How to watch the 2025 John Deere Classic: Tee times, streaming info, picks and updated odds

New York Times

02-07-2025

Off to the Quad Cities … no, not the train riders, but the drivers and putters. The PGA Tour's annual John Deere Classic starts up on Thursday afternoon. Winners since 2010 include Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau, Sepp Straka and Davis Thompson, who arrives as the tournament's defending champion after last year's record score. The next name on that list will reveal itself in the days to come.
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ESPN+ will have coverage of featured groups and holes. CBS coverage can also be streamed on Paramount+.
Fittingly, Fourth of July action goes down at the Quad Cities. Ben Griffin opens as the field's favorite. The North Carolina product tied for eighth place at the PGA Championship, then won outright at May's Charles Schwab Challenge. He has finished at No. 14 or better in each of his four subsequent outings, and came in fifth at last year's Deere.
Griffin is followed by a cadre of competitive Americans hitting the greens. Fellow Carolinian J.T. Poston has a strong approach shot; he tied for fifth at the Championship. Jake Knapp tied for fourth at the Rocket Classic, and his mix of long drives and precise putts puts him in consideration this weekend. Denny McCarthy has three consecutive top-10 finishes at Deere Run.
The international talent has multiple headliners. South African riser Aldrich Potgieter is coming off his first Tour victory at just 20 years old. Kevin Yu (Chinese Taipei) notched a fourth-place finish at Myrtle Beach in May, and came in third at last month's Canadian Open. Jason Day enters the tourney ranked No. 28 in the world; the Aussie has four top-10 placements thus far.
This weekend's purse exceeds $8 million. Up next is the Scottish Open, set to begin July 10.
The complete list of tee times can be found here.
Courtesy of The Athletic's sports betting editor Vik Chokshi:
There's no rocket science involved here. My outright bets are usually based on a couple of models I follow, and I take into account course history and form. I also love betting on golf long shots (usually +2000 or longer range). Here are a couple of guys I think are worth sprinkling pizza money on this week:
Outright winner picks (odds via BetMGM)
Denny McCarthy +2500
Mark Hubbard +5000
Lee Hodges +6600
Emiliano Grillo +6600
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(Photo of Ben Griffin: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)