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2019 John Deere Classic odds: Viktor Hovland opens as the favorite at TPC Deere Run . . . wait, what?
Michael Reaves
Over the last two years, former Oklahoma State teammates Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff have traded blows like prize fighters. Wolff was the clear star in early 2018, but Hovland responded with a U.S. Amateur victory at Pebble Beach and low-Amateur honors at both the Masters and U.S. Open. Wolff's response? He earned the NCAA individual title less than two months ago, and followed that up with his maiden PGA Tour victory at the 3M Open in just his third professional start and his fourth start overall. Hovland is so last week.
Though it's not a victory or even a top-10 finish, the 21-year-old Norwegian had an impressive counter to Wolff's victory on Monday, and he did it without swinging a club. According to the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, Hovland is the favorite to win the John Deere Classic this week at TPC Deere Run at 18/1 odds. No, that's not a joke. Just four starts into his pro career, Hovland is favored to win this week, after a pair of T-13s in the Rocket Mortgage Classic and the 3M Open.
That might be mostly a reflection of one of the weaker fields of the PGA Tour season, which includes past John Deere champions like Brian Harman, Zach Johnson and Ryan Moore. Harman and Johnson check in at 25/1, while Moore is 30/1. Then there are names like Charles Howell III, Sam Burns and Cameron Champ, all of whom have contended lately. Yet Vegas is buying into the Hovland hype, a sign of respect for how he's played so far.
Vegas is also high on 3M Open runner-up Collin Morikawa, who has the second lowest odds at 20/1. Another young star, Joaquin Niemann, is also at 20/1, likely based off the strength of his recent results. The 20-year-old Chilean has made seven consecutive cuts and gone T-5, T-5, T-23 in his last three events. Sungjae Im, 21, joins Morikawa and Niemann at 20/1.
It's not outlandish to expect a young, breakthrough winner this week at TPC Deere Run, as it's happened quite often there in the past. Last season, Michael Kim was 300/1 when he earned his first victory there by eight strokes (Kim has the odds this week). The year prior Bryson DeChambeau got his first win by one stroke over Patrick Rodgers. And then there was Jordan Spieth, who claimed his first win at the 2013 John Deere in epic fashion.
Here are the rest of the odds for the 2019 John Deere Classic:
Viktor Hovland 18/1
Collin Morikawa 20/1
Joaquin Niemann 20/1
Sungjae Im 20/1
Matthew Wolff 25/1
Kevin Streelman 25/1
Lucas Glover 25/1
Charles Howell III 25/1
Zach Johnson 25/1
Brian Harman 25/1
Daniel Berger 25/1
Ryan Moore 30/1
Kyle Stanley 40/1
Bud Cauley 40/1
Sam Burns 40/1
Wyndham Clark 40/1
Kevin Tway 40/1
Joel Dahmen 50/1
Ryan Palmer 50/1
Jason Dufner 50/1
Nate Lashley 60/1
Scott Brown 60/1
Bronson Burgoon 60/1
J.T. Poston 60/1
Martin Laird 60/1
Cameron Champ 60/1
Mackenzie Hughes 60/1
Peter Malnati 60/1
Denny McCarthy 60/1
Pat Perez 60/1
Vaughn Taylor 60/1
Troy Merritt 60/1
Nick Watney 80/1
Jhonattan Vegas 80/1
Cameron Tringale 80/1
Johnson Wagner 80/1
Danny Lee 80/1
Austin Cook 80/1
Sam Ryder 80/1
Harold Varner III 80/1
Beau Hossler 80/1
Sepp Straka 80/1
Talor Gooch 80/1
Nick Taylor 80/1
Brian Stuard 80/1
Doc Redman 100/1
Russell Henley 100/1
Kyoung-Hoon Lee 100/1
Matt Jones 100/1
Ryan Armour 100/1
Carlos Ortiz 100/1
Roger Sloan 100/1
Joey Garber 100/1
Brice Garnett 100/1
Shawn Stefani 100/1
Hank Lebioda 100/1
Bill Haas 125/1
Peter Uihlein 125/1
Scott Stallings 125/1
Matt Every 125/1
Andrew Landry 125/1
Stephan Jaeger 125/1
Michael Thompson 125/1
Luke Donald 125/1
Zack Sucher 150/1
Adam Long 150/1
Trey Mullinax 150/1
Sam Saunders 150/1
Roberto Castro 150/1
Ted Potter, Jr 150/1
Kramer Hickok 150/1
Alex Prugh 150/1
Seamus Power 150/1
Ollie Schniederjans 200/1
Curtis Luck 200/1
Cameron Davis 200/1
Stewart Cink 200/1
Michael Kim 300/1
Ho Sung Choi 500/1
Field (all others) 5/1