John Deere Classic PGA DFS: Perfect DraftKings Lineup
July 1, 2026
In Summary
- The Core Three: Jackson Koivun ($9,400), Denny McCarthy ($8,200), and Jackson Suber ($7,400), an Auburn phenom, an elite putter, and a value scorer built for a birdie-fest.
- Then The Sim Finishes It: the Stokastic single-lineup simulator auto-completes the last three spots (Keith Mitchell, Daniel Berger, Andrew Novak) and returns 49.5% sim ROI, a 31% cash rate, and 2% win odds on the first build.
- Course Read: TPC Deere Run is one of the most gettable tracks on Tour, a make-a-ton-of-birdies week that rewards precise iron play and a hot putter over raw distance.
- Build and sim your own lineups with the Stokastic PGA Sims & projections, and see the full board on the PGA DFS picks hub.
The Tour heads to the Midwest for the John Deere Classic, and the perfect-lineup exercise is a different animal this week. The field at TPC Deere Run is not especially strong, the course is a birdie-fest, and that combination means the value runs deep. So instead of paying up across the board, we can anchor a few golfers we love and let the simulator do the rest. Ben Rasa sets the core, then Josh Engelman takes it into the Stokastic single-lineup simulator to finish and stress-test the build.
Watch The Video
Ben and Josh walk through the entire John Deere Classic build, the three core plays and the live simulator run, on the Stokastic Perfect Lineup show. Watch on YouTube.
The Course Read: Why The John Deere Is A Birdie-Fest
Before any pick, the read matters. TPC Deere Run is one of the softest scoring setups on the PGA Tour calendar, a positional, second-shot golf course rather than a bomber's track. That shifts the DFS math. You are not chasing raw driving distance here; you are chasing golfers who hit their irons close and make everything, because the winning score gets deep and pars leak points. The way we read this one for DFS, it is an approach-and-putting week: we weight iron play (SG: Approach) and a hot putter over raw distance off the tee (SG: Off-the-Tee), and we target the golfers who can make a ton of birdies when the course hands out chances. The three core picks fit that read, and the simulator then fills the remaining salary from Stokastic projections. For the full framework, see our PGA DFS strategy guide.
Core Play No. 1: Jackson Koivun ($9,400)
The build starts at the top with a golfer Ben has never recommended on this show before, for an obvious reason: Jackson Koivun is just now turning pro, making his professional debut here. Normally the approach with a hyped newcomer is wait-and-see; you let the Tour humble the college stars before you trust them in your lineups. Koivun is the exception. He was that dominant at Auburn, and he already proved he can hang in Tour-level fields as an amateur: a T23 at the U.S. Open and a T11 right here at the John Deere Classic a year ago.
At $9,400 in the mid-tier, he is a better DFS play than a bet this week, and there is no hesitation clicking him in. When the projections and the profile line up on a golfer this talented at a gettable course, you take the immediate-impact upside.
Core Play No. 2: Denny McCarthy ($8,200)
If you need someone to putt, this is your guy. Denny McCarthy is one of the best pure putters on Tour, and a birdie-fest at a course he knows well is the exact set of conditions that turns that skill into fantasy points. He will be more popular here given the course history, but it is still a buy. A T14 last week at the Travelers means the form is there too. On a week with this many birdie looks, if McCarthy makes his fair share of putts, he can pay off his $8,200 salary. He is the second name locked into the build.
Core Play No. 3: Jackson Suber ($7,400)
Every build needs value, and the second Jackson on the card is it. Jackson Suber at $7,400 has been in play a good amount lately to nice success, with a pair of top-fives in his last five starts, so the form is real. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open, but that came in a far stronger field and far more difficult conditions; it is not a mark against him here. Birdie-fest conditions are exactly where you want a golfer like this, and the price does not seem to reflect either his form or the softness of this field. He can be your last man in on a balanced build or your fourth or fifth golfer on a more aggressive one.
Letting The Simulator Finish The Lineup
With the three core plays locked, we take it into the Stokastic single-lineup simulator at stokastic.com. The math is simple: Koivun, McCarthy, and Suber use $25,000 of the $50,000 DraftKings cap, leaving $8,300 per spot to fill the final three. Rather than guess, we click Complete this lineup and let the tool return the three optimal plays for the remaining salary based on our projections:
| Golfer | Salary | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Jackson Koivun | $9,400 | Core play |
| Denny McCarthy | $8,200 | Core play |
| Jackson Suber | $7,400 | Core value |
| Keith Mitchell | $10,000 | Sim completion |
| Daniel Berger | $7,000s | Sim completion |
| Andrew Novak | $7,000s | Sim completion |
Then Josh runs the lineup simulation to find out how the build looks straight out of the gate. It comes back at 49.5% sim ROI, a 31% cash rate, and a 2% chance to win. Those are simulator projections rather than a guarantee, but they mark a strong starting point worth building from. (New to the tool? Here is how to use the Stokastic PGA Sims.)
Adding Randomness To Spin Up Alternate Builds
The value of the simulator is not one lineup; it is how fast you can generate the next one. Dial in just 5% randomness and the tool returns a completely different back three: Keegan Bradley ($9,700) up top, Michael Kim in the mix, and Aldrich Potgieter ($7,500). That build sims a lighter 25.15% sim ROI, still perfectly playable, just a different shape and a different risk profile off the same three-golfer core.
That is the whole point. You can mix, match, and save lineups as fast as you need to, turning one core into two lineups, a three-max, a five-max, or a full 20-max, then export directly to DraftKings and FanDuel. On a birdie-fest with a deep value pool, that speed is the edge: you get to explore far more of the useful player pool than you could by hand.
How To Build Your John Deere Classic DFS Lineups
The workflow here is the takeaway, and it repeats every week:
- Read the course first. A gettable, birdie-fest track like TPC Deere Run rewards approach play and putting over distance, so anchor golfers whose game fits that, not just the biggest names.
- Lock your convictions. Koivun, McCarthy, and Suber are the golfers we believe in; everything else flexes around them.
- Let the Sims finish and stress-test it. Auto-complete the roster, read the sim ROI and cash rate, then add randomness to generate leverage and alternate builds in seconds.
Do that, and with Koivun, McCarthy, and Suber as your foundation, you are off to a perfect start.
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