2023 John Deere Classic: Top 10 Power Rankings at TPC Deere Run

Russell Henley is making his fourth John Deere Classic appearance. It’s understandable why players don’t come to this event annually, but it may behoove him to show up to the Quad Cities more often.

Not only has he made the cut every time, but he’s yet to finish outside the top 30. Henley took T-27th (70-67-68-69) in 2014, solo second (64-68-72-61) in 2019, and T-11th (67-66-69-68) in 2021.

His 11-shot improvement from Saturday to Sunday netted him low round of the tournament in 2019. Henley nearly came back to win, falling two shots shy of Dylan Frittelli, who also closed strong with a 64.

"“I haven’t played here a lot, but it’s a cool course,” Henley was transcribed by ASAP Sports in 2019. “It’s fun. There’s a lot of cool shots you hit. It’s beautiful, and it’s run really well. I enjoy being here. It’s a nice place and you get rewarded for hitting good shots.”"

Not only is Henley a good horse for the course, but he comes to TPC Deere Run in fine form.

The former Georgia Bulldog is on a streak of four consecutive top-20s and has eight in his last nine starts. Henley is a winner this season at the Worldwide Technology Championship at Mayakoba and finished T-4th at the Masters and T-14th at the U.S. Open.

The 34-year-old leads the PGA Tour this season in a stat that pops off the page this week: driving accuracy. Henley is hitting 73.09% of his fairways.

He’s also 50th in total strokes gained per round (.581), including 27th in SG tee-to-green (.865).

Henley is 10th in average proximity to the hole (35’3”), which can help him overcome the lone statistical weakness in his game of late, putting.

The greens this week aren’t overly challenging, so if he can stick it close, he can get hot enough to hoist the trophy.