John Deere Classic PGA DFS Stats Preview: Course Fits, GPP Picks, and Values

After an exciting week of golf at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, the PGA TOUR makes one final stateside stop at TPC Deere Run to play the John Deere Classic before the Scottish Open and Open Championship. Last year, we saw J.T. Poston win the event after finishing runner-up the week prior at the Travelers Championship.

TPC Deere Run is a 7,268-yard par 71 located in Silvis, Ill., in the Quad Cities area. The course historically fails to present a major challenge to golfers with easy-to-hit fairways and bentgrass greens. Most players will have short approach shots into the greens, and the event often turns into a bit of a putting contest.

The John Deere Classic will play host to 156 golfers, and, as expected, the field is considerably weaker than we have gotten used to this season. After a long run of top-tier events, many of the world’s top players are taking the week off.

A few of the notable golfers who will make the trip to the Midwest include Ludvig Aberg, Cameron Young, Russell Henley, and Matt Kuchar.

For GPP contests on DraftKings, I will be breaking down the key stats (past 24 rounds) and selecting golfers from different price tiers to provide flexibility for a DFS lineup.

And if you missed it, we added two new metrics in our models — Perfect% and SimLeverage. You can find an explainer on those metrics here.

The cliff notes version is that you can use SimLeverage to quickly find leverage plays in tournaments, while Perfect% is great for finding the best price-considered plays for cash games.

For large-field tournaments, you can utilize our Lineup Optimizer to effortlessly create up to 300 lineups, or use our Lineup Builder if you like to hand-build your lineups.

This analysis may reference Strokes Gained, a set of proprietary metrics generated by the PGA TOUR using millions of data points to calculate how many shots, on average, it takes a player to get the ball in the hole from every distance and situation.

Strokes Gained is now available in the FantasyLabs PGA Models.

Strokes Gained: Approach

Strokes Gained: Approach is historically the most predictive statistic at TPC Deere Run.

It’s a relatively short course and has extremely wide fairways. Lack of distance off the tee will not be a significant hindrance to golfers, as most approach shots will allow for a short iron or wedge onto the green.

High-end target: Russell Henley — $10,400 (1st in Strokes Gained: Approach)
Mid-range target: Chez Reavie— $7,700 (6th in Strokes Gained: Approach)
Value target: Lucas Glover — $7,200 (9th in Strokes Gained: Approach)

Birdie or Better: Gained

Scores can get extremely low at TPC Deere Run as the course will offer plenty of birdie opportunities. Twelve of the 18 holes on the course historically average under par.

High-end target: Denny McCarthy — $10,600 (11th Birdie or Better: Gained)
Mid-range target: Stephan Jaegar — $8,800 (8th Birdie or Better: Gained)
Value target: Will Gordon — $7,300 (12th Birdie or Better: Gained)

Par 4: 400-450

With five par 4s on the course in this range, it will be crucial for golfers to play these holes well.

High-end target: Denny McCarthy — $10,600 (1st Par 4: 400-450)
Mid-range target: Stephan Jaeger— $8,800 (5th Par 4: 400-450)
Value target: Callum Tarren— $7,300 (6th Par 4: 400-450)

Proximity 125-150

Approach shots measuring between 125 and 150 yards are very common at TPC Deere Run. This event will likely turn into a wedge-fest, so whoever is dialed in with their wedges will give themselves a chance to win.

High-end target: Russell Henley — $10,400 (2nd Proximity 125-150)
Mid-range target: Doug Ghim — $8,000 (11th Proximity 125-150)
Value target: Chesson Hadley — $7,100 (1st Proximity 125-150)

Strokes Gained: Putting (Bentgrass)

With green in regulation percentages definitively higher at TPC Deere Run than the average TOUR stop, the winner will likely be determined by who can catch the hottest putter.

High-end target: Denny McCarthy — $10,600 (3rd Strokes Gained: Putting (Bentgrass)
Mid-range target: Christiaan Bezuidenhout — $8,000 (10th Strokes Gained: Putting (Bentgrass)
Value target: Justin Lower — $7,000 (1st Strokes Gained: Putting (Bentgrass)

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