John Deere Classic 2026 Golf Preview And Picks

Following the Travelers Championship and Viktor Hovland‘s playoff win over Scottie Scheffler on Monday, the PGA Tour heads to the midwest for the John Deere Classic 2026 event. Just 8 of the top 50 players in the world rankings tee it up at the 7,327 yard par 71 at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois as many top pros head to Scotland for next week’s Scottish Open ahead of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in England. You can read about the John Deere Classic and some of the stats to consider when identifying players of interest from my past John Deere Classic coverage in Forbes.

Some strokes gained leaders and stats from the last three winners of the John Deere Classic include top 6 in Putting for Brian Campbell (2025), Davis Thompson (2024) and Sepp Straka. Accuracy from the tee has set up lower scoring and short iron Approach shots. The last four winners including J.T. Poston (2022) all hit better than 80% Greens in Regulation with winning scores of -18, -28, -21, -21 and three of the four winners ranking top 3 in Scrambling at better than 83%. Off the Tee means little at TPC Deere Run, as just under 60% of the Total Strokes Gained are with the short game, be that from Around the Green combined with the Putter. TPC Deere Run has shown that 91% of the Total Strokes Gained of the past 5 winners has been on Approach, Around the Green (high, 23%) and Putting (36%).

Also, PGA Tour rookies have won the John Deere Classic in 12 of the last 25 years, including longshot Davis Thompson (2024) most recently.

New PGA Tour Two Series Model

Starting in 2028, the John Deere Classic will be part of the Challenger Series on the PGA Tour with the new two-series model that includes 23-24 Championship Series events boasting $20 million prize pools and 120 players. The Challenger Series will offer a slate of at least 20 events, approx. 144 players and $4 million prize pools for other PGA Tour pros to play and earn a living with the opportunity for promotion to the Championship Series and 20 players guaranteed to advance the following year.

John Deere Classic 2026 Odds

Leading favorites and contenders golf odds from Circa Sports in Las Vegas provide the best golf futures odds in the industry, including last week’s winner on Viktor Hovland (40/1). Odds and information refresh periodically and are subject to change, including on props and live/in-game betting. John Deere Classic 2026 odds adjust during and following rounds.

• +1600: Ben Griffin
• +1700: Chris Gotterup
• +2200: Jackson Koivun, Keith Mitchell
• +2500: Keegan Bradley
• +3000: J.T. Poston, Eric Cole
• +3200: Tom Kim
• +3300: Jordan Spieth, Michael Thorbjornsen
• +3400: Jacob Bridgeman
• +3900: Pierceson Coody, Doug Ghim
• +4000: Ryo Hisatusun, Andrew Novak
• +4200: Rickie Fowler, Sungjae Im
• +4500: Michael Brennan
• +5000: Matt Wallace, Daniel Berger
• +5200: Michael Kim, Jackson Suber, S. Yellamaraju
• +5300: Davis Thompson, Mac Meissner
• +5500: Blades Brown, Max Homa, Denny McCarthy, Johnny Keefer
• +5800: Max Greyserman, Aldrich Potgieter
• +6000: Rico Hoey, Tony Finau, Emiliano Grillo, C. Bezuidenhout
• +6500: Ben Kohles
• +7000: Taylor Pendrith
• +7500: Kevin Yu, Max McGreevy,
• +9000: William Mouw
• +9500: Austin Smotherman, Haotong Li, Thorb Olesen
• +10000-12500: Bauchou, Putnam, Hossler, Fisk, Power, Jaeger, Carson Young, AD De Chassart, K. Nakajima, Stout

John Deere Classic 2026 Picks

Fairway’s Favorites: Keith Mitchell, Eric Cole, Tom Kim, Jordan Spieth
Fairway’s Longshots: Rickie Fowler, Davis Thompson, Blades Brown, Adlrich Potgieter
Fairway’s Flyers: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Ben Kohles

Tournament matchups: Blades Brown (-116) over Taylor Moore (Circa)
Round 1 matchups: Blades Brown (-104) over Johnny Keefer
Top 20 finish: Eric Cole (+200), Blades Brown (+300), Ben Kohles (+300)

Another tournament matchup winner (1-0) at the Travelers Championship runs the record to 22-12 this season with a best week of 4-0 at the Cognizant Classic. That includes 11-9 in Majors and Signature Events posted at OSGA. Travelers championship props and all matchups 4-1.

Check back or updates on X @FairwayJay for any round-by-round matchups.

Eric Cole ranks among the top leaders in this field in current form, and the 38-year-old ranks in the top 12 for Approach over the last eight tournaments on Tour. For the 2026 PGA Tour season, Cole ranks top 10 for both Around the Green and Putting. In the 2024 John Deere Classic, Cole was 2nd heading into Sunday before finishing seventh.

Picking outright winners is most difficult, and focus for longterm profit is on the more profitable options of tournament and round-by-round matchups along with other props including finishing position. Another way to get better odds on PGA futures and tournaments is to parlay in a 2-team moneyline, and adding an underdog of +150 or more like I did with MLB/Wyndham Clark in the U.S. Open, which paid off with a winner at effectively 119/1 odds. That was similar to parlay with Viktor Hovland (40/1) winning last week at the Travelers Championship.

Next week it’s the Scottish Open followed by the the final major of the year in England at The Open Championship, where Scheffler is the defending Champion Golfer of the Year. See more strokes gained golf stats plus player profiles from recent majors and U.S. Open as you evaluate tournaments and information you can bet on.

You can bet on it.

Update: Another tournament matchup winner posted and now 23-13 YTD. Second straight week all posted picks and props went 4-1. Yet, another disaster with our outright bets on Ben Kholes. Had many more that cashed in on top finishes, parlays, props including Blades Brown. Too long to explain, but Kholes blew a 3-shot lead on back 9 Sunday, made 2 bogeys coming in, missed putts inside 4 feet, then the double bogey on 18 hitting his approach shot in the water from the fairway.

Golf Betting Notes and History from FairwayJay

FairwayJay 2026 tournament matchups 22-12 through the Travelers Championship in June.

My golf coverage and research includes use and references from sites at Data Golf along with Fantasy National, and others. I gain added information from handicappers, analysts, colleagues and media members while researching course stats and previews with previous weekly coverage in my PGA tournament updates in Forbes. That includes top golf insider Justin Ray Golf, who contributes to PGA Tour (dot com) and The Athletic with insightful stats. The site GolfStats has also has player performance charts and a player competitor tool plus added stats and previews.

I’ve added my own player profiles pieces for select majors and events including 2026 Masters, 2026 Players Championship,  2025 Masters, 2025 Players Championship and trends. You can review those along with others from 2024 in Forbes for The Player Championship and Masters top 9 and top 18 golfers plus 12 top golfers at the Open Championship at Royal Troon.