan support, can do the business. Play him at 35/1 in the 6 Places (1/5 Odds) market."

Form stats for this week's Signature Event

Andy Swales: "The Wissahickon Course is a largely flat, parkland venue. Although this old fashioned layout does not have any lakes or ponds, there is a stream which meanders across a number of fairways and comes into play on a handful of holes.

"The Bentgrass putting surfaces are a little below average-size for PGA Tour events. Trees are generally in short supply, while the average fairway width is 32 yards. At 7,119 yards the layout is shorter than the majority of PGA Tour venues.

"The field is packed with in-form pros, among them Justin Thomas 16/1 who makes his first start since winning the RBC Heritage. His play-off victory at Harbour Town ended almost three years without a Tour title and has returned Thomas into the top five of the World Ranking."

 Turkish Airlines Open tips and predictions

The Punter's Preview: Chance South African at 74/1

the one I like at a midrange price is the in-form South African, Jacques Kruyswijk, who could very easily be lining up here in search of his third victory in five starts.

The 32-year-old Pretorian was an impressive winner of the Kenya Open at the end of February, winning by a couple of strokes having led by one through 54 holes.

He was never in-contention in the South Africa Open the following week but that's understandable given he'd just bagged his first DP World Tour title, and he very nearly won his second next time out at the Joburg Open.

Kruyswijk was matched at a low of 1.748/11 in regulation play before he caught an unlucky break at the second extra hole in the playoff won by Calum Hill.

It looked like he'd hit a perfect approach into the 18^th hole, but it just caught the slope left of the hole and ran away from the target. He was a little bit too aggressive with his birdie putt and missed the return.

In his only start following the playoff defeat in Joburg, Kruyswijk finished tied for second at the Southern Africa Tour Championship on the Sunshine Tour.

That was at the end of March so there is a chance he's cooled off having not played in more than a month but given he has current form figures reading 1-37-2-2, and that he was an 85.084/1 shot in Kenya and a 44.043/1 chance at the Joburg, it's a little odd that he's as big as 75.074/1 here.

Each-Way Tips: 60/1 Otaegui has good course vibes

Matt Cooper: "With two second place finishes at Carya and great form, including a victory at Doha, Haotong Li makes lots of appeal but is he a fellow to follow when priced 14/1? I'm tempted with so few multiple winners behind him in the betting but ultimately he's a bit too short.

"We'll turn instead to the UAE's finest golfer (sort of) Adrian Otaegui was in something of a slump ahead of returning to the far east last month to defend the China Open.

"Prior to that fortnight, he'd missed four cuts in five starts straight after making 13 weekends in a row. But after a slow start on that defence, he carded a second round 66 ahead of finishing T26 and he backed up the improvement with T11 in the Hainan Classic.

"Now he returns to a course that he has enjoyed in the past. He was T13 on debut in 2016 when second at halfway, T73 in 2017, and third when carding two 65s in 2018. He also has plenty of form among the trees, with top 10s at La Reserva Sotogrande, Royal Johannesburg, Pretoria, Silkeborg, Lake Karrinyup, Galgorm Castle and Muthaiga. The highlights are two wins at Rinkven and Valderrama."

Form stats for this week's tournament in Antalya

Andy Swales: "With tree-lined fairways and water hazards on eight holes, accuracy from tee-to-green will be of paramount importance. The putting surfaces are large, undulating and quick. The course was designed by Thomson, Perrett & Lobb, a company founded by the late Peter Thomson, who was a five-time winner of The Open Championship...

"Hao Tong Li has been installed as tournament favourite. The 29-year-old has twice finished second at Regnum Carya, and was a winner in Qatar earlier this year. He's currently eighth in this season's Race to Dubai standings."

Read the Punter's in-play blog for the latest from this week's event