We’re into the mid-summer slate now, with the PGA venturing into middle America for the annual John Deere Classic, one of the longest-running events on Tour. At the John Deere Classic, DraftKings users can play in DraftKings PGA Pick6 contests for all four rounds. If you’re new, Pick6 is a single-user daily fantasy game where you select players to go over or under the totals.
Players teeing things up at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois, this week will be taking on a shorter course that features narrow fairways but also allows for aggressive iron play, producing low scores for players who get hot on the greens. Deere Run is a narrow, tree-lined par 72 that measures just around 7,200 yards, and in the past, when we’ve seen it on the PGA TOUR, it has produced very low scores, including a 59. Winning scores for this event fluctuate because even cool temperatures or storms can cause tougher conditions, but winners have also exceeded -25 in the past.
While we do have a weaker field, there are still plenty of intriguing names in the field this week, including two top-20 players in the OWGR in Chris Gotterup and Ben Griffin. I reviewed additional statistics and course dynamics in the John Deere Classic PGA Cheat Sheet and included some notes on the course below for Pick6 research.
“As for the setup, TPC Deere Run is a shorter par 71 and features three par 5s, all of which play very straightforwardly and are holes that must be taken advantage of by those planning to compete for the win. Of the past seven winners, only one (Jordan Spieth in 2013) has finished outside the top 10 in par-5 scoring for the week.
That part is obvious, and any player who doesn’t score at least reasonably well on the easiest holes this week will quickly fall behind. The par 4s are also much more manageable than a typical par 71, as only a couple of them tend to play over par for the week. Seven of the par 4s come in under 450 yards, making distance off the tee somewhat irrelevant but making finding fairways and short-iron play extremely important.
Winners at Deere Run don’t dominate off the tee from a power perspective, but finding an abundance of fairways has been a trait of most recent winners. While Thompson is more of a powerhouse off the tee, the two winners before him are not big hitters. However, both Sepp Straka (2023) and Poston (2022) gained over 2.5 strokes off the tee, which set them up for a big week on approach.
For stat purposes, players who are gaining fairways at a high rate could be great targets this week, but putting and approach play is still where winners have tended to gain the most on the field. Last year’s winner, Brian Campbell, had some of the wildest splits you will see in terms of a winner’s strokes-gained profile, losing an astounding -3.9 strokes OTT, while gaining 6.8 strokes putting and 5.6 strokes total on approach. Deere Run does feature some of the purest greens on the PGA, so we often see an overabundance of putts made from 15-25 feet. In 2022, players sank 18% of their putts between 15 and 25 feet, the fifth-highest rate on the PGA Tour.”
As of now, we have Round 1 totals up on the Pick6 site for play, so that’s where we’ll be focusing this week. The players out first are expected to have slightly better conditions with winds picking up throughout the day. If you’re targeting stroke totals or birdie-or-better totals, keep that in mind.
With that in mind, I’ve focused on a few of my favorite plays for Round 1 of the John Deere Classic below.
Top DraftKings Pick6 Plays for the 2026 Travelers Championship
Doug Ghim More Than 4.5 birdies or better
Ghim has been playing some solid golf of late. The American has now made five cuts in a row and finished T15 in Canada at his last start on a longer, tougher course. This week’s venue is more up Ghim’s alley, and he’s had solid success there over the last few seasons. While he faded over the weekend last year, he also opened with a Round of 62 at Deer Run in 2025 and was the leader after Round 1. Overall, he’s shot 68 or better at Deer Run in six of his last 12 rounds and enters this week ranked 44th in birdie average on the PGA.
This venue features four par 5s and plenty of shorter par 4s, so birdie chances will be abundant. There are plenty of interesting names to be bullish on in this category, but Ghim offers a nice blend of solid form and course history, making his 4.5 total a preferred ‘More Than’ target for Round 1.
Kevin Roy More Than 68.5 strokes
Roy has had some moments on the PGA Tour, but the 36-year-old journeyman is clearly not in peak form. He’s either missed the cut or finished T71 or worse in each of his last four starts, after a near miss at Myrtle Beach where he grabbed a T3 paycheck. These weaker events are where Roy has tended to shine, but he’s not an elite putter, and I’d expect he may have trouble following up his big finish at this event last season, where he also finished T3.
Overall, this is a recent-form play for Round 1, but one I’d be confident in simply due to Roy’s recent results and overall profile. He’s now shot 70 or worse in eight of his last nine rounds on the PGA, so asking him to shoot 4-under or better in Round 1 just seems like a bridge too far, even if it is an easy course.
Emiliano Grillo Less Than 69 strokes
Grillo actually lost in a playoff at this event last season to Brian Campbell, as both players finished at -18 for the week in slightly tougher conditions than usual. Grillo can be a very up-and-down player, and to be honest, I’m not expecting him to necessarily contend again this year. But I’m still bullish enough to take the Less Than on his Round 1 stroke total for Pick6 play.
On top of a great course history and an accurate style of golf that blends well with the setup, Grillo has been playing decent golf of late, which could have him overlooked. He followed a made cut at Colonial with a T20 in Canada, then a surprising T23 at the US Open on a very long, tough course that isn’t necessarily where I would expect him to shine. For Round, this lower 69 total is one I’d be interested in capitalizing on.
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