Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, & Predictions – The John Deere Classic

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the 2017 John Deere Classic

The John Deere Classic Fantasy Preview

They say that in professional sport, confidence is everything. If you’ve got it then the world is your oyster. If you are devoid of mental strength, you are unlikely to achieve much success.

That perhaps explains why Xander Schauffele, rather than Sebastian Munoz, won the Greenbrier Classic last week. The former finished T5 at the US Open in June, and has been returning some outstanding SG stats recently, and so all facets of his game – both the physical and the mental – were in place. He was ready to pounce.

Munoz, meanwhile, has been languishing of late. The Colombian’s prior best finish of 2017 was a T27 at the Texas Open, so realistically there was no chance of him winning in West Virginia. Was there?

He certainly gave it a bash as first, second and tied third round leader, but the business end of tournaments is where we find out more and the psychological state of the players. With the finish line in sight, Munoz did not have the confidence to pounce.

But Schauffele certainly did. The rookie closed with a round of 67 – including a birdie at the 18th as the notion of victory reared its head – to outstrip Munoz and ultimately beat Robert Streb by one stroke.

His interview after was telling. “The U.S. Open was a huge moment in my career,” he said. “It was one of the biggest stages, and for me to be calm and collected throughout the week and just kind of hang on and tie for fifth was huge for me mentally.

“It kind of gave me the confidence and allowed me to play to win this week.”

That last sentence is the most compelling, and confirms what we perhaps already new: if you’ve not got the mental side of the game locked in, you’re not going to win a dime.

The good news for Munoz is that he now qualifies for the British Open on June 20, alongside Schauffele, Streb and Jamie Lovemark. And that will be the goal for one lucky soul at the John Deere Classic this week, which has one Open place to hand out to anybody finishing top five who is not already exempt.

There’s plenty to play for then!

Last Week’s Fantasy Results from the Greenbrier Classic

What a wild week at the Greenbrier for fantasy players everywhere. While Kevin Kisner looked great “on paper” last week, he simply failed to show up and give our rosters the boost that they needed. Luckily we stacked most of our lineups to include our top Sleeper Report pick Xander Schauffele at $7,900.

While the Kisner missed cut hurt us, the ability to mix and match Xander in the shuffle helped some ailing rosters to cash in. For those of you who missed it, here’s what our Tuesday Sleeper Report had to say about Schauffele heading into the week:

Xander Schauffele – Vegas Odds 60/1 – It has been a stiff learning curve for Schauffele this year on the PGA TOUR in his first full season, but just lately he has shown some real signs of quality.

A top-five performance in the US Open was just desserts for his hard work, and he has continued his fine form (sort of) with T14 at the Travelers Championship and T35 at the Quicken Loans National, where he ended nicely with a round of 68.

A number of Schauffele’s fellow Web.com graduates have won this year, and he must fancy his chances of following suit this week.

Needless to say, that prediction was spot-on as Xander put up some impressive numbers on his way to last week’s win.

The 2017 John Deere Classic Championship Field

Whereas the Greenbrier Classic is an event that hasn’t always attracted the best fields in the past, plenty will use the John Deere Classic this week as a tune-up ahead of the Open. We know that because of the rollcall of former winners here: Jordan Spieth, Zach Johnson, and event specialist Steve Stricker, a three-time JDC champion, have all made the most of a showing at Deere Run.

The 2017 field is shaping up nicely too. Spieth might not be in the house but Stricker and Johnson both are, and they will be joined by a catalog of PGA TOUR winners including Bubba Watson, Daniel Berger, Brian Harman, and the defending champion, Ryan Moore.

The top 125 on last season’s FedExCup list get invites, which the likes of Charles Howell III, Sean O’Hair, and Kevin Na have taken, and Web.com Tour graduates such as Kelly Kraft, Kevin Tway, and Ollie Schneiderjans will be looking to emulate the rookie heroics of Schauffele, Wes Bryan, and Cody Gribble.

This Week’s Course Preview

The TPC Deere Run course has hosted the John Deere Classic since the stretch was opened in 2000 in Silvis, Illinois. It is based on the beautiful rolling landscapes of Rock River, with some quite spectacular elevation changes offering challenges and rewards. Will anybody be tempted to drive the downhill 14th measuring 361 yards?

All in all, the Par 71 layout measures 7,268 yards, and with eight of the last nine winning scores here being -20 or lower – the anomaly was -19 in 2013 – the conclusion we can draw is that Deere Run is ready to be taken on.

In 2010, Paul Goydos carded what was at the time only the fourth round of 59 in PGA TOUR history, but it was not quite enough to secure victory. Steve Stricker went round in 60 to claim the second of three consecutive triumphs here.

This week there will be four Par 3s plus a trio of Par 5s for the players to attack.

A post shared by John Deere Classic (@johndeereclassic) on Jul 8, 2017 at 11:37am PDT

Weather Forecast for Silvis, Illinois

There should be very little weather for the players to worry about in Illinois this week. There are scattered showers around on Thursday, according to the early forecast, but other than that it is sunshine all the way with temperatures peaking at 91 degrees.

The wind factor will also be minimized as well, with the top speed for any of the four days play all in the single figures.

Conditions for good golf are almost guaranteed!

Last Year’s Results from the John Deere Classic

Ryan Moore was the winner here 12 months ago by two shots from Ben Martin, and fewer PGA TOUR victories in 2016 could have been as well deserved as this.

The Ryder Cupper fired three consecutive rounds of 65 before closing with a 67; incredibly, playing bogey-free for the last 46 holes. Martin was competitive in second while Morgan Hoffman and Whee Kim, tied for third, were some five shots back from Moore.

Nobody could match Goydos’ 59 here in 2012, although plenty of low scores were recorded. A pair of 62s from Martin and Hoffman set the scene, amateur Aaron Wise plundered a 63 and a myriad of 64s kept everyone on the edge of their seat.

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

It will not come as a shock to know that the daily fantasy sites like DraftKings and FanDuel have got one eye on The Open, and so their contest library is perhaps not as widely stocked as it could be this week.

The aim is to accumulate some handy profit this week to carry forward to next week, so here are two tournaments to consider:

• PGA $200k Best Ball: If you can storm the top-100 of this contest you will trouser a handy $100 that will be prime for The Open. Top prize for this $8 outing is $15k!
• PGA $175k Fore: Cash in in time for Royal Birkdale with a simple $4 entry, $7,500 top prize contest that pays out $15 for the first 1500 players home.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the John Deere Classic

A look at some of the winners here – Moore, Jordan Spieth, Zach Johnson, and Steve Stricker – reveals immediately the kind of player we should be focusing on this week.

Accurate ball striking and decent putting are the order of the day, and that notion was backed up markedly by Moore 12 months ago. He ranked first for Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (+3.05) and second for Strokes Gained: Approach (+2.31), so as with the past few weeks laser-like iron and wedge play is the difference between success and failure at TPC Deere Run.

Putting on Bentgrass greens is a skill to admire here but it’s not definitive: these aren’t the quickest greens in the world.

This is a straight-up birdie fest, with equal weight given to shooting low numbers on the Par 4s and 5s (Moore played both in -9). Get the ball close and make your putts….that’s successful golf in a nutshell!

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 (2016-2017)

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