DraftKings Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: John Deere Classic

Daily fantasy golf requires a new approach for each and every event.

The course and field change week after week, making no two contests alike. That means you need to refine your approach for each PGA Tour event to try to find golfers who are primed to excel for your daily fantasy golf lineups.

Each week, we have a course primer, and our daily fantasy golf projections and lineup builder can help you get started, but these golfers stand out specifically on DraftKings for Quicken Loans National.

This Week’s Course

The PGA Tour takes a trip to the Midwest this week for the John Deere Classic, the annual stateside lead-up to the Open Championship. The 7,268-yard par 71 at TPC Deere Run often yields winning scores surpassing 20-under par, so plenty of birdies are out there for the taking. While scoring is of the utmost importance to keep up with the field, avoiding bogeys is just as important because they could cost you not just one but two shots if the field is playing a specific hole under par. Strokes gained: approach and greens in regulation gained will point to golfers putting themselves in position to score and round out the key stats this week.

Key Stats

Now, onto the picks.

All stats are from Fantasy National Golf Club and are for golfers in the field over the last 50 rounds, unless otherwise noted.

High Priced Studs

Francesco Molinari (DraftKings Price: $11,600 | PaddyPower Win Odds: 9/1) - Fresh off a dominant win at the Quicken Loans National, and sporting terrific form on both the European Tour and PGA Tour, Molinari stayed back while many of the top pros traveled across the pond to either play the Scottish Open or prepare for next week's Open Championship. He is 1st in GIR gained, 8th in strokes gained: approach, 16th in bogeys avoided, and 20th in birdies or better gained.

Bryson DeChambeau ($11,400 | 11) - All of the top priced golfers pop in a weak field this week, but DeChambeau stands alone. The defending champion returns to the site of his first career PGA Tour win in tremendous form. He ranks first in strokes gained: tee to green and birdies or better gained, second in bogeys avoided, and third in strokes gained: approach and greens in regulation gained.

Joaquin Niemann ($10,400 | 16) - The young Chilean has flashed consistency and upside recently with made cuts and 17th or better finishes in four of five events, including a T5 at the Greenbrier last week. All the strong finishes came on bentgrass greens, with the one MC on bermuda at the St. Jude Classic. He is ranked sixth or better in all of the key stats as well as strokes gained: tee to green.

Ryan Moore ($10,200 | 16) - Moore is a former winner here, with a rock solid tee-to-green game. He is first in bogeys avoided and fairways gained, as well as second in GIR gained, and seventh in approach. His only blemish is his 54th rank in birdies or better gained, but as noted above, the birdies should be easy to come by this week. Moore’s putter has been ice cold lately, and if he gets in a rhythm with the short stick the red numbers will start piling up.

Mid-Priced Options

Chesson Hadley ($9,500 | 22) - Hadley bounced back from back-to-back missed cuts at the US Open and Travelers Championship with a T8 at the Quicken Loans National. He ranks 2nd in strokes gained approach, 3rd in birdies or better gained, and 13th in strokes gained: tee to green. He’s a premier approach player but a streaky putter, and he should thrive on these slow, soft bentgrass surfaces.

Chris Kirk ($8,900 | 35) - Kirk ranks in the top 25 in all the key stats, including 4th in bogeys avoided. He does his best work on bentgrass greens and gained 1.9 strokes putting on similar surfaces at the Memorial. His approach game was off that week and led to a disappointing T52 thanks to a pair of 75s on Thursday and Sunday. Long term, he is a strong wedge player and he should be able to put himself in birdie positions often this week.

Brian Gay ($8,600 | 40) - A couple ugly holes derailed Gay at the Greenbrier, but he has made seven straight cuts and been on fire with the putter. He is 10th in birdies or better gained, 20th in bogeys avoided, and 23rd in strokes gained: tee to green on the season. Gay has 2 straight missed cuts at this event and is just 69th in approach, but his scoring stats are good enough that he can push for a high finish if his irons start clicking.

Scott Piercy ($8,300 | 50) - All the golfers in the $8-9K range have major red flags outside of Kirk, so gravitating toward one elite skill can help separate the wheat from the chaff. Piercy can be a maddening player, but he is first in the field in strokes gained: approach and eighth in GIR gained. Seven of the par 4s are between 400 and 500 yards this week, and Piercy does his best work on holes of that length (27th 400-450; 9th 450-500)

Low Priced Options

C.T. Pan ($7,700 | 50) - Pan is 18th in both fairways gained and GIR gained, and on a course where scoring will come easily, a reliable tee-to-green game is worth the price in this range. He is 26th in bogeys avoided and 44th in birdies or better gained.

Joel Dahmen ($7,600 | 80) - Dahmen is another strong tee-to-green player who has been knocking on the door, and he just recorded his best career finish on the PGA Tour with a T5 at the Greenbrier. Dahmen is 17th in bogeys avoided and 19th in both strokes gained: approach and GIR gained. Starting lineups with one of the top golfers and filling it in with the $7K range could be a popular way to construct rosters this week, and Dahmen is a prime candidate for that approach.

Scott Stallings ($7,500 | 66) - Stallings is 18th in bogeys avoided, 21st in strokes gained: approach, and 43rd in birdies or better gained. His GIR gained in the last 50 rounds is only 63rd, but narrowing that to his last 12 rounds shows marked improvement. With a 13th place finish at the Greenbrier giving him results to match his improving form, Stallings enters the week on the upswing.

Harold Varner III ($7,400 | 66) - A top-5 for Varner last week capped a massive positive trend in his stats. Just 68th in strokes gained: approach over his last 50 rounds, HV3 is 6th in his last 12 rounds. Varner has Vegas on his side as well, with favorable odds compared to other golfers priced ahead of him.

Bargain Basement

Sam Ryder $7,000 | 150) - Ryder is 11th in GIR gained, 24th in approach, and 25th in both bogeys avoided and fairways gained. He came in 5th at the Houston Open, another birdie-fest with bentgrass greens. Daniel Summerhays ($7,000 | 200) could draw some ownership at this price given his strong course history, but his form has been extremely poor and Ryder is a pivot with a good statistical profile.

Vaughn Taylor ($6,900 | 100) - Taylor is 24th in strokes gained: approach, 28th in birdies or better gained, and 33rd in bogeys avoided. He missed the cut last week at the Greenbrier, but he had made four straight leading up to that event and has not missed back-to-back cuts since February 2017.

Patton Kizzire ($6,800 | 150) - Kizzire started off the season hot with two wins in the swing season, but he has been nothing short of awful for the past couple months. His T74 at the Memorial and T64 at Colonial are the only two events where he’s made the cut since March. But he still ranks 10th in strokes gained: approach and 29th in birdies or better gained, and he finished T25 at TPC Deere Run a year ago. He beat up on weak fields in the fall and is worth a flyer at this price.

Mike Rodden is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Mike Rodden also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mike_rodden. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.