It is a bit of a quiet week on the PGA TOUR. Following the U.S. Open and a highly eventful Travelers Championship, the John Deere Classic features a less prestigious field. However, it is a chance for a lot of players to get into form with the final major of the year approaching in just a couple of weeks.
This is a look at the best first-round leader bets to make for the event on DraftKings Sportsbook.
John Deere Classic: First Round Leader Picks
The John Deere Classic is the next stop on the PGA TOUR calendar. This is a tournament where younger players often have a chance to make their mark and potentially get their first win on the PGA TOUR. Only two of the top 20 players in the OWGR are in the field this week. Chris Gotterup, Ben Griffin and Keith Mitchell are the favorites, which means this is a wide-open field. Past champions like Jordan Spieth, J.T. Poston and Michael Kim are in the field, as is defending champion Brian Campbell.
TPC Deere Run is a par-71 course that ranges 7,327 yards. The scoring conditions are quite easy at Deere Run. While the course is fair and balanced, with some water hazards and severe elevation changes, there are plenty of birdies to be found out there. The fairways are quite wide and generous, but the different shapes of the fairways require players to use clubs other than driver on several holes. The players who best use their wedges to attack these pins will perform the best this week.
Sungjae Im FRL (+4100)
Sungjae Im should be in for a good week at TPC Deere Run. It hasn’t been a great year for Im, but he has performed really well at some of these weaker field events with good scoring conditions. He finished T4 at the Valspar Championship, T5 at the Truist Championship and T9 at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson. Im has found success here at TPC Deere Run in the past. In 2024, he finished T12 after an opening round of 66.
Sungjae Im has been excellent with his shorter wedges this year. He ranks first on the PGA TOUR in approaches from inside 100 yards. Im has also been great with his putter in 2026. He ranks sixth on the PGA TOUR in putts per round. If Im can use his wedges to give himself good birdie looks and roll a few of those in, he has a great chance to lead after the first round.
Michael Kim FRL (+4400)
Michael Kim was the 2018 John Deere Classic champion. That remains his only career win on the PGA TOUR. Kim’s game seems to fit the model of the TPC courses very well. His best performance this season was a T2 finish at the Valero Texas Open, which takes place at TPC San Antonio. Despite finishing T30 last week at TPC River Highlands, he played really solid golf, shooting below 70 in all four rounds. Michael Kim has won this tournament before, so anything is possible, but it’s hard to see him going the lowest over four rounds. However, he certainly has the game to shoot the lowest score in one round on Thursday. Kim is a fantastic putter, ranking 22nd on the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting. If that putter gets hot, he could be the first-round leader in Illinois.
