US Open 2013 - The Punter's In-Play Blog

Lee Westwood and Luke Donald off to a great starts at Merion

English golf fans have woken up to good news this morning with Luke Donald leading the US Open, closely followed by Lee Westwood but what does today have in store for the pair? Steve looks back on day one at Merion and forward to day two, where fingers crossed, we could get a full day's play...

11.20 - June 14, 2011
With two weather delays, day one of this year's US Open was a stop-start affair and round one is still far from finished - the last groups have only played four holes!

Play was eventually stopped because of darkness and the tournament will resume today in just under an hour's time, at 7.15am (12.15pm UK time). Sky Sports are bringing their coverage forward to 1.30pm but do check to see if there's red button coverage before that - there was yesterday.

I'm really impressed by Merion so far. All the talk beforehand was of how short she was and how easily overcome she'd be in the damp conditions but that's not been the case at all. Given how much rain they've had in the lead-up to the event, I was shocked to see how fast the greens were running at the start of play and I was surprised by the superb overall condition of the course. I was also impressed with how well it played after yet more heavy rain yesterday morning and all the talk of scores in the low 60's has been proved to be nonsensical.

Merion has been laid bare by the weather but she's no pushover and it's frightening to think how tough she'd have played without the rain. There were some terrific performances yesterday but so far, Merion is the star of the show.

When the players were hauled off the course after a couple of hours and the heavens opened, I honestly doubted we'd get any more play yesterday. The sky was inky black, the rain was lashing down and the thunder crashing but it all miraculously cleared away and we finished up with a very entertaining and informative first day's play.

One of my pre-event picks, Phil Mickelson, shot a scintillating 67 to reach -3, thanks to some quite brilliant scrambling and as the afternoon wave got underway, he led Belgian bomber, Nicolas Colsaerts by two. He and Colsaerts were the only two morning starters to break par and it looks at this stage as though they've had the worst of the draw, but time will tell. If the forecast is correct, and we get a full day's play, it may even out a bit when the wind drops late this afternoon but we'll just have to wait and see.

Romilly Evans tipped-up Phil at 40.039/1 in the First Round Leader Market and although he now trails Luke Donald by one, he still has a chance in what's still a fascinating market. It looks like three men have a chance now, with US Masters champ, Adam Scott, alongside Lefty on -3.

Donald has just five holes to play but they're five very tough holes and he's by no means sure to par his way in. Scott's two holes behind Donald and those two holes (12 and 13) are very good birdie chances but if he doesn't get one there, he'll really struggle to get past Phil and if you want a little interest in the market, I think you could do a lot worse than backing Mickelson at around 3.711/4, even though he trails at present.

As for the outright market, I'm playing the waiting game. Scott is currently tied for favouritism with Lefty at 7.413/2 and that's no surprise. He was in brilliant form yesterday but I just wonder whether he can win back-to-back majors?

I'm really irritated by Donald's start, as he was a selection of mine at both the US Masters and the recent BMW PGA Championship but he was quite frankly rubbish in both and I, like many, thought he was just too badly out of form to consider this week, even though he drifted out to an incredibly big 60.059/1 before the off. He's currently trading at 10.09/1 but if you're thinking of backing him, I strongly recommend waiting until he's finished his round.

Tiger Woods 15.014/1 and Rory McIlroy 18.017/1 are on +2 and level par respectfully with the tricky holes to come and like Donald, look best left at this stage and next up is defending champ, Webb Simpson, who looked in great order yesterday but as is the case with Scott, my doubt is whether he can go back-to-back. The last man to defend a US Open was Curtis Strange way in the 1989.

Lee Westwood trades at 24.023/1 and he'd have been an awful lot shorter had he not had basket bother on the 12th. Merion doesn't have flags it has balloon-shaped wicker baskets instead and everyone was curious to see what would happen when someone hit one.

Lee Westwood found out yesterday and the answer is - it pings 50 yards away from the hole! Lee sarcastically tweeted, "So much tradition at Merion to talk about... like those delightful wicker baskets!"

It cost him a double-bogey and but for that he'd be alongside Mickelson on -3 but it could have even been worse I suppose, it could have ricocheted sideways into the rough.

The big disappointment for me, and for many other punters, was the dreadful start by Graeme McDowell, who was three over-par through just three holes! I very much doubt he can win now but I just hope he digs in and starts fighting today because I need him to finish inside the top-20. I thought the 2.8815/8 the Fixed Odds crew put up was too good to be true and it looks like it was at this stage. Another value loser!

I fancy today is going to be busy trading-wise and I'm going to look to get involved late tonight as the event really takes shape. As I wrote in the preview, to win a US Open you have to be right up with the pace at halfway and judging by what we've seen so far, Merion can only get tougher on the weekend.

Playing catch-up is going to be nigh on impossible around here and the time to strike will be this evening before the market has time to register how good a lead here is.

The Punter's US Open Pre-Event Bets

Graeme McDowell @ 32.031/1
Phil Mickelson @ 40.039/1
Ernie Els @ 120.0119/1
Boo Weekley @ 140.0139/1
Ryan Palmer @ 200.0199/1
Rory Sabbatini @ 420.0419/1
Marcus Fraser @ 610.0609/1
David Lingmerth @ 670.0669/1
John Peterson @ 730.0729/1

Top-20 Market
Graeme McDowell @ 2.8815/8 Fixed Odds Market

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter