Sepp Straka will be looking to win the 2024 John Deere Classic for the second time in a row when the tournament begins Thursday at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois. No player has successfully defended his title at the John Deere Classic since Steve Stricker won three straight tournaments from 2009-2011. Last year, Straka closed with a 9-under 62 on Sunday to win by two strokes. This year, he enters the tournament as one of three co-favorites to win the 2024 John Deere Classic at +1800 odds.
The other two favorites to win are two-time John Deere Classic winner Jordan Spieth and Sungjae Lim. Aaron Lai (+2200), Maverick McNeely (+2500), Keith Mitchell (+2500) and Denny McCarthy (+2500) round out the top seven 2024 John Deere Classic competitors. Before you lock in your John Deere Classic 2024 picks, be sure to check out golf betting and fantasy expert Shia Nejad’s PGA Tour predictions and best bets.
Nejad specializes in golf and other sports betting and DFS. He has seen incredible success in outrights, first round leader markets and head-to-head bets. He has also had a solid run in head-to-head bets since last year’s Charles Schwab Challenge, returning 13.22 units with 50 wins, 34 losses and 5 ties in that span. This translates to a profit of $1,322 on a $100 bet from May 2023 onwards.
Nejad also picked Wyndham Clark to win last year’s Wells Fargo Championship, when he was a 75-to-1 longshot. In 2023, SportsLine debuted “The Early Wedge,” and in the show’s first three months, it has picked two first-round leaders and three winners.
Now, Nejad has his eye on the 2024 John Deere Classic field and has pinned down his best bets, top sleepers and favorites to avoid. See them at SportsLine.
2024 John Deere Classic Experts’ Top Picks
One surprise is that Nejad completely ignored Jordan Spieth, even though he is listed as one of the three co-favorites for the John Deere Classic at +1800 odds. Spieth has had success at TPC Deere Run, winning the event twice, in 2013 and 2015, but hasn’t played in the tournament since his last win.
Additionally, Spieth has struggled greatly around the greens this season, ranking 78th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained around the greens (+0.068), the worst of his career. “I think his short odds coming into this tournament, just based on name recognition, are in the +3000 range,” Nejad told SportsLine.
Instead, Nejad favors defending champion Sepp Straka (+1800) as a likely winner. Straka, ranked 24th in the world, enters the John Deere Classic in good form. Over the past three months, Straka has three top-five finishes and has qualified in eight of nine starts. In contrast, over the first three months of the season, he has zero top-10 finishes and failed to qualify in four of eight starts.
Nejad praised Straka’s tee shot accuracy, who ranks second on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy (77.76%). “He has the spike potential to sweat it out on Sunday and pull off a complete victory,” Nejad said. Find out which other players to root for with SportsLine.
How to Choose a 2024 John Deere Classic
Nejad has his best bets locked in for the 2024 John Deere Classic, including multiple long shots with odds of +6000 or better. This player is a long shot who can “smash the ball off the tee” and potentially pull off a surprise. See Nejad’s PGA Tour picks exclusively at SportsLine.
So which players should you target or avoid in the 2024 John Deere Classic, and which John Deere Classic 2024 competitors have the potential to bring in a huge prize pool of over +6000? Check out the odds below, then visit SportsLine to see the top picks for the 2024 John Deere Classic from expert Shia Nejad, who has 50 wins, 34 losses and 5 ties in his last 89 golf head-to-head matches.
2024 John Deere Classic Odds, Field
Check out Nejad’s picks, best bets and predictions here.
Lim Sungjae +1800
Sepp Straka +1800
Jordan Spieth +1800
Aaron Lai +2200
Maverick McNeely +2500
Keith Mitchell +2500
Denny McCarthy +2500
Davis Thompson +2800
Jason Day +3000
JT Poston +3000
Nick Dunlap +3500
Sam Stevens +4000
Kevin Yu +4000
Luke Clanton +4500
Adam Svensson +4500
Eric Cole +5000
Mark Hubbard +5500
Lucas Glover +5500
Ben Griffin +5500
Bo Hosler +5500
Torbjorn Olsen +6000
Hisatsugu Ryo +6000
Patrick Rodgers +6000
Michael Thorbjornsen +6000
Doug Ghim +6000
Daniel Berger +6000
Sheamus Power +6500
Lee Hodges +7000
JJ Spahn +7000
Andrew Novak +7000
Adam Schenk +7000
Jonathan Vegas +7500
SH Kim +8000
Neil Shipley +8000
Nate Lashley +8000
Michael Kim +8000
KH Lee +8000
Davis Riley +8000
Andrew Putnam +8000
Alejandro Tosti +8000
Mac Meissner +9000
Luke List +9000
Joseph Bramlett +9000
Jake Knapp +9000
Jacob Bridgman +9000
Hayden Springer +9000
Dylan Wu +9000
Brendon Todd +9000
Rico Hoey +10000
Justin Lower +10000
Chris Gotterup +10000
Chandler Phillips +10000
Chan Kim +10000
Alex Smalley +10000
Zach Johnson +11000
Pierson Coody +11000
Joel Dahmen +11000
Grayson Sig +11000
David Skins +11000
Cameron Champ +11000
CT bread +11000
Vince Whaley +12000
Troy Merritt +12000
Sami Valimaki +12000
Sam Ryder +12000
Ryan Moore +12000
Patton Kizzir +12000
Nick Hardy +12000
Max Glaserman +12000
Jimmy Stanger +12000
Harry Hole +12000
Garrick Higo +12000
Chesson Hadley +12000
Carson Young +12000
Bud Corey +12000
Ben Silverman +12000
Ben Coles +12000
Will Gordon +15000
Tyler Duncan +15000
Patrick Fishburne +15000
Parker Coody +15000
Matt Kuchar +15000
Martin Laird +15000
Kevin Tway +15000
Kevin Dougherty +15000
Justin Su +15000
Jorge Campillo +15000
Karl Yuan +15000
Bryce Garnett +15000
Trace Crow +17000
Stewart Cink +17000
Lant Griffin +17000
Kelly Craft +17000
Harry Higgs +17000
Chad Ramey +17000
Adrien Dumont de Chassard +17000
Cole Sherwood +18000
Zach Blair +20000
Ryan Palmer +20000
Robbie Shelton +20000
Peter Malnati +20000
Matt Nesmith +20000
Kevin Streelman +20000
Joe Highsmith +20000
Hayden Buckley +20000
Brandon Wu +20000
SY Noh +25000
Nico Echavarria +25000
Nicholas Lindheim +25000
Henrik Norlander +25000
David Lipsky +25000
Chez Levi +25000
Wilson Furr +30000
Wesley Bryan +30000
Scott Piercy +30000
Ryan McCormick +30000
Rafael Campos +30000
Calum Talen +30000
Bill Haas +30000
Roger Sloan +35000
Kyle Westmoreland +35000
Harrison Endicott +35000
Eric Burns +35000
Austin Smotherman +35000
Tyson Alexander +40000
Tom Whitney +40000
Kevin Chappell +40000
Jackson Buchanan +40000
Dylan Frittelli +40000
Austin Cook +40000
Adam Long +40000
Sean O’Hare +50000
Ricky Werenski +50000
Martin Trainer +50000
Paul Bargeon +60000
James Hahn +60000
Camilo Villegas +60000
Ryan Brehm +70000
Anders Albertsson +70000
Scott Gaczewski +100000
Kevin Kisner +100000
Josh Teeter +100000
Brandt Snedeker +100000
Tracy Best +250000
Blaine Hale Jr. +250000
Ben Taylor +250000
Andrew Landry +250000
Raul Pereda +500000
Nick Watney +500000
