🏌‍♀The Open: Who's In Who's Out?

Good Morning! The field is set for this week’s John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run - click here to find out the groups and tee times for Round 1 and 2.

Don’t forget to check out our top betting picks for the tournament!

Fun Fact: Jordan Spieth won the John Deere Classic in 2013 and became the first teenager to win on the PGA Tour since 1931.

⛳ This day in history: On this date in 1959, Gary Player won his first major championship, at age 23, winning the Open Championship at Muirfield by two strokes over Fred Bullock and Flory Van Donck.

ODDS AND PICKS
Our Top Picks For John Deere Classic

🚩 The John Deere Classic tees off tomorrow with PGA Tour stars assembling at TPC Deere Run to battle it out for the prestigious title.

💰 Purse: $8 million, winner takes home $1.44 million.

Here are our top picks we’re betting on:

🚀 Most Likely to Win: Sungjae Im (+1200) has been performing exceptionally well in golf recently, achieving top-10 finishes in four of his last six tournaments. This includes a third-place finish at the Travelers Championship, where he excelled in all four major aspects of the game. Although his iron play has been a challenge throughout the season, he just had his best week in terms of approach shots. Additionally, Im has a history of thriving in conditions where scoring is easier.

🚀 Key Player in the Top 5: JT Poston (+550) consistently excels on shorter, easier courses that rely heavily on wedge play. He won the John Deere Classic in 2022 and remains one of the top bentgrass putters and wedge players in this tournament. These strengths enable him to compete effectively on softer courses. After finishing in the top six in his last two events at TPC Deere Run, we anticipate another strong showing from Poston in the Quad Cities.

🚀 Key Player in the Top 10: Lucas Glover (+400), a previous champion of the John Deere Classic, has demonstrated exceptional wedge play, making his success unsurprising. Besides his 2022 win, Glover has achieved two other top-10 finishes at TPC Deere Run in his last four appearances. Following another impressive performance in approach shots at the Travelers Championship, Glover is expected to be a significant contender at the John Deere Classic again

🚀 Key Player in the Top 20: After finishing 25th last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Nate Lashley (+350) tends to excel on easier courses. He has also secured two top-30 finishes in his three appearances at the John Deere Classic. His success on such courses is not surprising, considering his strong approach game and bentgrass putting skills.

🚀 Underdog Likely to Emerge: Kelly Kraft (+17500) always does well on these types of setups for his approach and putting upside, and this week is no different. Kraft ranks top-25 in this field in bentgrass putting, recent approach play and proximity from 100-150 yards. He recently finished T-13 at the CJ Cup presented by Byron Nelson on a similar setup, and we expect him to surprise this week again.

* All odds via BetMGM, at the time of publishing.

ALBATROSS
The Open 2024: Who's In Who's Out?

The 16 players to qualify for the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon have been confirmed, after 36 holes of final qualifying at Royal Cinque Ports, Burnham and Berrow, West Lancashire and Dundonald Links.

There are two more events left to finalize the field: the John Deere Classic (top two finishers not already exempt) and Genesis Scottish Open (top three finishers not already exempt). The total number of competitors is expected to be 159.

📌 Justin Rose secured his spot after rounds of 66 and 68 to finish in a tie for first at Burnham and Berrow.

📌 LIV Golfer Abraham Ancer and Charli Lindh of Sweden claimed the other two spots via a three-for-two playoff.

📌 2017 Masters winner Sergio Garcia will miss out on The Open for the second year in a row after finishing two strokes behind the qualifying spots in West Lancashire.

⛳️ Sergio Garcia Blames Fans: Sergio Garcia got a slow-play warning on the eighth hole during Tuesday's final qualifier for the 2024 Open Championship and he was clearly not happy about it. He claimed the reason his group was lagging behind was due to having to wait for crowds to clear out of the way before he hit his shots.

At one point, the 44-year-old Spaniard got into a testy exchange with a pair of R&A rules officials as he walked up the fairway. "You're always right, we're always wrong" - click here to watch the video.

Garcia eventually failed to qualify. He came up two strokes short after shooting 71 and 70 over two rounds to finish sixth, with only four advancing to Royal Troon, where The Open will take place from July 18 to 21.

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TWEET
Worth Mentioning

EAGLE
Dutch Golfer Wins Court Case Against Federation

A Dutch court has determined that professional golfer Joost Luiten can indeed compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris after the Netherlands Olympic Committee and Netherlands Sports Federation had said it would not send three players who qualified to the Games.

It is not yet clear though what impact Luiten’s court victory would have on the two other Dutch golfers who qualified for Paris - Darius van Driel on the men’s side and Dewi Weber for the women.

🎯 What's the Controversy about? The Dutch Olympic golf controversy arose after the three players involved began speaking out about being denied by their own country the chance to play in the Olympics.

60 players in each gender qualify through rules established by the IOC and International Golf Federation. A maximum of four players from each gender and any one country can participate—though outside of the top 15 in the IGF Olympic rankings, that number is reduced to two.

The Dutch trio fulfilled those requirements, but in June, NOC/NSF told the players and the Netherlands Golf Federation that they would not be going because they didn’t have a “reasonable chance” of finishing in the top eight in the Olympics.

Now that the Dutch golfer has won the case, he will be travelling to Paris and represent his country at the Le Golf National.

LOCKER ROOM
What else is making news

The Open: LIV Golf representatives excluding Sergio Garcia fared slightly better in their efforts to crack into the 2024 British Open field than they did ahead of the US Open - check out who made it.

No Course: Despite being one of the world's richest nations per capita, Singapore just lost its last public 18-hole golf course. Fewer than a dozen private golf clubs remain, and the country is without an 18-hole public golf course as Marina Bay Golf Course has permanently closed.

Solheim Cup: Lilia Vu becomes the second American to make it to the 2024 Solheim Cup squad. She joins Nelly Korda as the first two automatic qualifiers for the US side.

BIRDIE
These Golfers Are Contenders For Rookie Of The Year

The FedExCup Playoffs are on the horizon and our focus shifts to the end-of-season awards. While Scottie Scheffler seems set to win Player of the Year, the race for the Arnold Palmer Award for the top rookie remains wide open - here are the contenders.

🏌‍♀Matthieu Pavon: Pavon finished third at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, briefly reaching No. 1 in the FedExCup. He also placed T12 at the Masters, a notable achievement for a rookie. His current rank of 13th in the season-long standings makes him the Rookie of the Year frontrunner. With three rookie winners this season, his high ranking could be decisive.

🏌‍♀Nick Dunlap: Due to his amateur status, Dunlap didn't receive the 500 FedExCup points awarded to winners after his American Express victory. This is significant, as he's currently 87th in the standings but would be in the top 50 if eligible for those points. Rookie of the Year is decided by TOUR members, who value talent over pure results, potentially benefiting Dunlap as the season progresses.

🏌‍♀Jake Knapp: Knapp won earlier this year at the Mexico Open at Vidanta and finished T4 the next week at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. Ranked 44th in the FedExCup, Knapp projects to make the Playoffs and give Pavon a run for the top rookie in the standings.

🏌‍♀Michael Thorbjornsen: Thorbjornsen finished T39 in his pro debut at the Travelers Championship, highlighted by a second-round 64. It will only take one top finish from Thorbjornsen to elevate into the Rookie of the Year conversation. He also benefits from the awards running through the end of the calendar year, so Thorbjornsen will have the entire fall schedule to catch up.

🏌‍♀Alejandro Tosti: Tosti has come close to winning already this season - he finished T2 at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, one shot shy of Stephan Jaeger. He has not quite emerged as a formidable contender though but there's still time for him to change that.

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DRIVING RANGE
Lower Your Handicap

In today's video, we show you a trending method to lower your golf handicap.

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