2022 John Deere Classic Golf Betting Tips: Outrights, Top-10 Picks and Longshots

Justin “STLCardinals84” Van Zuiden is a lead DFS and golf betting analyst for RotoGrinders and ScoresAndOdds. In this week’s preview, he will offer his favorite John Deere Championship outright bets, top-10 picks and longshots!

This week, we have the John Deere Classic at another TPC course in Silvis, IL. We also have perhaps the weakest field in recent memory, as just nine of the top 100 golfers in the OWGR are in the field this week. 

TPC Deere Run is your host course for this event, and Deere Run always sets up as one of the easiest courses on Tour. In fact, TPC Deere Run has hosted this event 21 times now, and the winning score has never been worse than 16 strokes under par. Birdies and eagles are the name of the game around this place.

This is a bit of a rare layout in the fact that it is a par 71 course, so we have three par fives in play this week. A lot of the par fours are fairly short in terms of distance, so wedge play will be absolutely critical. I will be honing in on players who are solid from the 125-150 yard distance range, while also looking at birdie makers and golfers with a good combination of length and accuracy off the tee.

Let’s try to find some winning bets!

2022 John Deere Classic Best Bets

Outright Picks

• Charles Howell to win (+3000 on Bet365) – These weak field birdie fests are often tournaments where Howell thrives. He has finished 19th, 6th, and 23rd in his last three trips to TPC Deere Run, and he ranks 2nd in this field in tee to green play over the last 50 measured rounds. He has made a career out of playing well in these types of tournaments, and this could be one of his final chances to potentially find the winner’s circle in a PGA Tour event. I’ll sprinkle some on these decent odds. This is a week to go with some slightly longer odds players given the weak field, as I don’t have much interest in trying to peg Webb Simpson at +1200, for example.

• Nick Hardy to win (+3500 on PointsBet) – Hardy is one of my favorite picks of the week. He was born in Illinois. He went to college at the University of Illinois. He received sponsor invites to this event while he was still trying to find his footing in the game of golf. This is going to be one of his favorite tournaments every year. Oh, and he just so happens to be playing fantastic golf right now, too. He has finished 35th or better in each of his last four starts, including a T-14 at the U.S. Open and a T-8 last week. Everything is lining up perfectly here, and Hardy has a legitimate chance to contend in this field.

Top 10 Finish Picks

• Zach Johnson Top 10 Finish (+800 on BetRivers) – Zach Johnson is obviously not having the best season, but his course history at the John Deere Classic is rivaled by only Steve Stricker. Johnson is an Iowa native who treats this event like another major, and he has made the cut all THIRTEEN times he has played at the JDC. That perfect mark includes six top three finishes. These are the longest odds he has ever had at this event over the past decade, so I’ll take some chances here.

• Chris Gotterup Top 10 Finish (+800 on DraftKings) – Gotterup is one of the more talented young golfers on the PGA Tour. While he has only played in a handful of events, I have been impressed by the potential he has shown. If there was ever a spot for a new golfer to pop for a surprise top ten, this tournament would be it. There are significantly less talented golfers in this same odds range.

Long Shots and Other Bets

• Long Shots – This is a fine event to try to locate a long shot winner. We’ve seen several surprise champions at this event over the years, so a 100-to-1+ odds winner is not out of the question. Vaughn Taylor, Ryan Armour, and Austin Smotherman are a few players in that range who fit this course nicely, and I might sprinkle some small bets on them.

• Maverick McNealy over Emiliano Grillo head to head (-129 on BetRivers) – This is a bet that I really like this week. While McNealy has struggled a bit lately, he’s still one of the most talented golfers in this field. He also makes a lot of birdies. Grillo, on the other hand, is a golfer that almost always ranks near the bottom of the PGA Tour in putting. That doesn’t play well in a birdie fest event. Give me McNealy all day in this head to head matchup.

Good luck this week everyone! Let’s win some money!