Mickelson and McIlroy head betting at Wells Fargo Championship

Phil Mickelson is the 2/1 favourite to win the Wells Fargo Championship – but don’t rule out world number two Rory McIlroy.

Mickelson shot to the top of the leaderboard in North Carolina thanks to a second round 67 that included just one bogey and six birdies.

He holds a two-shot lead over Scott Gardiner (50/1), George McNeill (25/1) and Nick Watney (6/1) who are tied second, but it’s a little further down the leaderboard that the real threats lie.

One further back at six-under is McIlroy who is showing signs of once again getting his game back to its 2012 best.

The Northern Irishman has carded opening rounds of 67 and 71 to put him well in contention.

However, there is some slight concern for punters thinking of backing him at 4/1 – and that is his performance on the back nine of Friday’s round.

After getting off to a flying start (McIlroy was three-under through the first nine) two bogies and a birdiless back nine meant his early lead was gobbled up and he will need a couple of big rounds to give him a realistic chance of winning his first title of 2013.

Elsewhere, Englishman Lee Westwood has put himself in the position to capitalise on his recent solid form by posting opening rounds of 70 and 68.

Westwood can be backed at 7/1 to pick up his first win since his Nordea Masters win in June last year and his first victory on the PGA Tour since 2010.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date