GOLF PICK 'EM: JOHN DEERE CLASSIC MATCHUP BREAKDOWNS
BY WILL GRAY
Golf Pick 'Em is back for another season of picks and prizes in the NBC Sports Predictor app.
The free-to-play game has returned in 2021 and continues this week with the John Deere Classic. Each week participants will choose between a series of head-to-head matchups, plus select an overall tournament champion and winning score.
Participants can compete for weekly cash prizes, with a $50,000 jackpot available for any participants who earn a perfect score (increasing up to $100,000 during some of the biggest events of the year). There will also be at least $1,000 awarded each week in cash and prizes, even if there is no player with a perfect score.
The U.S. Open featured a jackpot winner, as one user took home $100,200 after picking Jon Rahm to win at 6 under and getting all 10 matchups correct.
Here's a look at some of the keys to this week's set of 10 matchups at TPC Deere Run, where Dylan Frittelli defends the title he won in 2019 after the event was canceled last summer:
Zach Johnson vs. Steve Stricker
Keys: The two men vying for the status of Mayor of Quad Cities. Johnson is the de facto ambassador for this event, with a win in 2012 among seven top-10 finishes. He has missed five of nine cuts overall but did finish T-25 at the Travelers in his most recent start. Stricker remains the last player to win the same Tour event three years in a row, dominating the Deere from 2009-11, and he's skipping a title defense this week at the U.S. Senior Open to tee it up in Moline. He finished T-5 here as recently as 2017.
Edge: Johnson
Sungjae Im vs. Si Woo Kim
Keys: The countrymen both announced last week that they're skipping The Open next week to instead focus on the Olympics, where a gold medal could exempt them from a two-year stint of mandatory military service in their native South Korea. Im has finished T-35 or better in each of his last three starts, including a T-8 finish in Detroit, and he finished T-26 in 2019 in his lone Deere start. Kim finished T-58 at the Rocket Mortgage and has missed the cut in each of his two prior starts at Deere Run.
Edge: Im
Dylan Frittelli vs. Brian Harman
Keys: Two years later, Frittelli finally gets a chance to defend a title on the PGA Tour after outlasting Russell Henley in 2019. The South African is in need of some momentum, having missed the cut in five of his last six starts outside of a T-46 finish at the U.S. Open. Harman earned the first of his two Tour victories here back in 2015 and has finished T-26 or better in five of his seven starts in this event. He's coming off three straight top-20 finishes, including a T-5 result two weeks ago in Connecticut.
Edge: Harman
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Keys: Two players who have already notched wins this year, with Berger topping the field at Pebble Beach and Na winning the Sony. Berger was a late entrant this week, and as the highest-ranked player in the field he's also a betting favorite as he looks to build off a T-7 finish at the U.S. Open on a course where he finished T-5 in his 2017 debut. Na finished T-47 at the Travelers in his most recent start and has finished T-13 or better in two of his last three JDC starts.
Edge: Berger
Russell Henley vs. Kevin Streelman
Keys: Both men have been contending of late, with Henley in the mix at the U.S. Open over the weekend and Streelman finishing T-15 or better in each of the last two majors. Henley was a runner-up at this event two years ago, firing a 61 in the final round to nearly catch Frittelli, while Streelman has three top-10s here including a T-7 finish in 2018 when he had three rounds of 66 or better.
Edge: Henley
Keys: Davis was the last man standing in Detroit, beating out Troy Merritt and Joaquin Niemann to earn his first career victory on Tour at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He'll look to build on that momentum on a course where he finished T-53 two years ago in his Quad Cities debut. Champ is mired in a slump, having missed the cut or withdrawn from each of his last five starts, but he'll look to use his advantage off the tee to turn things around. His lone Deere start ended in a missed cut in 2019.
Edge: Davis
Harold Varner III vs. Charles Howell III
Keys: The battle of the Thirds. Varner missed the cut last week in Detroit, just his second missed cut in six starts dating back to the PGA Championship. He has made the cut in two of his three Deere appearances, highlighted by a sixth-place showing in 2018. Howell is a JDC veteran, with three top-10 finishes in 12 prior appearances including a T-6 result two years ago. He has missed the cut at each of his last two starts overall.
Edge: Howell III
Keys: Two international players heading to the heartland, as Van Rooyen has a spot in The Open while Lewis is still hoping to play his way back to Royal St. George's. Both men are making their debut in the Quad Cities, as Van Rooyen looks to bounce back from a run of five missed cuts in six starts while Lewis enters off a T-25 finish in Detroit where he had a spot in the final pairing on Saturday.
Edge: Van Rooyen
Keys: Redman missed the cut last week in Detroit, but he was a runner-up just a few weeks ago at Congaree and will look for a similar result this week on a course where he finished T-39 two years ago in his tournament debut. Kizzire ended a skid of three straight missed cuts with a T-25 showing at the Rocket Mortgage, and he has broken par in every prior round at TPC Deere Run, finishing T-25 in 2017 and T-30 in 2018.
Edge: Kizzire
Keys: Wise has now made five straight cuts, with three top-20 finishes including a T-17 showing at the PGA. He finished T-16 here in his 2016 debut, including a third-round 63, but missed the cut in his return. Poston is making his first start since a T-40 finish at the U.S. Open but has never finished better than T-64 in three prior starts at this event.
Edge: Wise
