The Punter's In-Play Blog: Classy Chacarra the man to beat in Madrid

18:45 - October 9 - Hot-putting Spaniard looks poised to win again

The second round of the Open de Espana is all done and dusted and Grant Forrest shows the way at halfway. Here's the latest state of play with prices to back at 18:40.

Grant Forrest -9 10.519/2
Joel Girrbach -8 12.011/1
Connor Syme -8 17.016/1
Eugenio Chacarra -7 6.611/2
Joe Dean -7 13.012/1
Daniel Hillier -6 12.523/2
Jacob Skov Olesen -6 13.012/1
Victor Perez -6 15.014/1
Jeff Winther -6 27.026/1
Martin Couvra -6 28.027/1
Angel Ayora -5 18.017/1
Romain Langasque -5 60.059/1
Sergio Garcia -4 46.045/1
-4 and 65.064/1 bar

Previous results at this week's venue, Club de Campo, suggest we should be concentrating very hard on the frontrunners.

Steed Tinning won the Open de Madrid here in 2002 having trailed by six at halfway and incredibly, Ricardo Gonzalez won that event 12 months later having trailed by as many as 11 strokes, so it is possible to win from way back at halfway, but in the last 15 events here, no winner has trailed by more than three strokes after 36 holes and tied eighth is the furthest any winner has sat on the leaderboard.

Grant Forrest, who had current form figures reading MC-MC-MC-63-W-MC-MC-MC-MC coming into the event is clearly glad to be back at a venue he likes.

With course form figures reading 61-3-50-41-3-16, he'd have been looking forward to the week, despite his current wellbeing, but the man to beat at halfway is the Spaniard, Eugenio Chacarra, who sits just two shots behind the Scot in a tie for fourth.

Playing with a broken toe, Chacarra was treading water for much of his second round and when he bogeyed the 12^th after not heeding his caddie's advise to chip out from the trees to the left of the 12^th fairway, he looked in trouble, but after his price had spiked to 16/117.00 on the Betfair Exchange, he played his next six holes in three-under-par before narrowly missing another birdie chance at the last.

You need to putt well at Club de Campo to win here so ranking second for Putting Average and first for Strokes Gained: Putting at halfway, Chacarra may take some stopping over the weekend and following back-to-back victories in the KLM Open and the Italian Open four months ago, the Spaniard may well claim his third victory of the year.

14:40 - October 9 - Bridgeman fancied for wire-to-wire win

The second round of the Open de Espana is well underway and I'll be back to look at that event once we've reached the halfway stage but this week's PGA Tour event - the Baycurrent Classic in Japan - has already reached the midway point, so here's the 36-hole leaderboard with prices to back at 14:30.

Jacob Bridgeman -11 3.929/10
Keith Mitchell -11 6.05/1
Max Homa -9 17.016/1
Zach Bauchou -9 18.017/1
Ben Kohles -9 18.017/1
Mac Meissner -9 21.020/1
Justin Thomas -8 13.525/2
Min Woo Lee -8 15.529/2
Stephan Jaeger -8 40.039/1
Mickael Brennan -7 28.027/1
Jordan Smith -7 60.059/1
Ricky Castillo -7 65.064/1
-6 and 50.049/1 bar

I'm not going to beat about the bush here.

Bridgeman arrived in Japan with current form figures reading 9-4-1 and he was a well-backed 25/126.00 shot on the Betfair Exchange before the off.

That was a generous price given his current wellbeing, but it was understandable given he'd never played at the course before, or even in Japan.

He opened the event with a very impressive bogey-free eight-under-par 63 on Thursday so he's clearly taken to the place, and he looks a very fair price at almost 3/14.00.

His three-under-par 68 to maintain a share of the lead with the often-flaky Keith Mitchell was a decent knock today after his heroics on day one and the fact that he ranks first for Scrambling at halfway is a big plus.

The worst any of the first nine on the final leaderboard last year ranked for that stat was 11^th.

Mitchell, whose only victory to date on the PGA Tour was in the Cognizant Classic seven years ago, is always one to take on in-contention and there are question marks about all four players tied for third and two back.

Justin Thomas, who should have won this event two years ago at a different venue, is a lively candidate, and the rapidly improving Michael Brennan could be a danger from slightly off the pace. But all things considered, Bridgeman, who's in search of his third victory on the PGA Tour this year, has a great chance to kick on and seal the deal.

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