Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – John Deere Classic

2019 John Deere Classic Fantasy Sleeper Report

Perhaps, just whisper it, a star has been born.

Matt Wolff is one of those guys who gained lots of social media attraction in his amateur days for that idiosyncratic swing, but he has shown that if it works, it works.

The 20-year-old won his first PGA TOUR title at the 3M Open at the weekend after holding his nerve to make a clutch eagle putt to down the hopes of Bryson DeChambeau on the 18th green.

It was just his fourth professional start, and just goes to show how far confidence and youthful impunity goes in this sport.

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Indeed, we move on to the John Deere Classic and three of the hottest young studs in the business lead the betting market: Wolff, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland.

And you might conclude that they all have a decent chance too. TPC Deere Run, our host venue this week, is one of those easy layouts where birdies rain down, and it is set-up perfectly for these confident young bucks to shoot out the lights and compile an extraordinarily low winning total.

Hanging onto their coattails will be a varied but weak field that perhaps has their eye on a couple of different prizes: there is a British Open spot available for the highest top-five finisher not already exempt, and of course there are some cheap FedExCup ranking points to be earned with many of the great and good of the game picking up some Links intel at the Scottish Open this week.

You suspect that our champion this week will have to go super-low to get the job done. Michael Kim, who won here 12 months ago, had missed five of his preceding six cuts and yet still managed to compile a victorious tally of -27.

You don’t have to look too hard for the foundation of his victory. Kim ranked first for Strokes Gained: Putting, and it was just one of those weeks where everything dropped for the maiden.

It will take something as deliciously hot putting wise to win this week, because there are no demanding requirements anywhere from tee to green at TPC Deere Run.

There are just 78 bunkers on the whole course, and a tiddly amount of water is in play on just five holes. There’s no trees, no tricky run-off areas from the greens, just simple, straightforward parklands golf.

There are two ways to win here: you can be laser-focused with your irons and wedges, leaving as many putts inside 10 feet as possible, or – as Kim proved 12 months ago – you can simply putt your ball home from here, there and everywhere.

It’s a week where anything could happen. One of the young guns might blitz the place, a canny old head might rewind the hands of time or an outsider of Michael Kim proportions might just come along and take care of business out of nowhere.

With that in mind, here are our sleeper picks for the John Deere Classic.

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John Deere Classic Fantasy Sleeper Report

Sam Burns – 50/1 – The 22-year-old will have looked on with envy as Matt Wolff, two years his junior, claimed his maiden PGA TOUR title at the weekend, but you get the sense that Burns himself is not a million miles away.

He already has five career top-10s on the main tour, the most recent of which came at last week’s 3M Open, where a third round of 72 scuppered his hopes of finishing any higher than T7.

But the youngster putted very nicely, and if he can take that warm flat stick to Illinois then more birdies – he ranks 21st on Tour for Rounds in the 60s – are likely to follow. And then who knows where he might finish?

Wyndham Clark – 50/1 – One of the most prolific birdie-makers on Tour, Clark has banked three consecutive top-20s on the spin and is now surely on the brink of something even more substantial.

T15 at the Travelers and T17 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Clark’s best effort yet came at last week’s 3M Open last time out, where he was well in the mix for honors right up until DeChambeau and Wolff’s eagle-a-thon.

But a guy whose flat stick is red hot, who is playing well on Bentgrass and who ranks sixth on Tour for Total Birdies is, quite naturally, a major player this week.

Denny McCarthy – 80/1 – Statistically the best putter on the PGA TOUR is rounding up into some nice form.

McCarthy tops the billing for Strokes Gained: Putting, and while clearly that is the highlight of his game at tracks like Deere Run it’s a trait that really comes into its own.

He drove the ball nicely too at TPC Twin Cities, so as long as he can hit his approaches within range then McCarthy will be only too happy to let his putter do the talking.

Troy Merritt – 80/1 – In fine fettle on the greens at the 3M Open, Merritt has to come into consideration given his winning record on the PGA TOUR.

The 33-year-old is a two-time champion on the PGA TOUR and has a further victory on the Korn Ferry Tour to his name, and that’s a resumé you can take to the bank in this weak field.

He gained +1.52 strokes on the greens at TPC Twin Cities, and given his experience at Deere Run he will be looking to put all aspect of his game together and improve on last week’s T7 in Minnesota.

Peter Malnati – 80/1 – With much of the focus on the young guns this week, one of the older heads might just find an opportunity to poop the party.

At 32, Peter Malnati is hardly a grand old-timer, but he has been around the block and is comfortable in those birdie-friendly conditions.

He ranks 13th on Tour for rounds in the 60s and 32nd for Total Birdies, so here’s a guy who can shoot red numbers, and what’s more he’s one of the best putters in the business too.

Malnati brings sound if unspectacular form to Illinois, although a pair of 67s to bookend his effort last week suggest something of substance is just on the horizon.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the John Deere Classic here.

Sleeper Report Predictions This Season (2018-2019)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”6.54%” bar_text=”11 out of 168 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent=”16.07%” bar_text=”27 out of 168 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”34.52%” bar_text=”58 out of 168 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”5.88%” bar_text=”2 out of 34 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”20.59%” bar_text=”7 out of 34 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”64.28%” bar_text=”108 out of 168 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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Cover photo via Instagram