Now then Jim... Youve beaten me to starting the thread for the John Deere Classic so i'll just tag along to yours... Firstly this isn't a farmers meet where they all turn up to talk about the new John Deerw 3000 STD, and how fast they can plough a 50 acre field. No this is a good ole tear em up golf course... Steve Striker seems to have the call sign on this tournament winning it for the last 3 years at a combined -68 under par, (-22,-26,-20...) so he seems the logical place to start with. His current value is 7/1, and although that is slim if this was Tiger Woods who was chasing a possible 4 timer i think he would be around the 7/2 mark. So a 7/1 shot seems like a good little bet. The other player that deserves his odds of 12/1 is Zach Johnson. This is his local course, its where he began his career many moons ago, it feels like home. He also calls this his personal 5th Major because of his links to Illinois at this particular course. He is also 1 of only 3 players to have featured in the top 10 since Striker has won these past 3 years. Runner up back in 2009 he also came in T3rd last year, the other 2 being Brendon De Jong and Matt Jones... This course is ranked the 40th in difficulty on the PGA Tour, out of the 51 that they play, so it isnt very hard. That means that you have to have a good putting game and your approach shots have to be good. Striker has ranked 2nd in putting for each of the last 2 years here coupled with top 5 rankings of GIR for each of his previous 3 wins. Here lies the key to success and winning here on this course. So with this in mind i shall be going with... Johnathon Byrd - Won this tournament back in 2007 and although hasn't fared anywhere like that again he is having a good season this year, with 5 top 10's to his name so far. 5 of his last 6 tournament have all resulted in sub par rounds, the exception being the US Open where everyone struggled. Ranks 24th in Strokes Gained by Putting... Carl Petterson - Is a player who can score low if he gets his putting game together. Ranks 9th overall in Total Putting and 12th in Strokes Gained by Putting. Only ranks 76th in GIR but his putting ability can make up for that... Sean O'Hair - Won this tournament back in 2005 so will have good memories and although the course has changed since he won it then his game has improved also. Finished a T7th last week at Greenbrier in which he lead the field in birdies made, he also ranks 12th in Overall Putting... Johnathon Byrd @ 25/1... Carl Patterson @ 33/1... Sean O'Hair @ 33/1... The usual £2.5 e/w... PadPow pays 1/4 odds top 5... Good luck to all who play...
I reckon someone will plough through this competition and win easy! No bets done but as always goodluck to those who have, all building up for next week now.
Gotta say Red you certainly know your golf didnt mean to steal your thunder I. Was just sitting doodling last night when I remembered that the golf started today ( Thurs )
Jim, your not stealing my thunder at all pal, always nice to see people put up some thoughts and what they think might happen. I do study the golf, along with a mate of mine, and we do alright. Got to say though this year has been very testing as we have had so many upsets that its been a hard year to predict. Im up for the year so far, but im not hitting the top 5 like i did at the start of the year. Bo Van Pelt cost me last week when he froze against Tiger but i dont get to beat up about it... As for the current tournament, its another birdie fest for the golfers. Another leader at -10, like in the Scottish, and its going to be hard for the ones 5-6 shots back to win this already... Just to show you how hard it is to get a top 5 call this Troy Matteson who is leading the comp has stats that you wouldn't go anywhere near... 21 tour entries this year... 10 cuts made... 0 top 25 finishes... highest finish is 26th... hasn't got one stat ranked in the top 20 for ALL aspects of golf... ranks 128th on the tour for strokes gained putting... 175/1 pre tournament - now he is sat 2nd fav at 7/1...!!! See, how did i miss this lad before the start of this comp... Anyway the leader board for our picks is... T39 C. Petterson..... -3 red N. Watney....... -3 jim B. De Jonge..... -3 jim T114 J. Byrd.......... +1 red T129 S. O'Hair........ +2 red Looks like were concentrating on the ones at -3 Jim... Good luck for the rest of the three days...
Leaderboard after 2nd round... Leader @ -13 N. Watney........ -6 jim B. DeJonge....... -6 jim C. Petterson..... -5 red J. Byrd............ -3 red I think we need some serious movement for Saturday to build our hopes up Jim...!!!
Won't see it tonight will have to record it ,It's my daughters 30th Birthday party so I dare say I will be having some serious movement tonight lol.
Well Jim we both have a sniff of a chance of getting a top 5 finish but both of them will have to shoot very low do to so. De Jonge @ -10, Byrd @ -9 and Watney @ -8 have their work cut out for them but any score is possible on this golf course. Lets hope they havnt shot their lowest rounds yet...!!! We can only hope that they can... Enjoy your daughters party and lets see them birdies fly in tonight... Good luck...
Were you doing the moonwalk or a nice waltz after Jim?! Yeah,looking forward to the Open now, i'm gonna predict 2 of us will pick the winner at decent odds
