2025 John Deere Classic Picks, Bets, Course Preview, Cheatsheet
WINNER
Thompson +3700
Michael Kim +5000
Echavarria +6000
Grillo +6600
Bezuidenhout +7000
BOMBS
Hodges +8000
Valimaki +8000
M. McCarty +9000
Higgs +20000 (8 Places)
John Deere Classic
Field 156 Players
Cut: Top 65 & Ties
First Tee: Thursday, July 3
Defending Champion: Davis Thompson
KEY STATS
Strokes Gained: Approach
Opportunities Gained
Par 4s Gained 400-450 Yards
Proximity Gained 150-175 Yards
Mayo’s Key Stats powered by FantasyNational.com
COURSE
Course: TPC Deere Run
Yards: 7,289
Par: 71
Greens: Bentgrass
Sand Bunkers: 76
Holes Water is in Play: 3
Par 3's (4): Average distance – 196 yards
- The four most-oft par’d holes on property at the Par 3’s (all over 68%)
- Thompson only recorded four bogeys last season, but two of them came on #12 (the first Par 3 on the back-9)
Par 4's (11): Average distance – 435 yards
- The three toughest holes on the course are all Par 4’s, two of which come in the finishing kick (Holes 15 and 18)
- Thompson had a pair of bogey-free rounds (Thursday and Saturday) and he totaled 10 Par 4 birdies on those days
Par 5's (3): Average distance – 575 yards
- Hole #2 is among the easiest on TOUR annually (4.1% eagle rate with an average score of 4.49). You can’t bleed strokes at the 5’s – the three of them all carry a sub 9% bogey rate.
- Thompson played #2 (the only Par 5 on the front) at -5 for the week (-6 in total for the two back-9 Par 5’s)
DFS STREAK
The two toughest holes on the course sit at the end of both 9’s as the PGA TOUR pretty clearly wants to remove any edge from stacking by starting position. If you play the course in order, you an harder-than-average Par 4 sandwiching the difficult #9, but if you start on the back, you get access to three of the five easiest holes on the course in Holes 17-1-2.
I’m not sure you’re looking at a ton of wrap-around streaks, but if you’re breaking ties, getting access to a pair of Par 5’s in playing back-to-front is the way to go.
PAT MAYO OPEN POKER QUALIFIER
Yes, I have a private qualifier for a Coolbet Poker event in Tallinn, Estonia in August. Not only that, if you take me out of the qualifier, you get a bounty on my head! If you come top 2 in the PME qualifier you’ll advance to the final Q to win…
• €550 (~$860 CAD) buy-in to Coolbet Open Main Event
• 5 nights in a double room at Nordic Hotel Forum including breakfast (usually booked for August 12th-17th)
• €300 in tournament credit during the Coolbet Open
• Dinner buffet
This year will be the eighth edition of the Coolbet Open and we are expecting more than 500 players at the Chesterfield Poker Club and Nordic Hotel Forum.
The Main Event is a €550 buy-in tournament with unlimited re-entries until the end of the first level of day 2. The prize pool is expected to surpass €250,000. There are also more than 30 side events with fun games such as Mystery Bounties, Omaha, 8-Game, HORSE and OFC Pineapple.
If you’re Canaidan (outside Ontario), you can play. And I can tell you, I’m awful, so I’m dead money in my Q. Tell some friends and sign up to Coolbet NOW using code: SPORTS200.
Enter the Coolbet poker site, click on “Tournaments” and search “Pat Mayo” and you’ll find it!
ENTER THE PME POKER QUALIFIER FOR TUES JULY 8TH AT 8PM ET
WINNERS
2024: Davis Thompson (-28, four clear of Luke Clanton, CT Pan, and Michael Thorbjornsen)
2023: Sepp Straka (-21, two clear of Alex Smalley and Brandon Todd)
2022: JT Poston (-21, three clear of Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Emiliano Grillo)
2021: Lucas Glover (-19, two clear of Kevin Na and Ryan Moore)
2024: Davis Thompson (+2000)
- Thompson was a top 5 player for the week both ARG and P
- Putting was tied to success as usual here (15 of the top 16 finishers gained in the 5-10 foot range), but only two of the top-6 finishers gained ground with the flat stick from 25+ feet
2023: Sepp Straka (+5000)
- The top-12 finishers all gained ground in Prox 200+
- 24 of the top-25 finishers gained strokes putting (the top four putters for the week all finished with at least a share of sixth place)
2022: JT Poston (+4000)
- The top-9 finishers all gained ground in Prox 100-125
- Five of the top-7 finishers gained across the bag for the week (Poston was +2.3 or better in all categories)
2021: Lucas Glover (+5000)
- Glover was the third best approach player for the week (+7.1) and has three of his best 11 career approach weeks have been at this event
2019: Dylan Frittelli (-21, two clear of Russell Henley)
- He was 5 strokes better over the weekend than he was the first two rounds and closed with his best (64, needed it to survive a 61 from Henley)
- One top-25 finisher lost strokes in approach ... it was Frittelli (-0.9). He offset it by picking up a total of 12.3 strokes ARG+P.
2018: Michael Kim (-27, eight clear of Bryson Burgood, Joel Dahmen, Francesco Molinari, and Sam Ryder)
- He led going into the weekend (63-64) and didn't let up on moving day (64). It's not hard to close when you have one of the top-4 rounds in each of the first three days.
Kim picked up 13.5 strokes putting, helping him dominate in a week in which he was "just" 16th best T2G
FIRST ROUND LEADERS
2024
59 – Hayden Springer (followed it with a Friday 71 with moderate winds, his worst round of the week)
61 – Sami Valimaki (followed it with a Friday 72, his worst round of the week by 6 strokes
2023
62 – Jonas Blixt (a week of extreme runs: 62-73-65-70)
64 – Grayson Murray (couldn’t hold the momentum, shot 70-69 over the next two days)
2022
62 – JT Poston (declined as the week wore on: 62-65-67-69)
64 – Michael Gilgic (his only round better than 68 for the week)
2021
63 – Sebastian Munoz (his best round of the week by 4 strokes) and Chesson Hadley (68-72-71 the rest of the way)
64 – 3-way tie that included Camilo Villegas (an outlier round: 71-67-73 the rest of the way)
UNDERDOG
Put together a quick 5-man to make the cut Underdog entry this week. Follow along!
TAIL THIS ENTRY (or fade) & Use code “MAYO” at underdog for a FREE PICK and deposit bonus up to $1000
