There are a lot of top players not playing anywhere this weekend, and especially not along the Iowa-Illinois border. The field at the unfortunate John Deere Classic, played at the TPC Deere Run in Silvis IL, contains none of the top 20 players in this week’s Hawley Ratings. With the Open Championship scheduled next week at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, near Liverpool on the west-central coast of England, the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open has six of the top 20 entered. If considering the top 50 in the rankings, the Deere has 10, headed by no. 23 Kevin Kisner, while the Scottish has 13. The other top players presumably are working on their games somewhere near the west-central coast of England.

The best thing that can be said for the Deere is that the field contains a well-balanced mix of mid-range players. It includes winners of four PGA Tour events since May 1, those being Brian Harman, Wells Fargo winner; Kisner, Dean & Deluca winner; Daniel Berger, FedEx winner; and Kyle Stanley, National winner. Also it’s not hard to imagine that the contenders might include such players as Charley Hoffman, Charles Howell, Ryan Moore, Kevin Na, and veteran Steve Stricker. Kisner gets the nod as favorite based on being the highest-ranked player in the field and on a recent record that shows some streaky strong performances. He was runner-up at the Palmer in March, third at the Zurich in May, and sixth at the Memorial in May.

Among the up-and-comers who might have a chance are Bryson DeChambeau, playing drastically better recently after eight straight missed cuts earlier in the season; Joel Dahmen, who had top-10 and top-20 finishes in the Nelson and FedEx; and former world no. 1 amateur Curtis Luck.