DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: John Deere Classic Cash and GPP Strategy

JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

Purse: $8.8M
Winner's Share: 1.584M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Silvis, Ill.
Course: TPC Deere Run
Yardage: 7,327
Par: 71
2025 champion: Brian Campbell

Tournament Preview

With CEO Brian Rolapp's announcement last week of sweeping changes ahead for the PGA Tour, we learned that life will change dramatically for the John Deere Classics of the world. Not until 2028, mind you, but that day must still seem mighty close to tournament organizers.

The Tour will be divided into a Championship Series of top tournaments and top players, and a Challenger Series of, well, everybody else. Haves and have-nots. While those 23-24 "haves" tournaments haven't been announced yet -- though we can predict many of them -- the John Deere Classic surely will not be in that group. It has always, unofficially, been a have-not. In 2028, it will become official.

Before that happens, though, the Deere is enjoying some newfound popularity. Last year's field was very good. This year's is its best ever. Next year's might be the best of them all.

The Deere hit the jackpot this week with the pro debut of one of the most accomplished amateurs in golf history. Jackson Koivun -- forgoing his senior season at Auburn and a spot in the Open Championship, and coming off a top-25 at the U.S. Open -- is already ranked 41st in the world by Data Golf and No. 218 in the Official World Golf Ranking. The world's No. 1-ranked amateur -- at least for a couple of more days -- won countless team and individual honors in college. The 21-year-old Koivun, however, is not making his Deere debut. He tied for 11th last year. Then he tied for fifth at the Wyndham and fourth at the Procore, a tournament filled with the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Yes, he might have a future.

Joining Koivun in the 144-man field are 2013/2015 Deere winner Jordan Spieth, Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler, Max Homa, Chris Gotterup, Ben Griffin, Jacob Bridgeman, 19-year-old Blades Brown, Michael Thorbjornsen, Daniel Berger, Tom Kim, Sungjae Im and Tony Finau.

One more name of note: The golfer about to supplant Koivun as the world's No. 1 amateur, Preston Stout, is in on a sponsor invite. The Oklahoma State Cowboy recently won the NCAA Division I men's championship in a tournament that included Koivun.

So, why is the Deere field getting so much better? Two main reasons.

For years, the Deere -- the tournament that has long been the butt of so many golf jokes -- was positioned in a black hole on the Tour calendar a week before the Open Championship. Not only do many top players like to take the week before a major off, but the cross-Atlantic time change meant it was prudent to arrive overseas earlier than usual.

When the Scottish Open became a joint DP World Tour/PGA Tour event a few years back, the Deere was bumped back to two weeks before the Open. Fields started to get better.

Not only does the schedule change help, but since the Tour reduced its playoff field to only 70 beginning last year, more top players need every FedEx Cup point they can get. And, not to get ahead of ourselves, but with the big Tour changes ahead for 2028, the Deere might see an even better field next year in its expected swan song as part of the "main" tour.

A bunch of those big-name guys mentioned above are having subpar seasons and the top-70 is far from guaranteed, and tournament organizers are the beneficiaries.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a community more devoted to its golf tournament than the people of the Quad Cities are to the Deere. There aren't many sporting events in this area of Illinois/Iowa, certainly not before college football season starts up.

TPC Deere Run has been the host course ever since the D.A. Weibring design was completed in 2000. The tournament dates to 1971, when future PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman won the first two editions of what was then known as the Quad Cities Open. Weibring himself went on to win it three times, but never at Deere Run.

The course has played host to a 59. Paul Goydos turned the trick in the first round in 2010. Unfortunately for Goydos, Steve Stricker was right behind that day with a 60 en route to winning with a then-tourney-record 26-under-par. That perfectly illustrates the annual track meet that is the John Deere Classic. Two years ago, Davis Thompson won at a record-breaking 28-under. Last year, Brian Campbell took the title at 18-under.

The most exciting hole is the drivable 361-yard 14th, playing downhill to a tiny green. The hardest hole most years is the par-4, 476-yard 18th, but don't discount the 503-yard 9th and the 484-yard 15th. So as you can see, there could be some swings on the leaderboard over the final five holes.

There are only four par-4s that exceed 450 yards, and all are more than 475. None of the three par-5s reaches 600 yards. The fairways are very generous. The bentgrass greens are small/medium, averaging 5,500 square feet. There is water on three holes and 76 bunkers on the course.

As for the weather, it will be hot -- 90s at the start of the week before dropping into the 80s. Some thunderstorms could come from Friday on. In other words, typical Deere weather.

Fun John Deere factoid No. 1: Organizers tried to attract attention when Michelle Wie was given a sponsor's exemption two years in a row. She was inside the cut line in 2005 until a late double bogey/bogey did her in. The following year, far outside the cut line, Wie withdrew, citing the excessive heat.

Fun John Deere factoid No. 2: Roger Maltbie won the tournament in 1975, when it was known as, of all things, the Ed McMahon-Jaycees Quad Cities Open. Fellow golf announcer Curt Byrum won it in 1989. Some other winners were Payne Stewart, Scott Hoch, Vijay Singh and, more recently, Spieth (twice) and Bryson DeChambeau.

Key Stats to Winning at TPC Deere Run

The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.

• Strokes Gained: Approach
• Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green
• Proximity 150-175 yards
• Strokes Gained: Putting
• Par-4 Efficiency 400-450 yards
• Birdie Average/Birdie or Better Percentage (BOB) 

Past Champions

2025 - Brian Campbell
2024 - Davis Thompson
2023 - Sepp Straka
2022 - J.T. Poston
2021 - Lucas Glover
2020 - No Tournament
2019 - Dylan Frittelli
2018 - Michael Kim
2017 - Bryson DeChambeau
2016 - Ryan Moore

Champion's Profile

Looking back over the last 13 editions, the winner here has been in the top 10 in putting 10 times, including Campbell.

Campbell won at 18-under after a playoff with Emiliano Grillo. He was horrible off the tee, losing almost four strokes to the field. But he ranked eighth in SG: Approach, fifth in greens in regulation, 11th in SG: Around-the-Green and sixth in SG: Putting. Grillo was far better off the tee, not quite as good on Approach and also finished in the top-10 in SG: Putting.

Two years ago, Thompson ranked fifth in SG: Putting, along with 11th in SG: Off-the-Tee (23rd in distance, T25 in accuracy), 29th in Approach and fourth in Around-the-Green. He also ranked T7 in greens in regulation and fifth in scrambling. Almost all of those are great numbers, which of course is what you need to get to 28-under.

Some very good putters have won this tournament, and some so-so putters have putted very well.

Driving distance matters little, as does hitting these very wide fairways. As with most birdie-fests, TPC Deere Run is a second-shot golf course.

The over/under on the winning score at the DraftKings Sportsbook was set at 261.5 -- 22.5 under par.

DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS

Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap

$10,000 and up

Ben Griffin - $10,500 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +1325)
Griffin took a big leap into an upper echelon of golf last year but continues to play more tournaments than almost anyone. He's made a whopping 19 starts this year and, for a while, it seemed to be hurting him. But in his past seven starts, he's had two third-place finishes, a 10th and three other top-20s, two of which came in majors. Griffin's approach play remains pretty bad (ranked 113th), but he's eighth in SG: Around-the-Green and 25th in Putting. Hey, however you get it done as long as you.

$9,000-$9,900

Jackson Koivun - $9,400 (+2700)
Yes, we are going here. We know Koivun can golf at this level -- even a higher level, with a T23 at the U.S. Open. The only question is whether he gets the jitters in his pro debut. But he's been in so many big moments already, that seems unlikely. We tweeted about Koivun and someone responded that he could be the best golfer in this field. Yes, he could be.

Eric Cole - $9,100 (+2700)
Cole's heater has cooled off a bit following four top-8s in five starts. But even last week at the Travelers, where he tied for 38th, he opened 63-65 before a weekend fade. Cole is terrible off the tee and good everywhere else, which is a very acceptable skill set for TPC Deere Run.

$8,000-$8,900

Pierceson Coody - $8,800 (+2900)
Coody has a boatload of top-25s this season -- 10, to be precise. He'd need to do better than that to justify his price, but just about all of those good results have come in far stronger fields, including his T23 at the U.S. Open. Coody is among the longest hitters and best putters in the field.

Tom Kim - $8,700 (+3500)
Kim was off most people's radar till his solo third at the U.S. Open because he hasn't had many high finishes. But he's made 13 of 15 cuts and also tied for 15th in his start prior to the U.S. Open, at the Canadian Open. Kim is ranked 16th on Tour in SG: Approach.

$7,000-$7,900

Blades Brown - $7,600 (+5700)
At 19, Brown makes Koivun look like a grizzled veteran. He has played terrific golf, enough to earn Special Temporary Membership for the rest of the PGA Tour season. Brown has made 6 of 7 cuts with four top-25s and two top-10s. He doesn't have enough measured rounds to qualify for the stats leaders, but he'd be ranked 19th in SG: Approach and 20th in SG: Putting if he did.

Aldrich Potgieter - $7,500 (+5500)
This is the kind of course where Potgieter can just close his eyes and let it rip -- he leads the Tour in driving distance. His last missed cut came at Augusta National, and he's coming off a top-10 at the Canadian Open after two recent top-25s at Signature Events. Potgieter is not particularly good on approach or on the greens, yet somehow he's ranked top-50 on Tour in birdie average.

Jackson Suber - $7,400 (+5600)
Suber, who as of now is no longer the best Jackson on Tour, has played better as the season has progressed. He had top-5s at both the Byron Nelson and Canadian Open, getting it to 23-under in Texas. Suber is ranked 23rd on Tour in SG: Approach and 31st in birdie average.

A.J. Ewart - $7,100 (+13500)
Ewart has made 11 of 15 cuts with five top-25s, including recently at the Byron Nelson and Charles Schwab. He also shot four rounds in the 60s at the Canadian Open (T29). Ewart is an elite putter, ranked seventh on Tour, and is top-40 in birdie average.

$6,000-$6,900

Zach Johnson - $6,900 (+20000)
The 50-year-old Johnson is now tearing up the Champions Tour but wouldn't miss his beloved John Deere Classic for the world. The Iowa native has played the Deere every year since 2002 and hasn't missed a cut since 2007 (which was played when Brown was less than 3 months old). Johnson has already won twice on the senior circuit, including last time out. He's finished no worse than T8 in his eight starts.

Chandler Phillips - $6,500 (+40000)
Phillips has missed four of his past five cuts, so there's a good chance nobody will play him but you! He does have some very good results this season, including a recent T15 in Canada and a top-10 at the Valero. Phillips doesn't offer much statistically except putting. He's ranked 32nd on Tour.

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