The second day of the 2011 Open Championship was, perhaps, less eventful than we had anticipated with few players managing to go round under par, despite favourable playing conditions. There have been no real stand out performances so far at Royal St. George's and the 71 players left to play the final two rounds can be covered by just seven strokes. That means that every player still in the competition will believe that they have a chance of winning at Sandwich and that should lead for an exciting final two days, even if bad weather is likely to see more bogeys than birdies made over the weekend. 

The key factor on Saturday will be safety and the players that will thrive are those who can deal the best with what are likely to be wet and windy conditions throughout the day. With that in mind, here are the pick of the bets on day three of the 2011 Open (all prices are taken from ladbrokes.com):

Paul Casey had a terrible start to the 2011 Open, with the Englishman making five bogeys on the first 14 holes on Thursday. He finished with an opening round of 74 and looked destined for an early exit from Royal St. George's. However, in his second round Casey produced some excellent golf, shooting a 69 to sneak into finish on a total of three over par, thus making the cut. Further improvements are expected from the 30-year-old, who finished 3rd in last year's Open, over the weekend and he should be able to outscore playing partner KJ Choi on Saturday afternoon.

Henrik Stenson was overshadowed on day one by the exploits of 20-year-old amateur Tom Lewis then by veteran Tom Watson on day two but the Swede played very well, making very few errors in rounds of 72 and 71. The 35-year-old will now be looking to grab some of the spotlight himself on Saturday and he is a player more than capable of dealing with the pressure of major championships. Stenson finished third at the Open in 2008 and 2010 and he can be relied upon to keep his head when things get tough, which they will on day three. His playing partner, Edoardo Molinari, is, by contast, a player who can easily let his head go down when things aren't going his way and one would fancy that his closing nine of 40 on Friday may have shaken his confidence slightly.

Y.E Yang and Zach Johnson are an interesting pairing. They are both major winners who tend to struggle in Open Championships and both could find things tough going on Saturday. Yang has, however, shown in his performances at this year's Masters and US Open that he is adept at maintaining a level of consistency throughout a tournament, even when he is not playing fantastically well. He has done the same at Royal St. George's, hitting just four birdies and four bogeys over the 36 holes he has played. Johnson has been up and down at Sandwich and his indifferent results over the past few years suggest that he is a player for whom confidence is important. It is difficult to have much to feel positive about in the wind and rain of the south coast and Yang's grit and determination should see him outscore his partner on what could be a day for the fighters.

It seems very unlikely that Darren Clarke will win the 2011 Open Championship. The Northern Irishman has not played a great deal of golf over the past few years and when he has played he has generally not been very successful. He did, however, win the Iberdrola Open in May and he seemed to take great heart from his protege, Rory McIlroy, winning the US Open (Clarke cancelled his plans to play in the BMW International Open in Munich to celebrate with the youngser). The 41-year-old has looked rejuvenated at Sandwich this week and this has been borne out by back to back rounds of 68. The Ulsterman is playing with Lucas Glover on Saturday and another two under par  round would be more than enough to beat the American, who went backwards on Friday, carding a 70 after shooting 66 on the opening day.

6/5 Paul Lawrie

5/6 G Bourdy

8/1 Tie

11/10 P Casey

10/11 K J Choi

8/1 Tie

5/6 R Moore

6/5 G Woodland

8/1 Tie

5/4 S Khan

4/5 G Havret

8/1 Tie

5/4 F De Vries

4/5 F Andersson Hed

8/1 Tie

Evens H Stenson

Evens E Molinari

8/1 Tie

6/4 P Uihlein

4/6 B Haas

8/1 Tie

4/7 B Van Pelt

7/4 Jung-Gon Hwang

8/1 Tie

8/11 R Barnes

11/8 T Watson

8/1 Tie

Evens L Oosthuizen

Evens J Furyk

8/1 Tie

8/11 J Rose

11/8 T Immelman

8/1 Tie

Evens J Luiten

Evens M Wilson

8/1 Tie

11/10 K Ferrie

10/11 H Frazar

8/1 Tie

5/4 R McEvoy

4/5 Seung-Yul Noh

8/1 Tie

4/5 S Cink

5/4 S Gallacher

8/1 Tie

11/8 G Boyd

8/11 R Allenby

8/1 Tie

11/10 Bubba Watson

10/11 J Day

8/1 Tie

Evens C Howell

Evens R Sabbatini

8/1 Tie

10/11 R Green

11/10 R Jacquelin

8/1 Tie

7/4 S Levin

4/7 S Garcia

9/1 Tie

6/4 Rickie Fowler

4/6 R McIlroy

8/1 Tie

6/5 Y Ikeda

5/6 S Dyson

8/1 Tie

4/5 F Jacobson

5/4 R Rock

8/1 Tie

11/8 W Simpson

8/11 S Stricker

8/1 Tie

Evens Z Johnson

Evens Y-E Yang

8/1 Tie

10/11 Anthony Kim

11/10 K Stanley

8/1 Tie

5/4 R Palmer

4/5 J Overton

8/1 Tie

15/8 T Lewis

8/15 P Mickelson

8/1 Tie

4/5 A Scott

5/4 A Hansen

8/1 Tie

4/6 D Johnson

6/4 G Coetzee

8/1 Tie

11/8 T Lehman

8/11 D Love III

8/1 Tie

8/13 C Schwartzel

13/8 P Larrazabal

8/1 Tie

4/5 M-A Jimenez

5/4 T Bjorn

8/1 Tie

4/7 M Kaymer

7/4 C Campbell

8/1 Tie

Evens L Glover

Evens D Clarke

8/1 Tie