Daily Fantasy PGA Picks for DraftKings - John Deere Classic

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John Deere Classic

TPC Deere Run - Silvis, IL

Par 71 - 7,268 Yards

This week is a very unique one in that there are two PGA contests going on at the same time. The return of golf to the Olympics starts on Thursday in Rio, Brazil but that won't stop the crazy busy PGA Tour as we get closer to the FeDex Cup playoffs. This week, back on American soil, the remaining players will have a chance to take home the hardware at the John Deere Classic. Before we get into the tournament we just can't go any further without a quick listen to the Joe Diffie classic "John Deere Green". Enjoy!

Yep, that is now 29 times since the start of the week I have listened to that song. I grew up a farm kid and my father was in love with John Deere and during the winter months we spent a ton of time travelling toy shows and collecting the 1:64 scale tractors. As it stands today he has over 300 in the collection and has dedicated an entire room in his house for these adult "toys". LOL. Check out the collection below.

Ok let's get back on track. This week's John Deere Classic is hosted by the TPC Deere Run located in Silvis, Illinois. The course is a 7,268 yard Par 71 setup that is one of the easiest on Tour. The winning score here usually gets around the -20 mark so making birdies is going to be the key this week. The greens are larger than normal putting more emphasis on Proximity than GIR and it will also boost the good putters  this week. Looking at previous years leaderboards we can see that Par 3 and 4 Scoring are much more important this week than most. Only one player(Ryan Moore) has been Even par or worse on the Par 3's in the last two years. So to recap we are looking for accuracy players for the most part who score on the Par 3's and 4's and rank highly in BoB%. We will also want to consider golfers who are good putters.

With the Olympic golf competition taking up most of the premiere contests this week I will be lowering my exposure to this tournament to a few GPP lineups in the $3 Birdie. Let's take a look at some picks.

If you have any questions leading up to lineup lock Thursday morning you can reach me in a variety of ways. Leave a Q below in the comment section and I will get you an answer. You can hit me up in the new chatroom here at DFSR(It's crazy busy with MLB talk so try and private message me for specific PGA Q's). I will also be joining Doug on the Wednesday Podcast to discuss the tournament each week. Also on Wednesday, you can join me for a live Google Hangout over at Slurv.com. I am always available on Twitter as well(@jager_bombs9). Good luck this week!

DFS Fade of the Week

Zach Johnson
Vegas Odds - 8/1
Draftkings - $13,000

First of all, I want to make it clear that I don't think Zach is a bad play from a golf perspective. I mean look at his course history. It's phenomenal. He has made eight straight cuts here including six Top 5 finishes in his last seven years including the win in 2012. So why fade him? It comes down to price for me this week. I just don't feel Zach is that much better of a play that he garners a a price $1,200 more than the next group. At this price he would not only need t win the tournament but possibly win by 2+ strokes. Not saying it can't happen but winning a tournament is tough enough let alone dominating one. I would not judge you if you couldn't fade and ended up playing ZJ. What's a ZJ? If you have to ask you can't afford one.

High End Targets ($9,000+)

John Rahm
Vegas Odds - 17/1
Draftkings - $11,400

Rahm is coming into his own and will soon be a superstars on the PGA Tour. He is not a member yet but currently sits with 5 spots of the Top 125 on Tour which will earn him a bypass of the Web.com Tour as he would receive his Tour card for next season. He doesn't currently have enough rounds on Tour to qualify for the stats but looking at the numbers he would be right at the top of many categories. He is a bomber who averages around 304 yards with 60%+ Driving Accuracy and an amazing 69.1 Scoring average which would put him first on Tour. He also hits a ton of greens(would sit Top 50) but more importantly he is excellent with Proximity and would rank Top 3 on Tour this year. Looking at Strokes Gained metrics he would also rank at the top or near the top in all of them including putting. He comes in with tremendous form after recording a T25 and impressive T2 at the Canadian Open. As you can probably tell by the long preview I have a man crush on the Spanish star and will have 100% exposure on my few lineups.

Kevin Na
Vegas Odds - 21/1
Draftkings - $10,500

Na has only played the John Deere Classic once in the last seven years but had a decent finish of T12 in 2014 shooting a -14 score. His form is trending in the right direction as he recorded T22 finishes at the PGA Championship and OPEN Championship in the last month. He also fits the stats model very well this week(Ranked #1) as he ranks 9th in SG: Approach, 41st in Driving Accuracy, 5th in Par 4 Scoring and sits Top 40 in BoB%. At this price he will need to finish Top 10 or even better in DK scoring and this is something I can see happening this week in the weak John Deere Classic field.

Also Consider - Ryan Moore

Mid Tier Targets ($7,000 - $8,900)

Hudson Swafford
Vegas Odds - 81/1
Draftkings - $8,000

Kicking off the mid tier this week is Hudson Swafford who we normally see in the sub $7K range but due to the weak field he sits right at $8,000 this week. In this field it I think it makes perfect sense to roster Swafford in any format. I won't be personally playing cash games this week but would strongly consider starting my lineups with Swafford. He is on the most consistent run of his young career making nine straight cuts coming into this week with two Top 25 finishes at the Canadian Open and Quicken Loans National. He also ranks 4th in my weighted stat rankings highlighted by a 4th rank in Total Driving, 24th in GIR and 25th in Proximity, 31st in both Par 4 and 5 Scoring and 34th in BoB%. Everything points to another strong tournament from Swafford.

Spencer Levin
Vegas Odds - 51/1
Draftkings - $7,400

Levin comes in as my value play of the week. He salary comes in at a mid $7K price range despite his Vegas Odds telling us he should be around the mid $8K range. He ranks 7th i my weighted stats due to a Top 20 ranking in Driving Accuracy and Good Drive % and a 24th rank in Par 3 Scoring and 32nd in Bogey Avoidance. Levin is also coming in with terrific form with a T11 at the Travelers and a T14 at the Canadian Open before that. He missed his first cut at the John Deere back in 2005 but has since made four straight cuts and is in a great spot to make the cut this week and possibly contend for a Top 25 or better.

Also Consider - Steve Wheatcroft

Low End Target (Min Price - $6,900)

Jason Bohn
Vegas Odds - 81/1
Draftkings - $6,600

On the heels of Jim Furyk's amazing record setting 58 it had me searching for other notable rounds. One name that came up was Jason Bohn who shot a 58 back in 2001 during a Canadian Tour event. Not the PGA Tour by any means but still a 58. Bohn comes in very cheap this week and I wil lbe taking a couple shots with him. He is months removed from a heart attack following the Honda Classic withdraw back in February and should be ready to compete once again. Vegas sure seems to think so as he is the only golfer below $7K on DraftKings that comes with a better than 100/1 chance of winning. While I don't expect him to come close to winning I could definitely see a Top 25 or better. He has the skill set to get it done as a good putter and accuracy guy(10th in Driv Acc). He also ranks 12th in Good Drive %, 18th in Proximity, 18th in Par 4 Scoring and Top 50 in Bogey Avoidance and BoB%. It would be a great story to see Bohn's name on the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon.

Also Consider - Alex Prugh

The John Deere Classic Update Thread

Want to see how these picks and more fit into lineups for the John Deere Classic? Chris is selling lineups only $5. He covers DraftKings & FantasyAces Cash Games & Tournaments. Fill out the form below or click here to purchase using PayPal. This is a separate service than our traditional monthly membership.

Chris Durell has been playing Daily Fantasy Sports for three years and fantasy in general for more than a decade. He is active player in college football, NFL, NBA and of course PGA. He lives in Saskatchewan, Canada with his wife and two daughters. You can follow him on Twitter at @jager_bombs9 for advice, strategy, answers to any PGA questions and how he copes with the winters up north.