Round 3 plays (2pts):
Dustin Johnson to beat Carl Pettersson -140 @ WSEX
With finishes of 3rd, 4th and 6th in the Playoffs so far, Johnson is very much a player in form. He may not have a good record in his three previous visits to East Lake, but that has been bcause he has struggled to keep the ball on the fairway. He has recognised that he needed to change his course managment here and it has seen him start the weekend in 5th place. As he has acknowledged in interviews, if he keep the ball on the fairways, he does have a distinct advantage over the rest of the field in his ability to hit high approach shots with plenty of spin - necessary on this tough course. So long as he sticks to his gameplan, he should continue to play well this weekend and beat Pettersson who, by contrast, has finished 24th, 57th and 69th in the Playoffs so far.
Matt Kuchar to beat Robert Garrigus -116 @ Bet365
Big-hitting Garrigus should struggle on this course unless he changes his gameplan like DJ. He clearly didn't yesterday when hitting only four fairways - a repeat performance should make it difficult for him to break par today, so the advantage should be with Kuchar in this matchup.
Dustin Johnson to beat Matt Kuchar -117 @ Pinnacle [available generally]
But while Kuch should beat Garrigus, he should struggle against Johnson if he sticks to his gameplan. DJ has finished ahead of him in each of their last four common event and I don't think that Kuchar has the form (or the course history) to really challenge for this title.
Dustin Johnson to beat Jim Furyk -125 @ Bet365
It was a storming round by Furyk yesterday and he has successfully held onto the 2nd round lead for another 18 holes in each of the last four occasions. Furyk did win from the front in 2010, but he is 0-for-3 in 2012 when leading during an event and after such big collapses such as the U.S. Open, he may not be the player that he was two years ago. Again, if DJ keeps it on the fairway, he should win this matchup.
