Sepp Straka stood in the 18th fairway at TPC Deere Run Sunday with an 8-iron in his hands, confidence coursing through his veins and a second PGA Tour victory in his sights. That he also had a chance to add his name to the list of tour players to break 60 was a mere secondary consideration.

“It popped in my mind, for sure, yeah, but I wasn’t going to change my game plan or strategy for the 59,” the 30-year-old native of Austria said. “The goal was still to keep the same game plan and try to finish and win a golf tournament. As fun as the 59 would be, I think winning the golf tournament is always more fun.”

Good thing he felt that way. Straka proceeded to rinse the shot, pulling his approach from 181 yards into the water left of the green. It cost him a double bogey on the par-4 home hole and marred what had been a sensational round, one of the finest this season. But sometimes a round qualifies as great by being good enough, and that’s what Straka submitted by carding a nine-under 62 and posting a two-stroke victory in the John Deere Classic.

For 17 holes, Straka absolutely strafed defenceless TPC Deere Run with nine birdies and an eagle, but after rallying from four strokes back to begin the final round to building a five-stroke lead, he left the door open with a mistake out of character with the quality of golf he had been putting on display on a temperate day in Silvis, Ill.

A birdie on the final hole—or on any of the three previous holes after getting to 11 under par—would have given Straka the 13th sub-60 score in tour history. He also would have become the third player, after David Duval and Stuart Appleby, to win with a final-round 59.

Instead, after the dyspeptic conclusion, he had to stew for more than an hour, hoping his 21-under 263 total would hold up. Third-round leader Brendan Todd climbed within a stroke, but he couldn’t catch Straka and Straka found himself $1.332 million richer and a step closer, perhaps, to making Luke Donald’s European Ryder Cup team.

“Hopefully, I can make a push for that [the Ryder Cup],” said Straka, who was born in Vienna but moved with his family to Georgia when he was 14 and attended the University of Georgia.

Straka, who rose to 27th in the world, is the second tour winner this season to double bogey the final hole, following Emiliano Grillo at the Charles Schwab Challenge. He is the first player since David Frost in 1992 to win the event with a round over par. Straka began the week with a two-over 73 and sat in 133rd place before rallying with 63 and 65 to climb into contention.

He credited short-game instructor Tim Yelverton with a putting tip that turned around his fortunes. Yelverton texted him Thursday after that first round and told Straka that the toe of his putter was sticking up. Straka adjusted his hands a little higher to flatten the clubhead.

Straka led the field in strokes gained/putting on Sunday and was fourth for the week at 6.731. He also was tops in birdies with 26.

“It was crazy because you don’t want to think about it too much because you don’t want to lose the feeling,” he said of being in a zone of sorts. “I was hitting the ball really well. I don’t think the ball-striking was as out of this world as the putting. The putting was just phenomenal.”

The final round began with 12 players within three shots of Todd’s lead. Straka wasn’t one of them. But by the sixth hole, when he tapped in a two-footer for birdie, he had the lead alone at 17 under, and he never trailed thereafter. He went out in seven-under 28, the third 28 posted on the front nine at TPC Deere Run. Then he added four birdies in a row starting with a seven-footer at the 11th to reach 11 under par.

His best chance to get to 12 under came at the par-5 17th hole, but he pulled a nine-foot birdie attempt. Then came Sepp’s misstep at 18, which for a while looked like it could cost him the tournament.

“It was not a good shot,” he said of his final approach. “Wind was off the right. I was just trying to go middle of the green and let it feed down to the left. Pulled it early. And then the wind drags it over to the water. It’s unfortunate. It was the first bad shot I hit today, I think, so I’ll give myself a little bit of slack there.”

Todd provided breathing room that he couldn’t afford to surrender when he three-putted the par-4 16th hole from 29 feet to drop two behind. The first putt had too much steam and raced six feet by.

“I just forgot. I’ve had that putt before and ran it passed. It’s just faster than it looks,” he said. “I was kind of line-locked knowing that I probably needed a birdie or two coming in, and so I just forgot how fast it was.”

More noticeable was just how fast Straka, a fellow Bulldog, raced by him.

“On 8 or 9 I saw that Sepp had gotten to 22 or 23 under, which was obviously amazing,” said Todd, who closed with a 68 and tied for second with Alex Smalley at 265. “I was pretty amazed, but I did say in my interview yesterday, there’s been a 59 [by Paul Goydos in 2010]. Anybody could have gone out there and shot a great round today, and he did it.”

Straka did a lot of things with that one round. He set the tournament record for low final round by a winner, eclipsing Payne Stewart’s mark of 63 in the 1982 event at Oakwood CC in Coal Valley, Ill., and the tournament record for largest comeback after 18 holes when he trailed Jonas Blixt by 11 shots. He tied what is believed to be a tour record with the lowest round that includes a double bogey, joining four others, including Harry Higgs earlier this year at The American Express.

Finally, no player since 1983 had ever been lower on the leaderboard in a tour event after one round. Ian Poulter was 123rd after 18 holes before winning the 2018 Houston Open.

“Any time you play a tournament, you get in contention, you find out something new. That experience is invaluable,” Straka said. “So just knowing that I was in 130-something place after the first round and ended up winning, you just can’t ever really count yourself out because you could get hot any moment.”

And stay hot all the way to the podium.

The post Sepp Straka’s wild Sunday rally falls short of 59, but not of winning the John Deere Classic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The nature of an important looming two-week stretch abroad means the 2023 John Deere Classic doesn’t boast the stoutest field on the PGA Tour’s schedule. But that doesn’t mean the action itself isn’t compelling. Coming into the final round, there are a few interesting storylines at stake. With the biggest names in golf resting up, Sunday may be the best opportunity for the rest to accomplish something truly career-changing.

Let’s break down what some of the contenders are playing for.

A validating victory

A win is a win, but for certain players at the top of the leaderboard, picking up the trophy on Sunday would bring with it a long-awaited sense of validation.

Cameron Young, the highest-ranked player in the field this week at World No. 19, is one of them. Young has finished inside the top 10 in three of his last six majors, including at the 2022 Open Championship, and notched a runner-up finish at the WGC Match Play earlier this year. But that first victory has eluded him. Fans are wondering: Why can’t this guy win one?

Young came into Saturday as the 36-hole leader, but some scrappy chips and putts led to bogeys on the sixth and seventh holes. Then, after birdies at 16 and 17, a series of duck hooks (one of which ended in the hazard) resulted in a double bogey on the 18th hole. His even-par 71 dropped him to 13 under and three back of the 54-hole lead. He’ll need to recover in a hurry if he hopes to shake his winless PGA Tour career.

Denny McCarthy and Adam Schenk come into Sunday T-2, one back of Brendon Todd’s 16-under lead. Like Young, they’ll each be hoping to notch their first overdue victory here. The former lost in a playoff to Viktor Hovland at the Memorial last month; the latter has finished runner-up twice already this season.

Michael Reaves

Ryder Cup points

Automatic spots on each respective Ryder Cup team are running out quickly — and with the final major of the year just two weeks away, there won’t be many more coming available. It means those with Rome ambitions are effectively playing for Captains’ Picks. Finish as high up the rankings as you can, and force the captain into picking you.

For Young (currently 10th in U.S. Ryder Cup rankings), McCarthy (14th), Schenk (24th) a win could do just that. Same for Sepp Straka on the European side (10th in Europe’s World Points ranking), who is four back heading into the final round.

Fifty-hour-hole leader Todd, whose third-round 66 leaves him with a one-stroke cushion at 16-under, is currently 42nd in the rankings. He has a lot of work left to do to convince Captain Zach Johnson he deserves a spot, but there is no better place to start making that argument than with a win on Sunday.

A slightly-random collection of 15 golf swings from 2022.

Each swing is fun and interesting in its own way. I learned a little something from every one.

?

— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) December 29, 2022

Future Status

And of course, wins and Ryder Cups aside, there’s the basic — and important — perk of status to play for. The Genesis Scottish Open will award a sponsor’s exemption to any player not already in the field. Todd, Peter Kuest and Jonas Blixt are some notables inside the top six who would qualify for that.

The case of Kuest is especially interesting. Kuest Monday Qualified for the Rocket Mortgage Classic last week. His top 10 finish there qualified him for the John Deere Classic this week, where he’s now two shots back of Todd heading into Sunday. Suddenly, full status on tour is within reach. It’s a hot run he’s cooked up. Sunday will show if he can turn up the heat even higher.

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With most of the golf world’s focus shifting abroad ahead of the two-week Scottish Open-Open Championship stretch, many of the game’s highest-ranked players are opting for a week of rest.

It’s probably the smart move, which makes it all the more interesting that Cameron Young decided to tee it up this week.

It may just work, too.

At World No. 19, Young is the highest-ranked player in the field this week, though the man who finished solo second at the 2022 Open Championship has struggled for form in 2023, with no top-10 finishes since a T-7 at the Masters.

Young’s U.S. Ryder Cup prospects have taken a hit accordingly (he’s down to 10th in the U.S. standings). But a six-under opening round 65 leaves him T-3 after his first round at the John Deere Classic, and a chance to create some momentum for a late-season surge.

More Power for Team Europe?

Christian Iooss

Speaking of Ryder Cup hopefuls looking to boost their chances of a ticket to Rome: Irishman Seamus Power with a five-under 66 opening round. Unlike Young, Power is trending in a direction where he will make the team (he’s currently 11th in the World Points standings), though a good stretch starting this week would secure those ambitions. It’d be welcome news for the European Team, too, which is lacking the same depth as its U.S. counterparts at the bottom of the order.

Rest and opportunity

All in all, the beauty of weeks like the John Deere Classic is that they’re an opportunity for anybody else with an itching sense of unfinished business. Patrick Rodgers (T-65), Young (T-3), Denny McCarthy (T-23) and Byeong Hun An (T-13) have each made more than $10 million on the PGA Tour, but are all winless. Zac Blair (T-23) is chasing full membership after a T-2 finish at the designated Travelers Championship and joins an army of others looking for a last-minute ticket to Royal Liverpool. It’s not often the big names take a break. The opportunity this week is to work hard while they rest.

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Aldrich Potgieter came up one shot short of Monday’s qualifying for this week’s John Deere Classic. But the newly turned pro from South Africa has a heck of a story to tell from his 18 holes at Pinnacle Country Club in Milan, Ill.

The 18-year-old former British Amateur champion shot a six-under 66 with a scorecard that included a 1-2-3-4-5 in a five-hole stretch on Pinnacle’s back nine. More astonishingly, the ace didn’t come on a par 3.

Rather, Potgieter holed his tee shot on the 345-yard par-4 17th, his eighth hole of the day. Using a driver on the dogleg right, cut the corner but wasn’t sure at first how the shot turned out.

“That was really exciting, and it was kind of a weird moment,” Potgieter said afterwards. “I didn’t see it go in, so I didn’t know. Kind of a blind tee shot, but … when I saw my caddie run out to the fairway and was pumping up his arms and going wild, I thought it was probably like a foot or two. And he said, no, it was in the hole. So, it wasn’t like the one you see on a par 3 and you go wild with the crowd. It was kind of a quiet moment to yourself where you’re like, ‘I still can’t believe that happened.’ ”

Unfortunately, there was no video of the rare albatross, only a post-round interview with Potgieter courtesy of the PGA Tour.

We still can't believe that happened either, Aldrich. pic.twitter.com/NFhJfKh4wY

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 3, 2023

After making the turn a six under, Potgieter couldn’t keep the momentum going, playing Pinnacle’s front side in even par. Reid Martin shot a 10-under 62 to earn medalist honours, while amateur Anders Larson, Yuto Katsuragawa and Kaito Onishi shots 65s to grab the four spots available to play at TPC Deere Run.

Potgieter played this year’s Masters and U.S. Open as an amateur thanks to his British Amateur win last summer, missing the cut in the former and finishing 64th in the latter. He then made his pro debut two weeks ago at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Compliance Solutions Championship, finishing 35th. He played last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, on a sponsor’s exemption, missing the cut at Detroit Golf Club.

Just how rare is a hole-in-one on a par 4? Well, consider it’s only been done once in a PGA Tour event. Andrew Magee has that honour, holing he tee shot on the par-4 17th hole at TPC Scottsdale during the 2001 Phoenix Open.

The post 18-year-old makes hole-in-one on par 4 (!) during John Deere Monday qualifier appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Yet that is what J.T. Poston did at TPC Deere Run, a tour-de-force performance that leaves him as the new John Deere Classic champ and now a two-time tour winner.

“It is hard,” Poston said afterwards, his 21-under 263 total in Silvis, Ill., good enough for a three-shot win. “Wire to wire, having the lead for so long, it’s just hard not to think about that fine line all week. I tried to stick to the game plan. Got off to a great start and then kind of started to try and give some back. Hit a lot of good shots down the stretch. [Caddie Aaron] Flener did a great job keeping my head in it and focused on the next one.”

Poston is not known for painting leaderboards red, beginning the month 160th in birdie average on tour. Frankly, the 29-year-old North Carolina native hasn’t been known for much as of late; two weeks ago, he was ranked 112th in the FedEx Cup standings, needing a good summer just to avoid demotion. If you’re wondering what changed in Illinois, the answer can be traced back to Connecticut at last week’s Travelers Championship, where—thanks to an opening 62 and closing 64—Poston finished T-2 at 17 under, his best finish in a full-points tour event since his 2019 victory at the Wyndham Championship.

“I feel like in years past I kind of fizzled out towards the end of the year and not played my best,” Poston said in Cromwell, Conn. “Hopefully this is a different year, and I can play better at the end of the year.”

Poston proved his words true and carried that momentum to the Quad Cities, starting with a 62 on Thursday and backing that up with a 65 Friday and 67 Saturday, giving him a three-shot lead. Sunday’s start featured much of the same: Poston rolled off three straight birdies to begin his final round. With a five-shot advantage, it felt like the proceedings could have been called to allow everyone an early start to backyard barbecues and sparklers.

Of course, golf has a way of icing even the hottest of heaters. After that birdie-birdie-birdie start, Poston made back-to-back bogeys on the fifth and sixth, with a third knocking on the door at the par-3 seventh after he flew the green by a good 20 yards. Suddenly, the issue seemed very much in doubt. Yet when things seemed like they were going south, Poston stayed level. After all, he is a cool customer. He’s a tough read when it comes to body language because he runs on aplomb that is consistent and unchanging no matter the score.

“I’ve always been pretty level, even keel,” Poston explained. “I think that’s a strength, not getting too excited, especially today after a great start.”

Stacy Revere

That nerve came in handy at the seventh, hitting a marvellous chip from a precarious spot and converting the 10 feet that remained for a par. “Flener, he said, ‘you know, just really stick to our game plan and talk through every shot and just to make sure that we’re fully committed,’ “ Poston said. “When you’ve got pressure like that and you’re in that position and you’re not 100 per cent committed, then you can’t really expect to hit a lot of good shots.”

It wasn’t the most dazzling of finishes. After providing plenty of pyrotechnics through three days, Poston decided he would wait for the Fourth of July for anymore fireworks. With 21 birdies and two eagles through his first 57 holes, Poston went on a 13-hole stretch without a red figure. Some of that can be chalked up to defensive play because that’s what the lead called for. It partially can be subscribed to the course finally firming up. Truth be told, sometimes one is merely holding on to the bull for dear life and doing whatever they can not to fly off.

“I was just trying to breathe,” Poston said. “I was really—I think there were a lot of nerves, a lot more than the first few days. I was just battling through them. I think after today, after this week, I feel like knowing I can play with those nerves and I can still win, still shoot a solid score considering the pressure and trying to win out here [means a lot].”

Poston’s lead granted enough latitude, although the birdie drought kept the door slightly open for his competitors. Emiliano Grillo, searching for his first win since 2015, got Poston’s lead down to one with a birdie at 10th. But the Argentinian bogeyed the 12th and made matters worse at the drivable par-4 14th. His tee shot found a greenside bunker, he flubbed his second and the third wasn’t much better. When his par attempt did not fall, Grillo gave a sarcastic fist pump, knowing whatever trophy aspirations held were no longer there.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout made a charge with birdies at the 14th, 15th and 17th, and his approach to 12 feet at the final hole had a chance to really apply pressure to Poston, who was facing a tricky eight feet for par at the 16th. Only Bezuidenhout missed the birdie attempt to settle for a 66, and Poston made the par save. Poston shooed away whatever drama remained by ending his birdie slump with an up-and-down at the par-5 17th, returning the lead to three shots that allowed him to enjoy the red-carpet treatment down the 18th fairway.

Though it was Poston’s tournament, the Sunday spotlight was shared with Chris Gotterup. The 22-year-old, who won the Haskins Award as the nation’s top collegiate golfer this season, made the most of a sponsor’s exemption, his final-round 66 liftings him to a T-4 finish. He did so in a way, with long drives (335.1 yards, third in distance) and pinpoint second shots (second in SG/approach), which is the formula for success on tour and portends more of the same. His solid display earned an invite to next week’s Barbasol Championship, and after making the cuts at the U.S. Open and Travelers (to go with a T-7 earlier in the year as an amateur at the Puerto Rico Open), the Oklahoma and Rutgers product has an outside chance at earning his tour card.

“Yeah, kind of I’ve been prepping all year kind of for this,” Gotterup said. “I knew it was going to happen. Not that I played really well, but I knew I had the opportunity, and to take advantage of it is amazing.”

Speaking of opportunities, despite not claiming the top prize Bezuidenhout and Grillo didn’t leave the JDC empty-handed, their T-2s earning them spots into The Open Championship via the Open Qualifying Series. “That’s very special,” Grillo said. “It’s top-three places to play golf in the world, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.”

Joining those two in Scotland will be Poston, who earned his first invite to the Open. Needless to say, the Old Course at St. Andrews for the championship’s 150th edition is not a bad place to make a debut. He also became the first player in 30 years to go wire-to-wire at the John Deere, and just the second individual to do it this season following Joaquin Niemann’s triumph at Riviera in February.

Now, this doesn’t qualify as a breakthrough win; that would be his aforementioned triumph at the Wyndham. It’s not an underdog story, either; with the Deere sandwiched between two New England events (the U.S. Open and Travelers Championship) followed by the Scottish Open and Open Championship overseas, many of the sport’s marquee attractions passed on playing, leaving Poston as one of the handfuls of players ranked inside the top 100 to tee it up.

Poston doesn’t need those sentiments because this win delivered something more cathartic. The list is deep of players who can run into four good rounds and win a tournament, or turn a decent stretch into a tour card. Poston knows because he’s been that guy. But this week was an affirmation of the belief that so many have but few come to find: That Poston doesn’t just belong out here, but truly, unequivocally and without doubt can be something more.

“You know, they don’t come easy out here, and I really wanted to get that second win to sort of validating Wyndham, so it feels good to get it out of the way,” Poston said. “I felt like this was coming, and it’s nice to get it done.”

Players spend a lifetime chasing that question. On this Sunday, Poston got his answer. It sounds easy. It is decidedly not.

The post J.T. Poston makes the difficult look easy in wire-to-wire win at the John Deere Classic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Jason Day and Webb Simpson will be looking for another win to add to their CVs, as will defending champ Lucas Glover. Sponsor’s exemptions into the field at TPC Deere Run in Silvas, Illinois, include Duke graduate Quinn Riley, new pro Chris Gotterup and Patrick Flavin, who has already Monday-qualified into five different PGA Tour events.

Five of the last 10 John Deere Classic winners were first-time PGA Tour winners. Will the run continue?

The winner will receive 500 points and a $1.278 million share of the $7.1 million purse.

TEE TIMES

First tee

7.45am — Emiliano Grillo, Maverick McNealy, Brandon Hagy
7.56am — Fabián Gómez, Matt Every, Bill Haas
8.07am — Ben Crane, Robert Garrigus, Bo Van Pelt
8.18am — Brian Gay, Michael Thompson, Nate Lashley
8.29am — Richy Werenski, Andrew Landry, Sung Kang
8.40am — Nick Taylor, Chez Reavie, Adam Long
8.51am — Austin Cook, Rory Sabbatini, Vince Whaley
9.02am — Greg Chalmers, James Hahn, Sam Ryder
9.13am — Andrew Putnam, Kelly Kraft, Scott Gutschewski
9.24am — Brice Garnett, Derek Ernst, Hayden Buckley
9.35am — Sean O’Hair, Arjun Atwal, Adam Svensson
9.46am — Joseph Bramlett, Curtis Thompson, Sean McCarty
9.57am — Chase Seiffert, Nick Hardy, Nathan Petronzio (a)
1.10pm — Adam Hadwin, Brian Stuard, Taylor Pendrith
1.21pm — Harry Higgs, David Lipsky, Brandon Wu
1.32pm — Peter Malnati, John Senden, Stephan Jaeger
1.43pm — Webb Simpson, Lanto Griffin, Jason Day
1.54pm — Charles Howell III, Brandt Snedeker, Sahith Theegala
2.05pm — Lucas Glover, Dylan Frittelli, Zach Johnson
2.16pm — Jonas Blixt, Patrick Rodgers, Roger Sloan
2.27pm — Camilo Villegas, Kevin Stadler, Jonathan Byrd
2.38pm — Scott Piercy, Hank Lebioda, Christiaan Bezuidenhout
2.49pm — Anirban Lahiri, Doc Redman, Lee Hodges
3pm — Austin Smotherman, Andrew Novak, Quinn Riley
3.11pm — Ben Kohles, Paul Barjon, Dylan Wu
3.22pm — Michael Gligic, David Skinns, Patrick Flavin

10th tee
7.45am — Ricky Barnes, Alex Smalley, Taylor Moore
7.56am — Wesley Bryan, D.A. Points, Kramer Hickok
8.07am — Chesson Hadley, Scott Stallings, Adam Schenk
8.18am — Cameron Champ, Cam Davis, Steve Stricker
8.29am — Chad Ramey, Ryan Brehm, J.T. Poston
8.40am — Robert Streb, Martin Laird, Patton Kizzire
8.51am — Kevin Streelman, Nick Watney, Mark Hensby
9.02am — Kevin Chappell, Vaughn Taylor, Denny McCarthy
9.13am — Seung-Yul Noh, Mark Hubbard, Matt Wallace
9.24am — Chris Stroud, David Hearn, Omar Uresti
9.35am — Brett Drewitt, Jared Wolfe, Chris Naegel
9.46am — Ryuji Imada, Seth Reeves, Luke Gannon
9.57am — Brian Davis, Joshua Creel, Charles Jahn
1.10pm — Satoshi Kodaira, Tommy Gainey, John Huh
1.21pm — John Merrick, Johnson Wagner, Matthias Schwab
1.32pm — Charley Hoffman, Ben Martin, Shawn Stefani
1.43pm — C.T. Pan, Kevin Tway, William McGirt
1.54pm — Tyler Duncan, Brendon Todd, Martin Trainer
2.05pm — Jason Dufner, Aaron Baddeley, Cameron Percy
2.16pm — Grayson Murray, Ryan Moore, Parker McLachlin
2.27pm — Henrik Norlander, Doug Ghim, Max McGreevy
2.38pm — Ryan Armour, Richard S. Johnson, Trey Mullinax
2.49pm — David Lingmerth, Scott Brown, D.J. Trahan
3pm — Greyson Sigg, Justin Lower, Callum Tarren
3.11pm — Bo Hoag, Jim Knous, Christopher Gotterup
3.22pm — Boo Weekley, Dawie van der Walt, Preston Stanley

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By John Strege
A decade can seem like an eternity in sports, a 10-year window in which careers often begin and end and the headliners rotate in and out, here today, gone tomorrow. Lucas Glover was yesterday’s news a long time ago.

Glover won the U.S. Open in 2009 and the Wells Fargo Championship in May 2011 and then … nothing. He did not disappear, but neither was he a fixture late on Sunday afternoons. Until this Sunday afternoon.

Ten years, two months and three days after his last PGA Tour victory, Glover went out on a wet afternoon at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill., and became relevant again, winning the John Deere Classic by two shots.

“It’s been a long 10 years,” Glover said. “There’s been some struggles. I’ve had a couple good years, but nothing like this, where I had a real chance to win.”

He did so with a flourish, a final-round seven-under-par 64, the low round of the day, that included his playing the final seven holes in five under for a 19-under-par 265 total. As if 10 years was not long enough to wait, he then had to wait another 30 minutes or so to see whether anyone might catch him. No one did, Ryan Moore and Kevin Na coming closest and tying for second.

When an athlete is lost in his sport’s wilderness for years on end, the obvious question is whether surrendering to frustration was a consideration, allowing the game to win. No doubt Glover was frustrated, but a U.S. Open victory on a résumé likely is a strong inducement to keep searching, and he was adamant that his self-belief never wavered, even at 41 and long removed from hoisting a trophy.

Andy Lyons
Lucas Glover plays his approach shot on the 18th hole during the final round of the John Deere Classic.

“One-hundred percent,” he said. “I still thought I was good enough. I’m working harder now and more efficiently than I did in my 20s. I still can honestly say I can do it, and I never doubted that. It’s been a difficult 10 years, but I never lost my faith. I felt some good golf coming. I didn’t know how good. I think a lot of times it comes out of nowhere. I’ve been playing well and having some good rounds. A 63 [in the second round at the John Deere] and 64 proved myself right on that.

“I knew it was in there. I had to clean up my brain a little bit, I think. Just hit some shots and just play golf. I’ve been pretty good for a while. I never lost sight of believing I could do this and win again. Probably the most gratifying thing is that I proved myself right and actually proved a lot of other people wrong, which feels good, too. But it always nice to prove yourself right if you truly believe in something.”

There were low points in his journey, two in particular. “I went to the Korn Ferry [Tour] finals twice, one after injury and one after I played so bad. I was able to get my card back both times. It was bad as far as being on tour, but in the grand scheme of things I was still a pro golfer.”

And a good enough one to buck golf’s youth movement and join the ranks of those 40 and older to have won in the last year, including Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, Brian Gay and Matt Jones.

Icon Sportswire
Lucas Glover reacts after holing a par putt that would seal his victory.

Glover’s five back-nine birdies on Sunday allowed him to separate himself from an exceedingly crowded pack that at one time had eight players tied for the lead. He was aiming for a 20-under score, came up one short, but it was sufficient.

“Putts started going in,” he said. “I ironed it pretty good the last few days and obviously made some Friday and shooting what I shot yesterday. They just went in and I kept the pedal down. I was under the impression 20 was a good number for me. Wanted to get that just as a personal goal. I wanted to keep pushing. There were too many birdies and too many great players behind me. Wanted to continue to push, push, push.”

The victory, the fourth of his PGA Tour career, comes with the usual perks—a seven-figure payday and a two-year tour exemption—but for Glover, it came with a bonus. It was the first time his kids, Lucille, 8, and Lucas Jr., 5, saw him win, via television. “My wife, Krista, too, the first time the three of them saw me win a golf tournament as a family,” he said.

And that’s a memory that will last not just a decade, but forever.

The post Lucas Glover a winner again after ‘a long 10 years’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
Early Sunday at the John Deere Classic, the leaderboard was as bunched as ever, which meant one thing: another PGA Tour playoff was on the horizon. Lucas Glover, who clearly had a plane to England to catch, was having absolutely none of that noise.

Glover, who last won on the PGA Tour at the 2011 Wells Fargo Championship, shot a closing 64 at TPC Deere Run, securing a two-stroke victory over Ryan Moore and Kevin Na. Much has happened to the former U.S. Open champ, good and bad, on and off the course, in the last decade. To put it lightly, this win was very long time coming.

“Pretty ecstatic,” he said. ‘Still hasn’t really sunk in yet.”

Amid some widely publicized off-the-course issues with his wife, Krista, Glover was struggling on the course, too, failing to seriously contend in a tour event since Quail Hollow, something he readily admitted to CBS’ Amanda Balionis. You wouldn’t have known that Sunday afternoon, though, as Glover holed a number of clutch birdie and par putts on the back nine to comfortably close the deal. The flat stick has always been an issue for Glover, a world-class ball-striker who hasn’t gotten the most out of his career due to poor putting.

That’s no longer the case for the 41-year-old, at least over the last five months. The putting narrative has completely flipped, with Glover gaining strokes on the greens in eight of his last 10 events. As a result, he’s picked up three top-20 finishes, two top-8s and now a win during that stretch. On Sunday, he gained 2.51 strokes on the greens, the most of any round he played this week.

Glover’s win is the latest drought-snapping victory of the 2020-21 PGA Tour Super Season. He joins Harris English, Martin Laird, Brian Gay and Stewart Cink in ending win droughts of at least seven or more years. Only Cink’s was longer than Glover’s at 11 years and one month.

“Rededicated is an interesting term, I guess,” Glover said when asked about making it back to the winner’s circle. “I’ve always worked hard and believed in it, but made some changes two or three years ago that needed to do for more longevity with my body and my trainer, Kolby Tullier. He’s done a great job with me and kind of reinvigorated fitness for me, which is a big thing.

“I want to play a few more years and try to keep going. It was just getting back refocused. I always thought I could do this again, and I just needed to figure out the best way to go about it again.”

The win, Glover’s fourth on tour, was made extra sweet because it was the first time his two kids, and his wife, have seen him raise a trophy.

“She’s never seen me win a tournament. Very excited. I spoke to my daughter a minute ago, and it wasn’t official yet. She just said ‘nice job’ and she was happy for me. My son, he probably doesn’t care, but that’s the way it is.

“But pretty cool. I remember that was my biggest takeaway when Tiger won his last Masters is that his kids got to see him as a champ. That was a goal of mine, too.”

On a tour where another 20-something pops up every week, the likes of Cink, Phil Mickelson and Glover continue to prove that in golf, age is just a number.

Ryan Moore plays his way into the Open, may decline invite

Andy Lyons

File this one under things we did not expect to see: Ryan Moore, who had not had a top-10 on the PGA Tour in 21 starts dating back to January 2020, tied for second on Sunday, his first runner-up since the 2018 Safeway Open. With that T-2, he earned an invitation to next week’s Open Championship, an event he hasn’t played in since 2018, when he tied for 12th. His response? Let me think about it.

Now, considering all the other dropouts due to travel concerns, it wasn’t all that surprising, not to mention Moore has been dealing with back issues that have led to his recent slump. Then again, Moore hasn’t been in a position to play in a major in so long (his last was the 2019 PGA) that you’d think he’d jump at the opportunity, COVID concerns or not. What gives? Well, actually, Moore’s reasoning is sort of heartwarming. It’s family vacay week next week.

“I need to go talk to my wife about that, but she’s going to tell me to go,” Moore said, adding, “We’ve had a family trip planned for next week basically for the last few months, and at this point in time in my career I’ve played a lot of golf tournaments. I don’t want to bail on a trip like that.”

Well, isn’t that just the sweetest. Moore did still leave it up in the air, but the family trip, plus the bad back, might make it an easy decision for him this evening.

“You know, it’s hard for me. There’s just a few too many variables there. Just again with my body did feel good this week, but it’s a long flight. It’s a long week. It’s hard, tough, cold conditions. That makes me a little nervous just forcing it.”

Moore, who has been known to focus much harder on the FedEx Cup than majors in the recent past, will now turn his attention to the playoff push, which seemed out of the question when he entered the week at 194th in the standings.

“That’s probably going to be the decision. I would love to have known a month ago I was in it. Then absolutely I’d go there. But coming here, I had my plans made, and knowing you have to finish second basically to get in there, it’s hard to plan around that. Obviously, I’m thrilled I did. It’s awesome they extend that, you know, that spot for a person in this tournament. But for me in my position this year I just don’t think I’ll be able to take it.”

Dropping out of the Open Championship … so hot right now.

Adam Schenk’s brutal break

Andy Lyons

For a brief moment on the back nine, Adam Schenk, who was playing alongside Glover, looked like he’d be the guy to have a birdie party and run away with his first PGA Tour win. After turning in two-under 33, Schenk made birdies at 10, 12 and 13 to reach 17 under, grabbing the solo lead over Glover, who was at 16 under. At the 14th, though, fortunes changed quickly, as Schenk’s tee shot sailed to the right and caught the cart path multiple times, his ball finally coming to rest in an impossibly thick lie to the right of the 15th tee. Schenk chunked one short from there, then chipped one 20 feet past and two-putted for bogey. Glover, meanwhile, stuck his approach to six feet and made one of his four straight birdies. It all escalated very quickly, and Schenk, who was in line to either win or at least grab that spot in the Open Championship, did neither of those things. He should still be proud of his T-4, though, as it’s his best finish on tour, his first top-10 this year and it vaulted him inside the top 125 of the FedEx Cup standings. Not all bad.

Pair of uncharacteristic bogeys the difference for Kevin Na

Andy Lyons

Na, who has played the Lucas Glover role numerous times over the last few years on Sundays, made two unbelievably silly mistakes for him in the final round at TPC Deere Run, and they proved to be the difference. At the par-5 second, Na badly missed the green with a 3-wood, finding the water hazard left, which led to a bogey. At the 15th, just as he had closed the gap and got within two shots of Glover, he hit a poor drive down the right side, but an excellent recovery shot put him in a good spot to get up and down. But his chip was fat out of a hairy lie, leading to another bogey. He did make one other bogey at the par-4 eighth, missing a six-footer for par. Very unlike Na, who has shown an incredible ability to close the deal over the last few seasons. Nobody can say he didn’t go for the win on Sunday, though. That man remains as aggressive as ever, a mentality literally pasted across his back—“WIN AT ALL COSTS”—which rests right underneath his walk-in putts logo.

Maverick McNealy’s impressively boring round

Andy Lyons

It wasn’t exactly Nick Faldo at Muirfield in 1987, but Maverick McNealy did pull off one of the more impressively boring feats in golf on Sunday: 18 straight pars. For his troubles, he dropped 10 spots on the leader board, tying for 18th. Pars are always good, but not good enough at tournaments like the John Deere Classic. That said, it was made more impressive by the fact he played the whole weekend without a bogey. Also, it shouldn’t have even been possible, because McNealy played the par-4 14th in three shots. But according to the CBS broadcast, he was hit with a one-stroke penalty for moving his ball, which gave him par on the hole and made this feat possible.

The post Lucas Glover ends decade-long win drought, Ryan Moore plays his way into Open (maybe) and Adam Schenk’s brutal break appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Scott Brown was born in Augusta, Ga., but the 10-year vet has never played the Masters. He’s damn close to making that dream a reality.

Brown made nine birdies on Saturday for an eight-under 63, a performance that moved him from middle of the pack to near the top of the board in the John Deere Classic.

“Drove it really well to start off with and then was able to hit the ball close with my irons and capitalize on the putting,” said Brown who sits at 14 under for the week. “Kind of a momentum carrying over from last week a little bit on Sunday’s round. Started to see some putts go in, and just carried it over to this week a little bit.”

While the Masters is the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, Brown’s been more focused on getting out of the rain. It’s been a rough season for the 38-year-old, missing the cut in 15 of 25 starts and entering the week 180th in the FedEx Cup, placing Brown in massive danger of losing his card. It’s a standing that Brown is trying to use to his advantage. “At this point my FedExCup position, I kind of need to win, so it kind of frees me up in a way,” Brown said Saturday afternoon. “I have one goal, and it’s to come in here and win.”

This tournament has been palliative to Brown in the past, posting six top-25s in eight career starts, and Saturday proved to be an analgesic. Despite losing strokes to the field off the tee, Brown gained over four shots on his competition on the greens and another three in approach, a combo that allowed Brown to paint the course red. Impressive as those nine birdies were, it was an up-and-down out of a greenside bunker on the 18th for par that was the exclamation point on his day.

That par has him on the precipice of a life-changing walk. It won’t be easy, not with a crowded board of viable opponents. Brown’s lone win on the PGA Tour came at the alternate-event Puerto Rico Classic in 2013, and with over 260 career starts under his belt no one has to tell him how rare such opportunities are. There’s a heck of a lot on the line for Scott Brown Sunday. He’s waited 38 years for this moment. What’s another 18 holes?

“It’s been a tough year, but I’ve been trying to stay positive. I’ve got a good team around me saying just keep doing what you’re doing,” Brown said. “You just never know when it’s your time.”

Three other takeaways from Saturday at the John Deere Classic.

Packed at the top

Since TPC Deere Run took over as this event’s venue in 2000, no course on tour has surrendered more birdies. Should that trend continue Sunday … strap in, folks.

Sebastian Munoz sits in the lead at 16 under thanks to a four-under 67. There are a whopping 11 guys three shots or closer to Munoz. That pack includes Brandon Nagy at 15 under; Brown, Adam Long, Ryan Moore and Cam Champ at 14; Maverick McNealy, Chez Reavie, Luke List and Jhonattan Vegas at 13. Even major winners in Jason Dufner and Lucas Glover at 12 under are close enough to make a run.

Sunday’s forecast calls for rain, which should leave the course extremely vulnerable. Expect a shootout, and perhaps sudden death. There have been back-to-back playoffs heading into the John Deere Classic, and Saturday’s board has the trappings for a third.

Andy Lyons
Cameron Champ plays his shot from the second tee during the third round of the John Deere Classic.

Champ back from the wilderness

Fans and media tend to embellish or hyperbolize when a player is in a slump. That’s not the case for Cam Champ, whose struggles—especially against his immense talent—have gone somewhat under the radar.

The two-time tour winner has not posted a top-25 finish in 2021 and entered the week 149th in the FedEx Cup. Worse, the woes were not just one facet of the game but systemic; Champ ranks 163rd in approach, 199th in SG/around-the-green and 206th in SG/putting. His driving remains prodigious (seventh in SG/off-the-tee), but even in today’s modern game, that will only take you so far.

However, Champ has emerged from the wilderness, making five birdies in his first six holes on Saturday and is in the mix heading into the final round.

“I got off to a great start, obviously I would want to keep that momentum going, but I hit a few squirrely shots and I made some great pars and great putts,” Champ said after a 65. “So for a Saturday in kind of getting me up there close within a few shots, obviously there’s guys finishing, it could be, I could have, I could be done one, two, three, who knows, but at least I’m within reach.”

He hasn’t been flawless through three days in Silvis; his second shots leave much to be desired, as does his wedge work around the green. Yet his putter has been lights-out and he’s managed to keep the big numbers at bay, highlighted by a bogey-free round on Saturday.

Champ is not in danger of losing his card thanks to his win at the 2019 Safeway Open. In that same breath, he seemed to be on the verge of big things after contending at the 2020 PGA Championship last August, and the returns since TPC Harding Park have not lived up to the billing. He also alluded to off-the-course matters that have made him focus on his mental health.

“One of our purposes is to win, to win golf tournaments, to be the best as we possibly can, but for me, coming to the realization of a lot of things; I have many other purposes I want to achieve,” Champ said. “For me it’s not all about golf. Obviously as a kid and coming out here trying to get on tour it had to be because that was my situation and I had no other choice.

“But now that I’m out here and I got married, I’m maturing in levels, I’m starting to kind of figure out myself and what works for me. So obviously I’m going to put a hundred percent effort into this game, I love it, it’s given me so much. But also I have my family, I have other things that mean more to me than this game. So for me it’s just kind of balancing that and figuring that out and how I can manage both of those to have my ultimate success. … I talked to my wife, I talked with my coach, and just try to have a more open-minded process and enjoy the game more, not be so hard on myself and as long as I put the work in, then results will come.”

No matter what happens Sunday, this week has underlined that those results are near, and that Champ can return to that big-time trajectory.

Kevin Na remains a human highlight machine

We suppose there might be fans who are tired of Kevin Na’s walk-in celebrations, similar to how there are people who think a hot dog is a sandwich. But just because these heathens exist does not mean we have to acknowledge their foolish opinions.

Which is a long way of saying: Kevin Na was dropping premature celebrations again on Saturday, and it was a delight:

Fist-pumping before it drops. ?

Kevin Na is 1 back after back-to-back birdies. pic.twitter.com/GgvucXeXFI

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 10, 2021

Our only qualm is it’s time for Na—whose Saturday 66 has him in contention—to take his act to the next level. Whip his hat to the ground like Tiger Woods at Bay Hill. Turn to the crowd and twirl his hand to his ear, letting the roar that ensues be his signal. Go full Incredible Hulk and tear his shirt into two.

Should these suggestions come to pass … please, Steve Stricker, give the man a captain’s pick on the Ryder Cup.

The post Augusta native has shot at first Masters berth, Cam Champ stays hot and Kevin Na continues to be human highlight machine appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
The PGA Tour announced that a new event will replace the cancelled John Deere Classic.

The Workday Charity Open will be a full-field event held at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio beginning July 6. The tour will be at the property back-to-back weeks, as Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament follows the Workday event. This development was initially reported in early June.

“We are extremely pleased to join with Workday and Muirfield Village Golf Club to present this new event as we continue our Return to Golf efforts,” said Andy Pazder, chief tournament & competitions officer for the PGA Tour. “Our special thanks go to Workday for partnering with us as title sponsor and for their pledge to make a significant charitable impact with the event. Memorial Tournament host Jack Nicklaus has always done what is best for the game of golf and in these unprecedented times, we are most appreciative of his Muirfield Village Golf Club hosting the event the week prior to the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide.”

Muirfield Village is set to undergo major renovations following the Memorial, easing the burden of two weeks of tour play and strain on the course. However, while Ohio officials ruled the Memorial will have fans on property, the Workday event will be conducted sans spectators.

As part of the announcement Workday said it is committing $1 million to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio and $500,000 to the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, founded by NBA star Stephen Curry.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to bring viewers one of the first live golf events of this truly unprecedented year,” said Aneel Bhusri, co-founder and CEO, Workday. “We’d like to use this moment to not only unify the golf community through this tournament, but to drive awareness and support for these and other notable causes.”

Tournament officials pulled the plug on the John Deere Classic in late May, believing state restrictions and guidelines towards the coronavirus pandemic limited its ability to host. In a statement, the tour confirmed the John Derere Classic would return to its schedule in 2021.

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