Heading to the Midwest this week, TPC Deere Run will host the 2022 John Deere Classic.
This event has historically played the warmup role ahead of The Open Championship with players getting a charter to the links shortly after the tournament ends.
Not this year, as there is a double-event week next week in the lead-up to St. Andrews. In theory, the move on the schedule could have brightened the field for the JDC. Instead, many of the stars took the quick trip from Boston to Cromwell to play last week and are now taking the week off before playing in Scotland. The addition of the LIV Golf event didn’t help, either. The result is a field that thins out rather quickly this week.
There is still plenty to play for, though, and it’s played on a course that we know very well. Let’s get right into it.
The Course
TPC Deere Run was laid out around the same time Will Smith was laying down the tracks for Will 2K and it’s played the host role since that 2000 edition.
Checking out the scorecard, we see a par-71 layout that plays to 7,289 yards. That’s a 21-yard increase over last year, but still not too lengthy by any means.
The par 5s are both reachable for the entire field. There are only three par 4s over 455 yards. The result is a course that doesn’t demand power, but is precision a prerequisite? Not particularly.
Off the tee, golfers will see some of the wider fairways they see all year. It leads to the field hitting roughly 10-of-14 fairways per round. A lot of second shots will originate from the short grass.
It’s no surprise then to see that the field also finds a very high percentage of greens in regulation (71%). A part of that is being able to attack from the fairways with short irons and another piece of the puzzle is due to the time of year and regional climate. When you head to the Midwest in the summer, you will get heat and humidity and there is only so much a course superintendent can do in terms of aiming for firm conditions while not killing the turf. The result is…
Source : yahoo
