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Once known as the Quad Cities Open, in 1999 this tournament became the John Deere Classic and since 2000 it has always been held at TPC Deere Run. It’s a par 71 at around 7,300 yards with wide fairways. That means lots of approaches hit from the short grass therefore plenty of are greens hit. As a consequence, it’s often said that this is something of a putting contest. It's definitely not a tough test from the tee, something backed up by Ryan Moore who said: “The golf course has enough angles, and the holes that you can force it down there a little bit farther, they’re pretty difficult tee shots, so guys that hit it significantly farther than me don’t have a huge advantage.” Steve Stricker, a supreme wedge player, won three times in a row form 2009 and another past winner Bryson DeChambeau said: “You’ve got to be hitting your wedges really close. If you can do that all week, you’ll be just fine.” And Tom Gillis added: “You get a lot of short irons inside 140 yards. If you’ve got that dialled in and you can convert 10-footers, you’ve got a shot at shooting something low.” The greens are relatively straightforward. Adding to the notion of this being a putting contest, Wesley Bryan said: “It’s nice having really good bent greens to putt on that are soft so you don’t really have to worry about the ball rolling out or skipping through the green or anything. You can just kind if take dead aim and hit it.” There have been a lot of specialists down the years. We’ve already mentioned Stricker but Zach Johnson was not only a winner but a three-time runner-up and Jordan Spieth has won twice (in 2013 and 2015). There have also been huge surprise winners. The last four and exchange prices, for example, were: Michael Kim (800), Dylan Frittelli (90), Lucas Glover (70) and JT Poston (50).
Angles to consider 1/ Course form Surprises happen but there are also plenty of repeat contenders. 2/ Similar courses Innisbrook has similar elevation changes, many golfers have completed the Colonial/Deere Run double (or come close), and a quirky one: three of the last six winners had a top four finish at TPC Summerlin while a fourth later won there. 3/ Form The trends profile highlights a top 10 finish in the last two months. Seven of the last 10 winners also had a top 20 in the three bent grass events before their win. 4/ Strong recent Tee to Green rankings Again identified by the trends profile. The more birdie chances created the better.
Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected. Adam Schenk This season he has finished second at Innisbrook (when playing very well) and was also the runner-up at Colonial. He was recently seventh at Muirfield Village and last week repeated that result in Detroit. He’s finished fourth and sixth on the course and also has a third at Summerlin. He ranked 10th for SG T2G at Colonial and was seventh last week. Emiliano Grillo The Argentine is among those who have created the Colonial links because he was second here last year on debut and won at Colonial in May. He’s finished top 25 in five of his last eight starts (two of the exceptions were majors) and three of those were top 10s. (He’s also ranked top 25 for SG T2G in his five of his last eight starts.) Adam Hadwin Defeated in a play-off last week, he hits many of the profile points. He’s played the course three times, finishing T18th in 2015 and eighth in 2016. He has four top 10s at Summerlin, two at Colonial and two at Innisbrook (including a win). He ranked eighth for SG T2G in the Canadian Open and was 20th last week.
Tips: 1-2; +1.00pts 1pt e.w. Adam Schenk at 30/1 (Unibet, BetUK 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6) 4th 1pt e.w. Emiliano Grillo at 30/1 (BetVictor, BetFred 1/5 1,2,3,4,5) mc 1pt e.w. Adam Hadwin at 28/1 (William Hill 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) mc
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