Value Report: John Deere Classic

Wow, what a week! In my home state of Michigan, the Rocket Mortgage Classic absolutely delivered one of the best tournaments of the year. Of course I may be slightly biased with the result of flag plant and 125/1 bet Aldrich Potgieter getting his first win, but I’m all for these mid-tier events. And I’m a big fan too of Max Greyserman — there’s no doubt his maiden victory is coming soon after his fourth runner-up finish in the past 12 months. Detroit Golf Club gave us an incredibly bunched leaderboard, making Sunday very dramatic from start to finish. Power hitters were what really came through as well, and with many of them still being able to show accuracy off the tee, it really unlocked crazy scoring opportunities all week long. Let’s keep this winning trend rolling!

On a week I would have been very happy to have just Aldrich Potgieter on the list with his victory, we were able to find ourselves two other top-five finishers to make this the most memorable Value Report of the past two years. Cover boy Jake Knapp started very slowly before busting out a 61 on Friday to get himself well in the mix. If it wasn’t for the missed putts on 17 and 18, Knapp could’ve absolutely won this golf tournament. Michael Thorbjornsen is likely kicking himself too, as he held the lead early Sunday before retracing to T4. He looks to be fully healthy again, which is great to see for one of the most talented young players on Tour. The common trait that those two share with winner Potgieter is just unbelievable speed that has them driving it 20 yards further than field average. I can understand that not all courses show that distance provides a true benefit, but we’ve already seen multiple instances this year of neutral courses playing very differently than their historical numbers and favoring the longest of hitters. Their ceiling outcomes in this department give them multiple wedge shots per round under 100 yards, and even with average iron play, they can dominate a golf tournament.