The PGA Tour heads to the Quad Cities right outside of Davenport, Iowa this week for the John Deere Classic. This tournament is always one of the worst on the schedule. It is not because TPC Deere Run is a bad course; but because of the placement of the tournament on the PGA Schedule. The John Deere Classic is usually played right before the Open Championship in the United Kingdome. Most of the golfers want to head overseas to get adjusted to the time change and get some practice on the links course so they skip the John Deere Classic to get ready for the Scottish Open next week and the Open Championship in two weeks. That is the case once again this year.
I like watching the best golfers in the world play. I have little interest watching a bunch of scrubs competing for a spot in the Open Championship. I will cut back my play significantly for this tournament and save the extra money for the Open Championship next week.
COURSE BREAKDOWN
TPC Deere Run will be the host course this week. It plays 7,268 yards in length and is a par 71. The course is pretty easy. The par 4’s are pretty short and the fairways are wide. There is no water to be concerned with but there are a lot of bunkers to make it somewhat challenging. This is definitely a week when the short hitters can score well as long as their wedge game is in form. I expect some low scores from the golfers and some high scores in DFS.
Click here to see the course: TPC Deere Run
JOHN DEERE KEY STATS
– Stroke Gained Off the Tee
– Strokes Gained Approach
– Par 4 Scoring 350 – 450 Yards
– Birdie or Better %
Here is the recent form and course history for each golfer this week: History and Form
TOP 30 GOLFERS
CORE GOLFERS FOR JOHN DEERE
JOHN DEERE STRATEGY
Strategy for lineup construction will be tricky this week. I read on the DK Nation website that the winning lineup for the John Deere Classic last year and in 2022 spent all $50K of the salary cap and had all six golfers with double-digit ownership. In 2019 the winning lineup had six golfers priced between $7.6K and $8K and most of the golfers had single-digit ownership. So this tells us that “stars and scrubs” and a “balanced lineup” should work this week. I plan to build more “stars and scrubs” lineups because I trust the higher priced golfers more this week and there is not much difference between the golfers priced in the Mid-$7K range and the golfers in the high-$6K range.
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST
SUNGJAE IM ($10,300): I typically do not play a “stars and scrubs” lineup for Cash Contests, but I will this week. I will start the lineup off with the golfer I have picked to win. Sungjae Im has been horrible in the majors and a stud in the non-major tournaments. The chances are pretty low that the John Deere Classic will become the PGA Tour’s fifth major any time soon. Im ranks No. 6 in the key stats and No. 3 in recent form. I expect Im to score well at the John Deere Classic.
DAVIS THOMPSON ($9,600): I had to decide if I wanted to pair Sungjae Im with Sepp Straka or Aaron Rai, or save some salary and play Thompson ranks No. 1 in the key stats and No. 2 in recent form. He finished second last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and 9th earlier in June at the U.S. Open. I like Thompson’s chances of winning the John Deer Classic Sunday.
J.T. POSTON ($9,100): Poston is a course horse at TPC Deere Run. He won the John Deere Classic in 2022 and he finished 10th last year. Poston enters the tournament this year in good form. He has made the cut in 11 of his last 12 tournaments on the PGA Tour. He is one of the best putters in the field. Poston should be at the top of the leaderboard Sunday if he can get his irons dialed in like he did in 2022.
ANDREW NOVAK ($7,500): Novak is a good mid-priced golfer for the Cash Contest lineup. He has made seven of his last eight cuts on the PGA Tour. He doesn’t rank inside the top-15 in any of the key stats, but Novack does rank inside the top-35 in all of the stat categories. Novack has played in the John Deere Classic the past two years and made the cut both times. He should make the cut again this week and Novak has top-15 upside for the lineup.
PATTON KIZZIRE ($6,900): Patton got off to a slow start in 2024, but it seems like he has found his game over the last two months. Kizzire has made the cut in five of his last six tournaments on the PGA Tour. He has also made the cut in four of his last five trips to TPC Deere Run. Kizzire has the ninth-best scoring average in this tournament (69.75). He should be a safe play as a scrub in our Cash Contest lineup.
BEN KOHLES ($6,600): I will shop at Kohles this week for my final pick in my “stars and scrubs” lineup. All I need Kohles to do is make the cut. I think he can do it and Kohles has the upside to do much more. He has made five of his last six cuts on the PGA Tour. That includes a 20th-place finish last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. I thought about paying up for a different golfer, but Kohles offers just as much upside as some of the golfers priced in the $7K range.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
AARON RAI ($10,000): Maybe I am chasing last week’s performance with Rai, but I cannot ignore his recent form and his key stats. Rai has made six cuts in a row on the PGA Tour and that includes a second-place finish last week and three consecutive top-20 finishes. Rai ranks No. 1 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 4 in SG Approach and No. 2 overall in the key stats. This is his first trip to TPC Deere Run, but the course should not be too tough for Rain to figure out.
MAVERICK MCNEALY ($9,800): McNealy has played pretty well at the John Deere Classic. He finished eighth in 2022 and 18th in 2021. He has never missed a cut at TPC Deere Run. McNealy ranks No. 8 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 2 in Scrambling, No. 2 in Birdie or Better % and No. 3 overall in the key stats. The numbers suggest that I should play McNealy, so I will listen to them this week.
ERIC COLE ($8,500): Cole leads the PGA Tour in tournaments played this year. Sometimes a golfer just needs to keep grinding until they find something that works. Cole hasn’t been great this year, but he is starting to figure it out. Cole finished sixth last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. I will play Cole and hope his top-10 finish last week gives him some momentum heading into the John Deere Classic.
NEAL SHIPLEY ($7,500): It is a small sample size, but it looks like Shipley may be the real deal. This rookie has joined the PGA Tour and made his first three cuts. Shipley finished 53rd at the Masters, 26th at the U.S. Open and 20th last week at the Rocket Mortgage. He is going to keep getting better as he gets more experience. Shipley has the talent to score well in this weak field.
JOEL DAHMEN ($7,300): Doesn’t the John Deere Classic just feel like a tournament where you see Dahmen’s name at the top of the leaderboard. He is very good at playing well in these weak fields. Dahmen finished 10th at the RBC Canadian Open and 25th last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. This is more of a gut feel pick than anything else. Dahmen finished second in the John Deere Classic in 2018. Maybe he can do it again Sunday.
TROY MERRITT ($6,800): I played Merritt last week as my “punt play” for $6,500 and he rewarded me with a 17th-place finish. I will take a chance with Merritt again this week. He has made five of his last six cuts on the PGA Tour. He is a lot like Joel Dahmen. Merritt plays well in these weak fields. He finished ninth at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and 17th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Merritt finished 17th at the John Deere Classic last year. I like his chances to finish in the top-20 again Sunday.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contest: (Multi Entry Lineups)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST LINEUP
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
PGATOUR.COM FANTASY PICKS
* This is the fifth tournament in Segment 3. This is the toughest segment to navigate. We had two signature events, the third major (U.S. Open), and we still have the Open Championship and the three FedEx Playoff events. The Top golfers in the world will be playing a lot over the summer, so we need to save some of our top golfers for the playoffs.
FANTASY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP ONE & DONE PICK: SUNGJAE IM (JOHN DEERE)
Players in Fantasy Golf Championship One & Done so far: Cameron Young (6th), Ludvig Arberg (27th), Xander Schauffele (7th), Viktor Hovland (15th), Rory McIlroy (4th), Colin Morikawa (3rd), Books Koepka (26th), Wyndham Clark (47th), Tom Hoge (41st), Matthew Fitzpatrick (28th), Jon Rahm (45th), Hideki Matsuyama (7th), Will Zalatoris (74th), Maverick McNealy (45th), Justin Thomas (MC), Scottie Scheffler (Won), Russell Henley (41st), Tony Finau (13TH), Sahith Theegala (37th), Sam Burns (3rd), Max Homa (66th), Jason Day (MC), Taylor Montgomery (61st), Corey Conners (57th)
SEASON-LONG ONE & DONE PICK: SEPP STRAKA (JOHN DEERE)
One & Done picks used so far this season: Taylor Pendrith (72nd), Brian Harman (9TH), Hideki Matsuyama (6th), Byeong Hun An (22nd), Rory McIlroy (4th), Colin Morikawa (3rd), Bryson DeChambeau (2nd), Max Homa (8th), K.H. Lee (59th), Adam Hadwin (10TH), Patrick Cantlay (3rd), Jon Rahm (45th), Corey Conners (25th), Keith Mitchell (MC), Sam Burns (MC), Shane Lowry (19th), Matthew Fitzpatrick (MC), Eric Cole (MC), Nicolai Hojgaard (52nd), Adam Scott (19th), J.T. Poston (MC), Jordan Spieth (39th), Keegan Bradley (43rd), Andrew Putnam (47th), Russell Henley (4th), Sungae Im (5th), Alex Noran (Won), Beau Hossler (15TH), Min Woo Lee (6th), Adam Schenk (MC), Eric Cole (35TH), Sahith Theegala (Won)
JOHN DEERE BEST BETS
SUNGJAE IM (14-1)
DENNY MCCARTHY (20-1)
DAVIS THOMPSON (28-1)
MAVERICK MCNEALY (30-1)
NEAL SHIPLEY (80-1)
JOEL DAHMEN (90-1)
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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