2026 John Deere Classic Picks & Predictions: PGA Longshots
Following Viktor Hovland’s epic playoff win over Scottie Scheffler at the Travelers Championship on Monday morning, the 2026 John Deere Classic is next on the PGA Tour circuit.
In 2025, Brian Campbell cashed as a huge sleeper during his playoff win against Emiliano Grillo. In 2024, Davis Thompson punched his first PGA Tour win as another longshot. Hopefully, sleepers continue to climb the leaderboard in Silvis, Illinois, this week.
TPC Deere Run will play as a par 71, slightly over 7,300 yards in length. Its biggest defenses are rooted in bunker placement, elevated and undulated bentgrass greens, and 4.5-inch Kentucky Bluegrass rough.
My 2026 Travelers Championship Picks & Predictions: PGA Longshots wound up falling short. We had a realistic chance at cashing Akshay Bhatia (+7000) as a sleeper for the second time this year, but he’d go on to miss several putts inside of six feet on Sunday, sliding into a T5 finish at three strokes off the lead.
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2026 John Deere Classic Picks & Predictions: PGA Sleepers
(Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook)
Jackson Suber (+5500)
Jackson Suber is only 55-1 this week, but I still quantify this number as a longshot or sleeper pick. Suber has had his name near the top of the leaderboard in several events this season, recently carding a T30 at the Travelers Championship on Sunday.
The 26-year-old missed the cut here during his debut in 2025. This season, Suber ranks 23rd in SG: Approach, 10th for finding greens in regulation and third in proximity. Simply put, he’s lethal with his irons.
Suber has a pair of top 5 finishes in his last five events played. He’s a great golfer on approach, so let’s bet a quarter unit (0.25) on Suber to be the latest golfer to record his breakthrough win at TPC John Deere.
Emiliano Grillo (+6500)
Can Emiliano Grillo avenge his loss to Brian Campbell here from last year? I think so. The Argentinian is sitting at 65-1 in the outright winner betting market this week.
Grillo has had a largely pedestrian year, carding a T7 at the Valspar Championship. He’s coming off T20-T23 finishes at the RBC Canadian Open and U.S. Open.
Notable ranks include eighth in driving accuracy, 36th in proximity, and top-50 for approach shots from 200+ yards. Let’s stake 0.25 units on Grillo to earn his third PGA Tour win to grab over 16 units of profit.
Patrick Fishburn (+12500)
After missing the cut in Silvis, Patrick Fishburn followed it up with a strong T18 finish at the 2025 John Deere Classic. Fishburn has just one top 20 finish this season, although he did card a T29 finish in his last outing at the RBC Canadian Open.
He’s 75th in SG: Off-the-Tee, 58th in SG: Putting, 24th for greens in regulation hit (68.5%), and 58th in proximity in 2026. Yes, there’s a reason Fishburn is all the way down at 125-1 in the outright winner market, with a bad short game and approach game struggles.
At +12500 odds, it’s worth taking a flier on another PGA Tour golfer seeking his first career win. A 0.10 unit sprinkle still nets 12.5 units on Fishburn, so let’s lock him in as our final longshot at the 2026 John Deere Classic.