|
msudogs
Moderator
Registered: Nov 2005
Posts: 65535
|
John Deere Classic
John Deere Classic:
Akshay Bhatia had zero three-putts and just one bogey through 71 holes of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Then the final hole came and he missed a four-footer for par to miss out on a playoff by one stroke.
Australian Cam Davis, a pre-tournament choice of 66-1, posted 18-under par and held on for his second PGA Tour victory, both in Detroit at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. That 18-under-par winning score matched the number Davis won with in 2021 because of unexpected wind blowing directly at the players and making scoring more difficult at an event that averages a winning score south of 23 under par.
Davis now moves into the OWGR Top 40 and earns a two-year PGA Tour exemption, plus spots in all of the 2025 major championships and puts himself into further consideration to make the International squad in the President’s Cup this fall.
Bhatia’s misfortune on 18 dropped him into a four-way tie for second with Davis Thompson, Min Woo Lee and Aaron Rai.
This week, the PGA Tour continues in the Midwest, more specifically, the Quad Cities for the John Deere Classic, a PGA Tour staple since 1972. OWGR No. 8 Patrick Cantlay was scheduled to be the field’s headliner at 8-1 or 9-1, but he withdrew Monday morning as did Davis.
Two-time John Deere Classic winner Jordan Spieth (2013, 2015) now takes the favorite’s role at 16-1 in his first appearance at the John Deere since his 2015 victory. Spieth also won the John Deere in 2013 for his first PGA Tour victory.
Defending John Deere champion Sepp Straka (18-1) and Sungjae Im (18-1), who was third two weeks ago at the Travelers, follow as co-second choices.
Rai (20-1) and Thompson (28-1) were both part of the four-way tie for second in Detroit.
A trio of players reside at 25-1 — Maverick McNealy, Keith Mitchell and Denny McCarthy, who has finished sixth here each of the last two years.
J.T. Poston cashed here for us two years ago at around 50-1 and the 2022 John Deere champion is 30-1 this week along with Jason Day, who returns to the Quad Cities for the first time since 2011.
Nick Dunlap and Sam Stevens (both 35-1) were both in the top 10 last week in Detroit.
|
07-03-24 09:54 PM |
|
|
| |
|
msudogs
Moderator
Registered: Nov 2005
Posts: 65535
|
TPC Deere Run opened in 2000 on land donated by the descendants of John Deere’s family. Located in Silvis, Ill., within the Quad Cities (Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa; Rock Island and Moline, Ill.) region, TPC Deere Run was designed by five-time PGA Tour winner D.A. Weibring, who won the John Deere Classic three times.
The layout is a tree-lined parklands that plays as a par-71 of 7,289 yards.
The course presents some elevation changes, has 76 bunkers and three water danger holes. There are some tight doglegs and sloping fairways and players will, more often than not, have to use every club in the bag, but TPC Deere Run typically plays as one of the easier courses on the PGA Tour schedule.
The Bentgrass fairways are gettable (36.5-yard average width), but the main defense here is four inches of Kentucky Bluegrass/Fescue rough.
Players will be hitting into Bentgrass greens (5,500 square feet average) that will roll at an average of 12 feet on the stimpmeter.
|
07-03-24 09:54 PM |
|
|
| |
|