Sleeper Picks: John Deere Classic – PGA TOUR

Andrew Novak (+8000) … The next outright Sleeper to win the tournament for which he’s touted in this space will be the first, so you know that going in. It’s also been five years (and four editions) since the last time a first-time winner was crowned at the John Deere Classic (Dylan Frittelli). Despite those headwinds of history, the 29-year-old non-winner is worthy of the challenge. Formerly and primarily a short-lister only on paspalum putting surfaces, he’s proven that his game travels. He rolls in with top 20s in his last two starts and six on the season, three of which were consecutive top 10s early on. Overall, he’s 16th on the PGA TOUR in greens in regulation, T14 in proximity, 18th in conversion percentage inside 10 feet and 35th in adjusted scoring – also 2-for-2 at TPC Deere Run with a scoring average of 68.63 on the par 71.