Chris Gotterup Wins The John Deere Classic For Third Win Of 2026
Chris Gotterup secured his fifth career victory and third of the season at the John Deere Classic, triumphing in a dramatic finish. Despite Lucas Glover leading for much of the tournament, Gotterup surged on Sunday to claim the win. The victory was sealed when Ben Kohles, needing only a par on the final hole to force a playoff, hit an errant approach shot into the water. This win adds to Gotterup's earlier successes at the Sony Open and Phoenix Waste Management Open, boosting his Official World Golf Ranking points. The John Deere Classic, known for its weaker field due to its PGA Tour schedule, offered a crucial opportunity for players like Gotterup, who now prepares for the Scottish Open. Betting analysis noted Gotterup as a successful Top 5 pick.
Where the John Deere Classic falls on the PGA Tour schedule let fans know the field would not be as strong as many would have liked. The U.S. Open was two weeks ago, and the biggest name remained in the field last eek for the final signature event, the Travelers Championship. That meant most of those premiere players were taking this week off before going overseas to prepare for the Open Championship in two weeks.
But for a select group of golfers, an event like the John Deere can help propel their Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points and get them into bigger fields in the foreseeable future. The question just became who would be able to take advantage of the field, and the course, at TPC Deere Run.
Despite Lucas Glover leading almost the entire tournament, it was Chris Gotterup who stormed up the leaderboard on Sunday and made enough shots to claim victory. But the win didn’t come without drama.
With Gotterup in the clubhouse as the leader, Ben Kohles needed just a par to send the John Deere Classic to a playoff. However, an errant approach shot into the lake denied the playoff berth, and gave Gotterup his 5th career victory, and his third of this season.
Gotterup now has wins at the Sony Open, Phoenix Waste Management Open, and now the John Deere Classic. This all in preparation for the Scottish Open next week, a tournament he won in 2025.
Let’s take a look at who was projected to be contending, based on pre-tournament odds.
When it came to picks for this event, I like to start with my favorite and long shot picks for the tournament. The favorite pick is the winner pick I like the most. For the long shot winner, that is a golfer who has over +2000 odds to win. It is a long shot pick for a reason, and finding those can be like finding a needle in a haystack.
Poston had played well as of late, and the thought of him continuing that trend wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. However, Poston struggled this week and finished with a T51 finish. While he did make the cut, he wasn’t close to the outright winner.
The last time we saw Tom Kim on the golf course, before the John Deere, was at the U.S. Open where he had an impressive finish at Shinnecock Hills. The good vibes didn’t carry over for Kim who finished T46, and my streak of never hitting a long shot play continues.
I keep waiting for the Ben Griffin who won three times on tour in 2025 to return, and you have to wonder if it will ever return? Griffin finished the John Deere with a T21 finish. Just not good enough when you have him as a Top 5 pick.
Our lone bright spot this week was taking Gotterup, who won the tournament, with a Top 5 pick. It cashed out at +300, but could have fetched us +1400 if we took him to win the tournament. Nonetheless, we’ll take every win we can get.
Mitchell, like the aforementioned Kim, was playing well heading into the John Deere Classic, but he failed to meet the criteria for out Top 10 play. Mitchell’s T51 finish was a poor placement pick.
Bradley helped us at the Travelers Championship with a winning Top 20 play, but taking him in the Top 10 category was too much to ask. Bradley finished T20, and didn’t help us this week, like he did last week.
We took Kim as our long shot play, and my feeling was if he didn’t content he would at least be near the Top 20 area of the field. His T46 didn’t match, and we lost our Top 20 pick.
With the new PGA Tour model set to be introduced in 2027, there are some golfers who should be concerned for their future. Jordan Spieth would fall into that category. Spieth has never been able to get his game back on track, and his T53 finish this past weekend illustrates how he could be facing relegation in the future if he can’t figure some things out to help improve his scores.
For bonus plays, these are picks which I don’t necessarily hang my hat on, but still provide value for some who want more exotic plays outside of the aforementioned picks. Sometimes bonus plays are parlays, double chances, triple chances, and even some fun plays for that particular event.