Time to play ball!

Here are Wes Reynolds' selections for the John Deere Classic:

Tom Kim (35-1, DraftKings) It has been over two-and-a-half years since Kim has won, but he appears closer than he has been in the last 18 months.

He finished third two weeks ago at the U.S. Open and gained strokes across the board. That was Kim’s best finish anywhere since late 2024.

Kim ranks third in this field for Strokes Gained: Approach and sixth in Good Drives.

All of his PGA Tour victories have been in birdie-fests on shorter courses (TPC Summerlin, Sedgefield) and TPC Deere Run fits that bill as well.

Michael Thorbjornsen (35-1, BetMGM) With all of this week’s buzz surrounding Jackson Koivun making his professional debut, let’s look to another former PGA Tour U winner who finished runner-up in his third professional start here two years ago at the John Deere Classic.

Thorbjornsen has four top-3 finishes in his last 2.5 seasons and has been close to a victory on these birdie-fest courses.

Ryo Hisatsune (50-1, BetMGM) While he has cooled a bit from his early-season form of having four top-10 finishes before April, Hisatsune has remained solid with 18 consecutive made cuts since missing in the first event of the season at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

He is an excellent positional driver (third in Good Drives Gained) and can go low on easier courses (first in the field for Par-5 Performance; top 20 Birdie Or Better).

Due to his early-season success, he has played the full “Signature Event” schedule, but now he gets a drop-in class with most of those big names away. The price has drifted too high on a consistent player.

Jackson Suber (60-1, Fanatics) Suber ranks top 7 in this field for Strokes Gained: Approach, Good Drives and Proximity from 100-150 yards. That’s the recipe to win here.

His nearest taste to winning was just three weeks ago as the 54-hole leader at the RBC Canadian Open before finishing T-4.

That was Suber’s third top-4 finish of the year as he also did so at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson (another birdie-fest) and at the Astara Golf Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Daniel Berger (61-1, DraftKings) Berger has been off his game since his agonizing playoff defeat to Akshay Bhatia at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March. Since then, he only has two top-25 finishes, including last week at The Travelers.

However, like Hisatsune, the schedule has been littered with major championships and “Signature Events.”

He ranks first in this field for Strokes Gained: Approach. The putting has been an issue, but he might have found a little something last week, gaining +1.2 strokes on Saturday/Sunday after losing -4.7 with the putter on Thursday/Friday.

Denny McCarthy (62-1, DraftKings) McCarthy has been consistent this year (made 14 of 17 cuts), but last week’s T-14 at The Travelers was his second-best finish of the season.

The John Deere has been a place to get right for him historically, considering he has finished 11-7-6-6 here the last four years.

He co-led the field last week at The Travelers for Greens In Regulation along with some of the game’s current elite (Scheffler, Fitzpatrick, Morikawa), so his irons look good and he is always known as “Denny McPutty” and has always been great on the greens here.

Ben Kohles (82-1, DraftKings) Kohles looks to be in solid shape to regain his PGA Tour card courtesy of earning his fifth career victory on the Korn Ferry Tour earlier this month. Nevertheless, this is one of his few PGA Tour starts this season and he needs to take advantage.

He led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach at the U.S. Open and finished a respectable 23rd after having to qualify the week prior.

The full tournament preview: John Deere Classic

RBROWNBETS: Well, our four-game winning streak came to an end when the Cubs beat San Diego 9-7 Tuesday night. We won and pushed on our two leans, as Detroit beat the Yankees (win) and the Boston/Washington game landed on 9 (8-1 Nationals). We felt good about the under. We have five plays on Wednesday's MLB card: The Reds (+135) over the Brewers, the Pirates (+119) over the Phillies, the Guardians (-125) over the Rangers, the Royals (+109) over the Rays and the Red Sox/Nationals game Under 9.5 (-109). Best of luck with your bets ....

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