After a week in the Motor City, the PGA TOUR stays in the Midwest and fires up the tractors for this week’s John Deere Classic in Silvis, IL. The solid, par-71 TPC Deere Run runs along the rolling hills alongside the Rock River and provides players plenty of chances to convert Birdies or Better. To help you build your fantasy golf lineups for GPPs this week, check out these three pivot plays who should be able to outperform their comparatively low ownership. My top three fantasy golf pivot plays for the week are Chris Gotterup ($9,300), Kevin Yu ($8,800) and Trace Crowe ($6,700).
To make sure we’re all targeting the same flag stick, a “fantasy golf pivot play” is a golfer with low ownership and high upside. They are usually more risky than the popular options that are available around the same DFS salary. Even though these plays are NOT the safest options in their price range, they have enough potential upside to be worth the sweat. Be sure to check out my companion post to this one that highlights my picks for cash lineups if you’re looking for safer options that raise the floor of your lineup.
Let’s break down why I like each of my top three pivot plays this week.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $700K Summer Sand Trap [200K to 1st]
Chris Gotterup ($9,300)
Without any monster superstar names this week, the top options on the board are getting plenty of ownership attention, including Ben Griffin ($10,400) and Jason Day ($10,500) at the very top of the salary structure, along with Denny McCarthy ($9,900) and Michael Thorbjornsen ($9,100), who also have lots of upside. Gotterup is sliding in a little under the radar compared to those plays but has been playing extremely well lately and has shown the ability to produce top results in low-scoring conditions.
He won last year at the Myrtle Beach Classic for his first PGA TOUR win, but he got off to a shaky start to 2025. He missed eight cuts in his first 13 events of the season, but he also had four top-25 finishes. His boom-or-bust results early in the year gave him enough upside for GPP lineups, but he has stabilized recently, making him an even better play.
Over his last eight events, he has seven finishes in the top 26, with the one exception being a missed cut at the RBC Canadian Open. His best finish during that run was a T-12 at the Zurich Classic, followed closely by a T-13 at the Myrtle Beach Classic in his title defense.
Over the last 30 rounds, Gotterup leads the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and ranks second in Total Strokes Gained. His game has been on point from tee to green, but a cold putter has held him back.
Last year, he missed the cut at TPC Deere Run, but he finished T-4 at this event in his debut in 2022. If he can flip his flat stick and even just be average on the greens, he could contend again this week with another high finish.
While he is far from a sure thing, his high finish here a few years ago and his recent positive metrics could result in a very high finish this week in the Quad Cities.
Kevin Yu ($8,800)
Yu also comes in with excellent form but is flying under the radar compared to options like Lucas Glover ($9,000), Sungjae Im ($9,200), Luke Clanton ($8,700) and Pierceson Coody ($8,400).
Like Gotterup, Yu got his first win on the PGA TOUR last year when he claimed victory in the fall at the low-scoring Sanderson Farms Championship. He has continued his success into 2025 with 12 made cuts in 18 events, including seven top-25 finishes. He starts the week at No. 62 in the FedExCup points race, looking to stick in the top 70 and make the playoffs in a few weeks.
Yu finished T-25 at the Travelers in his last start after a third-place finish at the RBC Canadian Open. He also finished fourth at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic over his last five events, showcasing exactly the kind of high ceiling that we search for in GPP builds.
Over his last 30 rounds, Yu ranks sixth in the field in Total Strokes Gained and seventh in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. His ball-striking has been outstanding, and he’ll look to turn that into another good week at the Deere.
He has played this event twice in his career with a T-6 in 2023 and a T-20 last season. He posted a 70 in his first competitive round at TPC Deere Run but has been under 70 in every one of his seven rounds since then.
His current form and course history sets him up for another big week, and he can definitely contend when the scoring goes low.
Trace Crowe ($6,700)
Last week, I spotlighted Aldrich Potgieter ($7,900) in this spot, and I’m looking to make it two in a row this week by taking a flier on Trace Crowe. Crowe has a good shot to make the cut at this salary, which is all he’ll have to do to return value, but he also has the upside to do much better if he plays at his best.
Last year as a PGA TOUR rookie, Crowe finished T-44 in this event with an impressive 64 in Round 2 to get him to the weekend.
He has been toiling on the Korn Ferry Tour this year after not quite doing enough to keep his full-time membership for 2025. He has made the most of his chances on the PGA TOUR this season with three made cuts in four events, highlighted by a T-4 at the Zurich when he was partnered with Taylor Dickson.
Crowe has been excellent on the Korn Ferry Tour and is in line to earn his status back with a good finish to the year. He won the UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH at the start of June, which capped a run of five straight top-20 finishes. He won that week with a -21, five strokes clear of the rest of the field. Since his victory, he’s had a few down weeks, but that impressive showing has him at 11th on the points list on the Korn Ferry Tour, where the top 20 earn full-time PGA TOUR cards at the end of the season.
While we don’t have all the Strokes Gained metrics available for KFT events, Crowe ranks 12th on the Korn Ferry Tour in Stroke Differential Field Average and in Par 4 scoring. He also ranks fourth in Birdie Average, showing he can go low in “birdie-fest” conditions.
He is a high-risk play like all the options under $7,000, but he’s one of my top flier plays this week as he looks to improve his status for the rest of the season.
