PGA DFS Golf: 2018 John Deere Classic DRAFT Rankings (DRAFT.com)

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Welcome to this edition of PGA DFS Golf rankings for DRAFT.com from FantasyCPR, covering the 2018 version of The Greenbrier Classic, which is dubbed A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier. The DRAFT app can be downloaded to your mobile device through your app store, or you can access their desktop site here.   

I play quite a bit on DRAFT, and have always been a big fan of the snake draft format. On DRAFT, for PGA, you simply roster five golfers. They offer head-to-head, 3-man, 6-man and 8-man drafts that start upon filling. In the DRAFT lobby, you will find me in the six-man and eight-man contests, which payout to the top two spots.

My goal here will be to give you my targets in tiers, based upon their DRAFT projections. Followed by that, will be my top 40 overall rankings. The strategy of course here, is that 40 golfers will be drafted for 8-man contests, and these rankings will have you covered. After having completed my rankings for this week, and having completed a few 8-man drafts, let’s talk about the course for a second before we move on to the targets.

About the Event:

Starting this Thursday morning at around 6:00 AM, (tee times still yet to be determined) the 2018 John Deere Classic will be underway. This event takes place annually at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, IL. This course will play easy for those who stay in the fairway, and some steep elevation drops make the par 4, 14th hole driveable at 361 yards. It should be a birdie fest, and should make for some good scoring. The course plays at 7268 yards, and is a par 71.

We are looking at yet another lackluster field, as the top names in the game prepare for next weeks British Open. Highlighting the field are 2012 champion and board member Zach Johnson, along with last years champion Bryson DeChambeau. 2016 Champion Ryan Moore is also among the favorites, along with 19-year-old rookie sensation Joaquin Niemann, who I have talked about here the last two weeks.

Event History:

2018 will be the 18th year The John Deere Classic has been held at TPC Deere Run. Held the week before the British Open, it is the last chance for some to qualify to the oldest major championship in the history of the sport. As mentioned above, the course plays a little shorter than advertised at times due to elevation changes, and scoring should be aplenty. Since 2010, winning scores have been between -16 and -26. DeChambeau won it last year at -16 holding off Patrick Rodgers by one stroke. It was back in 2010 when Steve Stricker dominated this course for four days, en route to a -26. He held off Paul Goydos who shot -24, which would have won this event any other year.

Speaking of Stricker, this is the definition of a course horse. The 51-year-old will be making his 17th appearance at the John Deere Classic, and his course record tournament aggregate score of 258 was sandwiched between victories in 2009 and 2011. A three-time champ and great recent form put him right in the mix as a first round pick this week. Stricker has made four straight cuts, with back-to-back top 20’s.

PGA DFS Golf High Projected Targets: (Players with DRAFT Projections of 60-70)

Zach Johnson – (61.7)

Arguably the top player in the field, Johnson is my pick to win this weekend. I am sure I won’t be alone on that one. Johnson won this event in 2012, and followed that up with back-to-back second place finishes. Along with David Hearn, Johnson lost a playoff to Jordan Spieth in 2013, and was edged by Brian Harman by one stroke in 2014, despite an impressive -21. He has competed just once since the US Open where he finished T12th, scoring another top 20 at the Travelers Championships with a T-19th. His game fits this course perfectly, and he should be the top pick this week.

Steve Stricker – (60.1)

Well I have already talked about Stricker a bit, as he is another top dog in a weak field. There are only two other golfers ranked in this projection range, and while I like Francisco Molinari as well, I wanted to stress the fact here that Stricker is a top play this week. Molinari won the Quicken Loans last week, and is certainly ranked higher than Stricker for me this week, but we know we can’t draft all of the guys we want. Stricker won’t wow anybody, but having been there before in this field could make all of the difference. Again, his recent form and course history here lead me to believe he will be in contention this week.

PGA DFS Golf Mid Projected Targets: (Players with DRAFT Projections of 50-60)

Bryson DeChambeau – (56.8)

Another top player in this field is the defending champion DeChambeau. Also a top three pick in probably all of your drafts, DeChambeau sets up well to make a run here once again. One of the rising young stars in golf, his form has been fantastic as of late, and the fact that he won here last year makes him very appealing at pick one overall. He hasn’t missed a cut since the Valspar Championship in March, and has a very impressive seven top 10’s this season. He won the Memorial at the end of May, and made a good run at the Travelers Championships two weeks ago, finishing T-9th. While I give the slight edge to Johnson as the favorite, DeChambeau is a very, very close 2nd for me this week.

David Lingmerth – (52.7)

Now that we got the obvious first rounders out-of-the-way, (well almost) let’s turn our attention to who we can possibly target in the mid rounds of the draft. Fortunately I drafted Lingmerth a little bit last week, as he turned in an impressive -10, finishing T11th with 79.5 DRAFT points. I am going back to the well here, as he has now made cuts in four of his last five events. He is in the best form he has been in this season, and makes for a great late second / early third round pick.

PGA DFS Golf Low Projected Targets: (Players with DRAFT Projections of 25-50)

Joaquin Niemann – (34.6)

He started out as a mid-round sleeper over shadowed by Beau Hossler two events ago at the Quicken Loans National, and he exceeded expectations finishing T-17th. Niemann then crept up into the late first round last week, and once again did not disappoint as he carded a 64 and a 65, and finished T5th. This week there is almost no doubt he is the fourth pick behind Johnson, DeChambeau and Molinari. I am not quite sure why his projection hasn’t increased, but he is not being slept on.

Austin Cook – (36.6)

Cook made a nice run last week at the Greenbriar, carding three rounds of 66 and an even 70 for a T5th, giving him two top-10’s in his last three. He might be getting drafted a little too high for my liking, as I am seeing him go at the end of the first round or early second. You can’t really say his form is great, considering despite the two top-10’s, he has missed the cut in the other three of the last five. Looking at his last four tournaments, he has gone bad, good, bad, good. He has to be a second rounder at the very least in this field, but use some caution here.

Chesson Hadley – (38.6)

Coming in just ahead of Cook in my rankings at eight overall is Hadley. From March to May, Hadley was arguable one of the hottest golfers on tour, as he rattled off six straight top-20’s. His form fell off a bit at the difficult US Open, which continued on to the Travelers Championship where he missed another cut. He bounced back at the Quicken Loans with a  T8th, and did not compete at last weeks Greenbriar. His game fits this course well as he hits fairways, and is a great 2nd round pick this week.

PGA DFS Golf DRAFT Rankings: Top 40

My rankings are pretty easy to follow. I have ranked the top 40 overall. Following each golfer is their DRAFT fantasy point projection in parenthesis.

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1. Zach Johnson – (61.6)

2. Bryson DeChambeau – (56.8)

3. Francisco Molinari – (66.7)

4. Joaquin Niemann – (34.6)

5. Steve Stricker – (60.1)

6. Ryan Moore – (58.1)

7. Kyle Stanley – (64.2)

8. Austin Cook – (36.6)

9. Chesson Hadley – (35.6)

10. Kevin Tway – (58.2)

11. Wesley Bryan – (53.3)

12. David Lingmerth – (52.7)

13. Chez Reavie – (62.3)

14. Brian Gay – (53.8)

15. Kevin Streelman – (57.9)

16. Chris Kirk – (55.1)

17. Cheng-Tsung Pan – (48.3)

18. Ryan Palmer – (46)

19. Joel Dahmen – (45.2)

20. Harold Varner – (50.8)

21. Sung Kang – (52.2)

22. Scott Piercy – (53.9)

23. Andrew Landry – (33.1)

24. Brandon Harkins – (36.4)

25. Cameron Percy – (50.8)

26. Rory Sabbatini – (54.8)

27. Bill Haas – (55.5)

28. Kelly Kraft – (43.5)

29. Scott Stallings – (49.3)

30. JT Poston – (55.3)

31. Nick Watney – (53.1)

32. Si Woo Kim – (44.2)

33. Dylan Meyer – (31.7)

34. David Hearn – (45.5)

35. Johnson Wagner – (44.2)

36. Hudson Swafford – (53.3)

37. Andrew Putnam – (34.7)

38. Mackenzie Hughes – (48.7)

39. Fabian Gomez – (45.5)

40. Scott Brown – (49.5)

Next: Don't Miss OB's John Deere Classic DFS Golf Lineup!

That is all for this weeks PGA DFS Golf DRAFT rankings for the 2018 John Deere Classic. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as i did writing. I more so hope I guided us all to some success on DRAFT! If you have any questions, give me a follow on Twitter at @JuanBondDFS. You can also leave a question right here in the comments, and I will do my best to respond before lock Thursday morning. Good luck this weekend, enjoy your golf, and happy drafting on DRAFT!