Cameron Davis came out on top of last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic and the PGA Tour heads to Illinois this week for the John Deere Classic.
Many of the big names are giving this one a swerve with the final Major of the year, the Open Championship coming later this month at Royal Troon, so some names who don’t always grab the headlines will see this as a great chance to get into the winners’ circle.
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McCarthy’s first win may not be far away
Those who claim the John Deere Classic usually have to perform superbly on the greens and there is a good chance that strong putter Denny McCarthy could just top the bill this week.
McCarthy is still searching for his first PGA Tour triumph and TPC Deere Run could prove the ideal venue for him, particularly as he has finished sixth on each of his last two appearances at the Illinois track.
He came close to breaking his duck earlier in the year when he was second at the Texas Open and he should have also been encouraged by the sixth he posted at the Wells Fargo Championship in May.
He should have benefited from having a week’s rest and he received another confidence boost with a decent US Open, where he carded a second-round 67 on his way to 32nd spot, so expect him to be a factor.
Im showing plenty of strong form
Sungjae Im is set to go off as favourite for this week’s tournament and that market support looks to be justified.
The South Korean missed the cut at both the US PGA Championship and the US Open, but his form in regular PGA Tour events reads 12-4-9-8-3 and he also posted a victory in his homeland in that period.
Those Stateside performances came in stronger looking events than this one, including last time out when he was third behind Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim at the Travelers Championship, and punters should not be discouraged by the 41st he posted here on his last appearance three years ago.
Thompson keeps knocking at the door
Davis Thompson found Cameron Davis the only player better than him at the Rocket Mortgage last week and he should be in a position to make a bold bid for glory this week.
Thompson, who was second behind Jon Rahm in last year’s American Express Championship, was also runner-up at the Myrtle Beach Classic in May and should make a vast improvement on the 31st he posted on his course debut 12 months ago.
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