Before the PGA TOUR heads to the United Kingdom for a pair of events, the Midwest swing wraps up with this week’s tournament. The 2025 John Deere Classic will take place July 3-6 in Silvis, Illinois, at TPC Deere Run. The Quad Cities region has been the home for this event for many years, and this year, the tournament sits in a strategic spot just five weeks before the FedExCup Playoffs. Let’s take a look at the history of the event and the course and what to expect this week on the banks of the Rock River.
The History of the John Deere Classic
The tournament began in 1971 as the Quad Cities Open, taking place on the border between Illinois and Iowa. In 1999, John Deere stepped in as the title sponsor, creating the John Deere Classic. The John Deere family also donated the land for TPC Deere Run, which has hosted the event for 25 straight years, with the exception of a cancellation in 2020.
This event has traditionally landed just before The Open Championship on the calendar, but the last few years, the PGA TOUR has added the Scottish Open as a full event, moving the John Deere Classic to two weeks ahead of the final major of the season. It is still one of the final places that players can qualify for The Open Championship, which is always a top motivation for those in the field.
Another key motivation is the FedExCup points with the playoffs looming just around the corner and players jockeying for position to qualify and advance in the lucrative PGA TOUR postseason.
Recent winners on this track include Bryson DeChambeau, Michael Kim, Lucas Glover, J.T. Poston, Sepp Straka and defending champion Davis Thompson. Thompson is looking to become the first back-to-back winner since Steve Stricker, who won three straight events on this track from 2009-2011. Another notable winner at TPC Deere Run was Jordan Spieth, who won here in 2013 as a 19-year-old.
This year, the field includes some big-name PGA TOUR pros battling for playoff positioning along with plenty of players looking to get their breakthrough win at this event, like Davis Thompson did last year. Like Spieth several years ago, this tournament usually gives young players a chance to emerge onto the scene and several of the young rising stars are in the field this week looking to make a splash. It’s a good week to get familiar with some of them ahead of the playoffs when they’ll look to lock up their PGA TOUR cards for next season.
Last year, Thompson set a course record on the way to his four-stroke victory over Luke Clanton, C.T. Pan and Michael Thorbjornsen. Clanton, Thompson and Thorbjornsen are all back in the field this week.
The winner this week will receive 500 FedExCup points and a hefty share of the $8.4 million purse. Like last week in Detroit, this week’s tournament has the standard field size and 36-hole cut to the top 65 and ties.
To find all the details on the field, check out this post from my colleague Ciaran Doyle.
A Closer Look at the Course
TPC Deere Run is a par-71 layout that typically turns into a low-scoring birdie fest much like last week’s event at Detroit Golf Club. The fairways are wide and welcoming allowing for tight approach shots and plenty of birdie chances.
The course is one of the most rural and picturesque on the PGA TOUR, even though it doesn’t play extremely hard. The bentgrass fairways, Kentucky bluegrass rough, and bentgrass greens are tucked into the rolling terrain along the Rock River that sets up some dramatic elevation changes among stately oak trees and plenty of ponds and ravines.
Here’s a hole-by-hole refresher on what to expect this week:
While it isn’t an overly challenging course relative to par, it is a very fair layout that allows players to spike and post a high finish if they can get their putter going.
Unlike last week where driving distance was one of the key indicators of success, this week offers multiple pathways to victory. In General, the course has favored players who hit the ball accurately off the tee and can knock it close with wedge play while catching a hit streak with their putter.
Course history and the ability to go low in a hurry with multiple par-breakers will be key this week. From a statistical perspective, it makes sense to focus on players who rank highly in Birdie or Better %, Strokes Gained: Approach and Par 4 Scoring.
Stay tuned to DraftKings Network for best bets and fantasy golf picks throughout the week! It should be another fun summer tournament in the Midwest before the focus shifts across the pond for a couple of weeks before the final playoff push.
