The Punter's In-Play Blog: Young the man to beat again

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09:35 - May 10, 2026

Here are the three 54-hole leaderboards with prices to back on the Betfair Exchange at 9:20.

Catalunya Championship

Yurav Premlall -19 1.331/3
Stefano Mazzoli -14 9.417/2
Jc Ritchie -12 18.017/1
David Law -11 54.053/1
Lucas Bjerregaard -11 55.054/1
-10 and 70.069/1 bar

Myrtle Beach Classic

Mark Hubbard -16 3.259/4
Aaron Rai -15 3.6553/20
Kevin Roy -14 7.06/1
Mac Meissner -13 11.010/1
Beau Hossler -13 15.014/1
Brandt Snedeker -13 28.027/1
Brooks Koepka -11 34.033/1
-11 and 70.069/1 bar

Truist Championship

Alex Fitzpatrick -14 3.1511/5
Kristoffer Reitan -13 4.77/2
Cam Young -12 3.412/5
Nicolai Hojgaard -10 20.019/1
Sungjae Im -10 32.031/1]
Tommy Fleetwood -9 36.035/1
Justin Thomas -9 40.039/1
JJ Spaun -9 44.043/1
-8 and 95.094/1 bar

If the three 54-hole leaders kick on and win today, it's going to have golf punters scratching their heads.

The world number 598, Yurav Premlall, was a completely unfancied 1000.0999/1 shot in Spain but he now leads the Catalunya Championship by five, Mark Hubbard, who has a one stroke lead at the Myrtle Beach Classic, was a 220.0219/1 chance before the off, and despite his decent current form, few people fancied the chances of Alex Fitzpatrick in the Truist Championship.

Fitzpatrick was generally available at 160.0159/1 before the off and his closest challenger with 18 to play, Kristoffer Reitan, went off at 130.0129/1.

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Long odds-on is still fair in Spain

Premlall is the 11^th player to lead by five with 18 to play on the DP World Tour in the last 10 years and the previous 10 all went on to win.

In the last 30 years, 32 players have held a five-stroke advantage through 54 holes on the DP World Tour and only five players have failed to convert, with Jean van De Velde's slip up at the 1999 Open Championship far and away the most famous defeat.

There are very few consistent angles in but if you don't mind backing an odds-on chance, clear third round leaders, on any Tour, are repeatedly priced up too generously and that's again the case here.

Given five-stroke leaders have an 84% strike rate over the last 30 years, Premlall is very fairly priced at 1.331/3.

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PGA Tour leaders look vulnerable

Mark Hubbard looks like one to take on in the Myrtle Beach Classic.

At 34, he has just two wins to his name and he's still in search of his first victory on the PGA Tour. He won on the Canada Tour 13 years ago and on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019.

He was in front through 54 holes (led by one and two) when he won those two titles but on the only occasion he led a PGA Tour event, at the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2022, he shot 74 on Sunday to go from one clear to fifth place and four back.

I was mildly tempted by the double figure price available about Mac Meissner who trails by three but after much deliberation, I'm happy to leave the event alone.

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Young the man to beat again

Alex Fitzpatrick is the favourite with 18 to play at the Truist Championship but he looks opposable.

This is the first time he's led through three rounds on any Tour but on the six occasions he's sat second or third with 18 to play he's finished ninth, third, fourth, eighth, 21^st and sixth and Quail Hollow is a very hard place to win from the front.

As many as nine men have led by a stroke through 54 holes and J.B Holmes, in 2014, is the only one of the nine to win.

A total of 23 men have led or co-led through three rounds here but only nine have gone on to win. 

Kristoffer Reitan, who was the last man to convert a five-stroke lead on the DP World Tour when he held on to win the Nedbank by a stroke in December last year, is Fitzpatrick's closest pursuer but the bang-in-form world number three, Cameron Young, is impossible to ignore in third.

As detailed at the start of this week's preview, having backed him to win last week's Cadillac Championship at 14/115.00, I've already backed Young to win next week's US PGA Championship at 16/117.00, and I can now see him lining up at Aronimink in search of his third win in as many weeks.

He's in a very rich vein of form and with so much on the line for the front two on the leaderboard, he's the man to beat with 18 to play here.

The 3.412/5 available on the Betfair Exchange is more than fair.

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07:55 - May 9, 2026

Pre-event 420.0419/1 chance, Sungjae Im, leads the Truist Championship by a stroke at the halfway stage but it's the man in second place, Tommy Fleetwood, that heads the market. Here's the current state of play with prices to back at 7:50.

Sungjae Im -9 8.88/1
Tommy Fleetwood -8 5.24/1
Justin Thomas -7 10.09/1
Alex Fitzpatrick -7 19.018/1
Nicolai Hojgaard -6 18.535/2
Kristoffer Reitan -6 28.027/1
David Lipsky -6 90.089/1
Rory McIlroy -5 6.611/2
Rickie Fowler -5 30.029/1
Harris English -5 34.033/1
Matt McCarty -5 55.054/1
Cam Young -4 17.016/1
Ludvig Aberg -4 23.022/1
Akshay Bhatia -4 65.064/1
Keegan Bradley -4 70.069/1
Harry Hall -4 100.099/1
-3 and 100.099/1 bar

It's very difficult to fancy the leader at less than 8/19.00 given how hard it is to make the running at Quail Hollow.

The 2023 Truist winner, Wyndham Clark, and the 2007 winner, Tiger Woods, were both tied for the lead at halfway, but 14 players have held a clear advantage of between one and four strokes at halfway here and they've all failed to win.

In total, since the first edition of the Truist Championship in 2003 and including the two editions of the US PGA Championship staged here, 31 players have led or co-led through 36 holes and Clark and Woods are the only two to win.

It's clearly a hard place to make the running and we've seen several winners come from off the pace at this stage.

The last two course winners were trailing by four and three strokes at halfway, the 2016 Truist winner, James Hahn, and the 2017 US PGA Championship winner here, Justin Thomas, both trailed by five, Rickie Fowler beat Rory McIlroy in a playoff in 2012, after both men had been six adrift at this stage and when Rory won here for the first time 16 years ago, he sat tied for 48^th and nine off the lead at halfway. He won by four!

With as many as 16 players within five of the lead, this is a tricky tournament to call but I'm in no rush to lay back my pre-event pick on the four-time winner, Rory, and he looks fairly priced at more than 5/16.00.

He clearly loves it here and a fifth course win would be no surprise to anyone.

Given we've seen a few off the pace winners here and that form at Riviera holds up really well at Quail Hollow, I've also had a small bet on this year's Genesis Invitational winner, Jacob Bridgeman, who sits tied for 17^th and six off the lead.

Over at the Myrtle Beach Classic, Aaron Rai shows the way at the midway point.

The Englishman leads Brandt Snedeker and Mark Hubbard by a stroke with Kevin Roy and Christiaan Bezuidenhout tied for fourth and two back but the one I like at this stage is last year's impressive Puerto Rico Open winner, Karl Vilips.

The 24-year-old Aussie, who sits tied for sixth, alongside Taylor Moore and three off the lead, has been largely disappointing after securing his first PGA Tour title in March last year but it's not unusual for a first-time winner to go flat for a while after their initial success.

That win in Puerto Rico came in just his fourth start on the PGA Tour so an adjustment to life on Tour is perfectly understandable and he may just be ready to win again now.

It's almost two years since he won the Utah Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour and for both his previous wins, he's been just off the pace at halfway.

He trailed by two at halfway in Utah and by the three in Puerto Rico before going on to win by two on both occasions.

This the closest he's been to the lead since his win in Puerto Rico so given he knows how to win, I thought he was a fair price at 20.019/1.

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21:50 - May 8, 2026

This week's two PGA Tour events are yet to reach the halfway stage, and both are tight affairs as the second rounds draw to a conclusion.

I'll be back in the morning with a look at both the Truist Championship, this week's Signature Event, and the third edition of the Myrtle Beach Classic, but for now my attention is on this week's DP World Tour event, the Catalunya Championship, where outsiders are showing the way at halfway.

Pre-event 700.0699/1 chance, Lucas Bjerregaard, who hasn't won in eight years, is tied at the top with Italy's Stefano Mazzoli, who was matched at 1000.0999/1 before the off, with South African long-shot, Yurav Premlall, who was also matched at 1000.0999/1 before the get-go, alone in third.

Bjerregaard is the 7.613/2 favourite ahead of tomorrow's third round but the one I like is the prolific South African, J.C Ritchie, who sits alongside Portugal's Ricardo Gouveia in a tie for fourth and two off the lead.

Richie, who's yet to drop a shot this week, shot an eight-under-par 64 today to make a big move and that won't be easy to back up tomorrow but he's a very fair price on the Betfair Exchange at around 10/111.00.

No bigger than 17/29.50 on the High Street, the 32-year-old is looking to win on the DP World Tour for the first time but he's also looking to win for the fifth time in 22 starts.

He won back-to-back events on the HotelPlanner Tour in September, his sixth and seventh wins on European's second tier circuit, two months after he won the German Challenge, and he won his 11^th Sunshine Tour event at the Players Championship back in November.

On a leaderboard lacking experience and recent winning form, Ritchie sticks out like a sore thumb and I was happy to chance him at 11.010/1.

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