Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – 2022 John Deere Classic

John Deere Classic Fantasy Preview

For a player of his talents, it’s amazing to think that Xander Schauffele hadn’t won an PGA TOUR strokeplay event since the Tournament of Champions in 2019.

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It would be unfair to label him as a ‘non closer’ because, after all, this is a guy with an Olympic gold medal to his name. Its just, well, not happened for him.

Happily for Schauffele and his fans, he finally put that lengthy hoodoo to rest at the Travelers Championship on Sunday, although he did need an assist from those closest to him on the leaderboard.

Patrick Cantlay, who buddied up with Schauffele to win the Zurich Classic, went into reverse after going into the final round just one shot behind the leader, while Sahith Theegala almost inexplicably made double-bogey at the last after taking the lead deep into the business end of the tournament.

In the end, it was left to Schauffele to hit a clutch approach into the 72nd hole – he lasered his iron to within just three feet of the hole, which really left no room for doubt. This was his sixth PGA TOUR title – not too shabby for a 28-year-old. 

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There tends to be a bit of a lull at this juncture of the season in-between two majors, and sadly that is well and truly the case at the John Deere Classic this week.

Last Week’s Fantasy Results

Last week our top pick was Rory, who, after a strong start, ended up fading to T19. 

He came out of the gate hot with a -8 during Round 1, but couldn’t keep things together over the weekend. In the end, it was Xander who made the noise and held on for the W.   

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John Deere Classic Field

There’s an unlikely trio of favorites at the top of the betting market this week, with Theegala joined by Webb Simpson and Adam Hadwin.

Defending champion Lucas Glover will attempt to regain his crown, and he will be joined in Illinois by fellow former JDC winners Zach Johnson and Ryan Moore.

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Both Jordan Spieth and Bryson DeChambeau won their maiden PGA TOUR title at TPC Deere Run, so could somebody like a Theegala, a Maverick McNealy or a Denny McCarthy get over the line here too?

Nick Hardy, the Illinois man who is running hot right now, will garner plenty of interest, while maybe keep an eye out for Taylor Pendrith – he was enjoying an encouraging start to his PGA TOUR career until he broke a rib at the PLAYERS Championship.

This Week’s Course Preview

One of the reasons that the John Deere Classic struggles to attract a quality field, you suspect, is because of the generic nature of TPC Deere Run.

D.A. Weibring’s design looks gorgeous, make no mistake, but it’s a fairly character-less 7,268 yard Par 71 that is as easy as it gets on the PGA TOUR – Michael Kim won here with a score of -27 back in 2018.

The fairways are as expansive as they come, and the Bentgrass greens – which run at around 12 on the stimpmeter – are nice and receptive.

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So where do the demons lie? Well, water is in play on five holes and there are around 80 bunkers on the property, but really the peril of TPC Deere Run is only a factor if the wind blows – more on that in a moment. 

Generally speaking, around 12 of the holes tend to average under par, with the three Par 5s leading the way alongside the 361-yard Par 4 fourteenth, which leaves most in the field with a flick wedge in if not a putt for eagle. 

Weather Forecast for Silvis, IL

Although things get off to a lively start in Silvis this week, they should simmer down enough by the weekend to provide a fair test of golf.

It’s a hot start to the week before the wind picks up on Thursday – according to the early predictions, the breeze could hit 16mph for the opening round. 

Friday offers the threat of ‘scattered thunderstorms’ according to the forecast, but at least the weekend looks to be set fair – 86˚F temperatures and winds of around 8mph are music to the ears of the players.

SILVIS WEATHER

Last Year’s Results from the John Deere Classic

Lucas Glover joined a rather unique club when he celebrated winning a PGA TOUR event in three different decades at last year’s John Deere Classic.

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The former U.S. Open champion pretty much saved his best for last, birdieing five of his last seven holes to leapfrog Kevin Na and Ryan Moore, who finished tied in second.

Glover’s final salvo of 64 followed a round of 63 on the Friday – one of seven rounds of 63 or better throughout the tournament.

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for the John Deere Classic this Week

With some distractions this week – LIV Golf makes its DFS debut, alongside a classy Irish Open – it will be interesting how popular the JDC contests are. With a weak field and a feature-less golf course, these are not stellar conditions….but they can create winning opportunities nonetheless.

• PGA $60k Birdie: It’s a very brave soul that goes into this week with just one lineup, and so multi-entry contests at the more affordable end of the spectrum are perhaps the smart way to go. This one, which costs $3 per turn, pays a jackpot of $6k.

• PGA $35k 8-Iron: A smaller scale option, with a greater potential reward, is this $8 entry contest which pays out $10k to the winner – only 5,147 teams are allowed to be entered all told. 

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This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the John Deere Classic

This is the part where we have to come up with a profile of player that we think will prosper this week.

But the truth is that we’re previewing an event which has been won in its last three renewals by Glover, Dylan Frittelli and Michael Kim – make of that what you will.

There’s no specific modus operandi off the tee – Ryan Moore, in T2, averaged 282 yards off the peg last year and Adam Schenk, in T4, some 317 yards, and the differences in their accuracies (91% vs 64%) shows that there’s nothing cohesive to be learned.

Unusually, just three of the top-10 players home last year ranked inside the best ten for the SG: Approach stat – another factor that makes TPC Deere Run so idiosyncratic. 

But here’s the ranking for the top-10 on the leaderboard for SG: Putting – 19-11-4-1-46-2-24-3-40-6. In short, a win at the John Deere Classic can be earned on the greens from a mediocre ball-striking display – that’s what makes this event so difficult to handicap.

As mentioned in our course report, there is nothing particularly unique or interesting about TPC Deere Run, and that also manifests itself in there being no clear prerogative as to how to win the John Deere Classic.

Normally in these situations, we try to find correlating courses to act as a guide, but in truth TPC Deere Run is just a generic golf course. However, there is some evidence when comparing the two events that TPC Twin Cities, home of the 3M Open, could be of value.

Bryson DeChambeau has won this event and finished T2 in the 3M, while the likes of Jhonattan Vegas, Cameron Champ, Keith Mitchell, Brian Stuard and more have all finished T11 or better in both events since 2019 alone.

Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the John Deere Classic  

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Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2021-2022)

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