European Ryder Cup hero not a fan of 'small events' ahead of John Deere Classic

Sepp Straka has revealed he 'doesn't like' the small-field events on the PGA Tour on the eve of his title defence at this week's John Deere Classic.

Straka, 31, sealed his second career title on the PGA Tour with a two-shot win at TPC Deere Run in 2023. 

He then took his good form into The Open and recorded his best major finish to date with a T2 at Royal Liverpool.

It was a two-tournament stretch for Straka that saw him earn a place in Luke Donald's victorious 2023 European Ryder Cup team in Rome.

Speaking ahead of his title defence at the John Deere Classic, the World No.24 was asked just how important full-field, 156-player events like this one are on the PGA Tour schedule, especially in light of a number of changes on the circuit. 

While some PGA Tour events comprise field sizes between 140 and 156 players, others such as limited-field $20m Signature Events come without a cut and a field between 70 and 80 players. 

But in the eyes of Straka, there is nothing quite like competing against a full field of 155 other PGA Tour players with a halfway cut, just as the case is at TPC Deere Run this week.

Scroll below for Straka's comments...

Straka said: 

"I think they are [full-field PGA Tour events] very important. I personally don't like the small events. I just think it's less competitive when you get 140 something guys. It's always a tougher environment, tougher -- with a cut you kind of have to be ready on Thursday when the bell rings.

"The bigger tournaments should be bigger fields as well I think. But, yeah, these tournaments are massive because a lot of the guys, most of the guys, aren't getting in those small-field, big events.

"So for the majority of the PGA Tour these tournaments are huge. They kind of are still the majority of the PGA Tour here."

This week's prize purse is $8m with the winner walking away with $1.4m. 

Straka enters his title defence this week off the back some solid results, including three top-five finishes in his last seven starts. 

The Austrian starts the week as joint tournament favourite alongside in-form Sungjae Im at odds of 16/1.

Other notable names in action this week include Jordan Spieth, who won his first PGA Tour title at the 2013 John Deere Classic, Jason Day and Aaron Rai.