As the afternoon wave at TPC River Highlands notched up birdies in bunches on Friday one name was more noticeable than others. Scottie Scheffler.

On his 28th birthday no less, the 11-time PGA TOUR winner, was busy hunting down another birthday boy in Tom Kim who set the 36-hole pace at 13-under on his 22nd birthday.

Scheffler in contention is not surprising but seeing the Texan in the mix in what is shaping up as a putting contest is a little more … shall we say … interesting.

Scheffler is 11-under, after a 6-under 64 on Friday, two back, and the +175 betting favorite with BetMGM Sportsbook.

Kim (+400) backed up his first round leading 62 with a tidy 65 of his own to be two shots ahead of Scheffler, Collin Morikawa (63) and Akshay Bhatia (65) who all share second at 11-under.

Sitting at 10-under is recent PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele who put up his second consecutive 65 in Cromwell, Connecticut.

Sungjae Im is halfway through his tournament at 9-under, joined by Justin Thomas and Shane Lowry.

But back to Scheffler. At this point he ranks 11th in the field in SG: Putting, very respectable indeed, but as we know, it is the one part of his game that can – at times – be a slight weakness. He ranks 95th on the season.

As a birdie fest and shootout unfolds over the weekend can or will Scheffler make enough putts to be the victor? On other weeks, he gives himself plenty more chances than others on the greens, and it allows him to miss some. But here, everyone will have loads of chances.

It is interesting to note, at this point, the rest of the players in the top five with Scheffler, are ahead of him in putting. Kim is third, Morikawa fifth, Bhatia sixth and the best putter of the bunch over the season, Schauffele, ranks fourth this week.

The top 10 in SG: Putting this week so far all reside in the top 24 on the leaderboard with eight of them inside the top 12 and five inside the top nine.

Here are the latest outright odds from BetMGM Sportsbook.

• +180: Scottie Scheffler (-11, T2)
• +400: Tom Kim (-13, 1st)
• +400: Collin Morikawa (-11, T2)
• +600: Xander Schauffele (-10, 5th)
• +1200: Akshay Bhatia (-11, T2)
• +2200: Justin Thomas (-9, T6)
• +2800: Sungjae Im (-9, T6)
• +3000: Shane Lowry (-9, T6)
• +3300: Tony Finau (-8, T9)

Draws

Xander Schauffele (+600)

It goes without saying I am going to double down on my pre-tournament pick to win it all from here. Schauffele is the best putter of the top names on the leaderboard. He ranks 17th in SG: Putting this season, and 14th on putts inside 10 feet. This week he is tied at the top in total birdies, has yet to three-putt, is second in Par-3 Scoring, fourth in SG: Putting, and is third in putts made from 10-15 feet. The red flag for him is ranking 40th in SG: Around-the-Green but if he stays on the putting surfaces it won’t matter. Is the type of player who won’t fold easily under a Scheffler challenge and has revenge on his mind from THE PLAYERS Championship.

Akshay Bhatia (+1200)

For value on the board the nod goes to Bhatia who I highlighted as a player to sprinkle bets across all place markets pre-tournament thanks to his exorbitant odds. While he is no longer +8000 to win the tournament, he is still the value pick on the board given how well he’s been putting. It’s a risk-reward play, because his approach game hasn’t been as good as the others. While ranking sixth on the week in SG: Putting is awesome, he also ranks second in SG: Off-the-Tee, sixth in SG: Tee-to-Green and 12th in SG: Around the Green. But 340th on Approach is alarming. As good as the putter has been going, he can’t win if there are more par savers than birdies going down.

Fades

Scottie Scheffler (+175)

Here I go again, fading the best player in the game. But it is the number and the type of tournament that insists I do so. As stated above, this is a birdie fest and putts are going to need to be made. Unlike other weeks, where Scheffler can afford to miss a few inside 10 feet, that may not be the case this week. He’s missed four already inside 10 feet, enough to have him out of, instead of in, the lead. You just deserve more juice on Scheffler when putting is the key. Not saying he can’t win, just saying the odds aren’t nice.

Tom Kim (+400)

The fact is, it is so rare to find wire-to-wire winners in this day and age and much like Scheffler, I am a little concerned about Kim’s putting under pressure. While he has been dynamite this week, sitting third in SG: Putting, he is 106th on the season and this might be problematic. He is yet to miss a single putt inside 10 feet this week, (27/27) but is 120th on the season. In contrast however is Kim’s ability to make bountiful birdies. He leads the field this week in total birdies and is fifth on the season.