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.

By Christopher Powers
The PGA Tour heads to the Quad Cities this week for the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run, a D.A. Weibring design in Silvis, Illinois. It’s the last event of the Open Championship Qualifying Series, with just one spot available at Carnoustie going to the leading player not otherwise exempt who finishes in the top five and ties. Last year, Bryson DeChambeau grabbed that spot by winning the event in thrilling fashion, carding a back-nine 30 to edge out Patrick Rodgers by one stroke. He’ll be back in the field this week to defend his title but won’t need to win as he’s already exempt for the Open.

Because of its tough spot on the schedule before the Open Championship, the John Deere Classic has one of the weaker fields of the year, but that hasn’t stopped the event from producing some incredible finishes. Since 1999 it’s been decided by one stroke or in a playoff 14 times, including Jordan Spieth’s maiden PGA Tour victory in 2013, when he holed out from a greenside bunker on the 72nd hole to force a playoff, eventually beating David Hearn and Zach Johnson in a playoff.

Thursday Tee Times (all times local)

No. 1 Tee
7:10 a.m. — Patrick Rodgers, Steve Wheatcroft, Keith Mitchell
7:20 a.m. — Cameron Tringale, J.T. Poston, Tyler Duncan
7:30 a.m. — Matt Jones, Carl Pettersson, Corey Conners
7:40 a.m. — Patton Kizzire, Fabian Gomez, Nick Watney
7:50 a.m. — Chris Stroud, Aaron Baddeley, William McGirt
8 a.m. — Peter Malnati, Matt Every, Chesson Hadley
8:10 a.m. — Jonathan Byrd, Chad Campbell, Dicky Pride
8:20 a.m. — Brendon Todd, Tommy Gainey, Tim Herron
8:30 a.m. — Charlie Beljan, Kevin Tway, Richy Werenski
8:40 a.m. — Harris English, Chris Couch, David Berganio, Jr.
8:50 a.m. — Brett Stegmaier, Zecheng Dou, Manav Shah
9:00 a.m. — Will Claxton, Nicholas Lindheim, Nick Hardy
9:10 a.m. — Bronson Burgoon, Conrad Shindler, Chad Proehl
12:20 p.m. — Hunter Mahan, John Merrick, Seamus Power
12:30 p.m. — Scott Stallings, Rory Sabbatini, Ricky Barnes
12:40 p.m. — Danny Lee, Ben Crane, Trey Mullinax
12:50 p.m. — Andrew Landry, Brice Garnett, Mackenzie Hughes
1:00 p.m. — Francesco Molinari, Scott Piercy, Austin Cook
1:10 p.m. — Bryson DeChambeau, Ryan Moore, Davis Love III
1:20 p.m. — Jason Bohn, D.J. Trahan, Dominic Bozzelli
1:30 p.m. — Robert Garrigus, Andres Romero, Robert Allenby
1:40 p.m. — Arjun Atwal, Daniel Chopra, Joel Dahmen
1:50 p.m. — Robert Streb, John Huh, Stuart Appleby
2:00 p.m. — Ben Silverman, Adam Schenk, Sean McCarty
2:10 p.m. — Omar Uresti, Jonathan Randolph, Vince India
2:20 p.m. — Lanto Griffin, Kyle Thompson, Brian Bullington

No. 10 Tee
7:10 a.m. — Daniel Summerhays, Kelly Kraft, C.T. Pan
7:20 a.m. — Johnson Wagner, Parker McLachlin, Ryan Blaum
7:30 a.m. — Nick Taylor, Martin Piller, Joaquin Niemann
7:40 a.m. — D.A. Points, Hudson Swafford, Cody Gribble
7:50 a.m. — Aaron Wise, Si Woo Kim, Harold Varner III
8:00 a.m. — Wesley Bryan, Zach Johnson, Steve Stricker
8:10 a.m. — Scott Brown, John Rollins, Brandon Harkins
8:20 a.m. — John Senden, Brendon de Jonge, Zac Blair
8:30 a.m. — Troy Merritt, Ken Duke, Michael Kim
8:40 a.m. — J.J. Henry, Ryan Palmer, Talor Gooch
8:50 a.m. — Roberto Diaz, Matt Akins, Doug Ghim
9:00 a.m. — Stephan Jaeger, Ethan Tracy, Broc Everett
9:10 a.m. — Cameron Beckman, Tom Lovelady, Xinjun Zhang
12:20 p.m. — Michael Thompson, Brian Davis, Derek Fathauer
12:30 p.m. — Mark Wilson, Jason Gore, Andrew Putnam
12:40 p.m. — Sean O’Hair, Sam Saunders, Blayne Barber
12:50 p.m. — Chris Kirk, Bill Haas, Brian Gay
1:00 p.m. — Billy Hurley III, Vaughn Taylor, David Lingmerth
1:10 p.m. — Kyle Stanley, Brian Stuard, Chez Reavie
1:20 p.m. — George McNeill, David Hearn, Cameron Percy
1:30 p.m. — Charlie Wi, Whee Kim, Tyrone Van Aswegen
1:40 p.m. — Shawn Stefani, Sung Kang, Martin Flores
1:50 p.m. — Steven Bowditch, Kevin Streelman, Kris Blanks
2:00 p.m. — Craig Barlow, Sam Ryder, Norman Xiong
2:10 p.m. — Troy Matteson, Rob Oppenheim, Dylan Meyer
2:20 p.m. — Denny McCarthy, Andrew Yun, Dru Love

The post 2018 John Deere Classic tee times, viewer’s guide appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers

Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Rodgers were two of the top amateur players in recent memory, both of whom brought lofty expectations to the PGA Tour. And while both have had some professional success, neither had had a breakthrough victory, and on the back nine of the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run on Sunday, it came down to the two of them, and DeChambeau prevailed.

Entering the final round, DeChambeau, 23, was four shots behind Rodgers, and that deficit had grown by the time he reached the 10th hole at even par for the day. The 2015 U.S. Amateur champion caught fire on the home nine, making birdies on four of his next five holes to get to 16-under. After a wayward drive on the 17th, DeChambeau pulled off a 270-yard recovery shot to reach the par-5 green in two and two-putt for birdie.

Rodgers was just a few groups behind, and sitting at 18-under. DeChambeau found the green in regulation on the 18th, with a 12-foot left-to-right putt to finish at 18-under. As it neared the cup, it looked as though it would just slide by on the right side of the hole, but it caught the lip, dropped in, and DeChambeau went wild. Rodgers would go on to bogey the par-5 17th and par the 18th, giving DeChambeau his first win in his 40th start on tour.

Afterwards, DeChambeau was emotional, and pointed to the fact that the John Deere Classic was where he played one of his first few events on tour as an amateur in 2015. Winning at TPC Deere Run just two years later was a special moment, and it gets him a spot in next week’s Open Championship.

For Rodgers, the solo second matched his career best T2 finish at the 2015 Wells Fargo Championship. It was his third top 10 this season, and second top-15 finish at the John Deere Classic in his career. His Open Championship debut will have to wait.

Wesley Bryan posted one of the low rounds of the day, a seven-under 64 that featured a six-under 30 on his back nine to finish at 16-under 268. The former trick shot artist continues to impress during his strong rookie season, already having picked up his first victory at the RBC Heritage and finishing in the top 10 four times. He’ll be making his first appearance at the Open Championship next week, and just his third start in a major in his career.

Tying Bryan for third was Rick Lamb, who shot a final-round five-under 66. Lamb, 26, has made just four cuts in 14 events this season, with just one top-25 finish. His rookie season hasn’t been nearly as successful as Bryan’s, but the T3 is his best result this year.

Three-time John Deere Classic winner Steve Stricker began three-over through eight holes on Thursday, but played the remaining 64 holes in 18-under to finish in a tie for fifth. His final-round seven-under 64 earned him his second top 10 this season. The President’s Cup captain will be making his 15th appearance at the Open Championship next week at Royal Birkdale.

Zach Johnson, Jonathan Byrd and Scott Stallings also finished at 15-under in a tie for fifth.

The post Bryson DeChambeau birdies 17th and 18th holes to earn first PGA Tour victory appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Charles Howell III and Ollie Schniederjans are each in very different spots in their careers, but both have had plenty of success in 2017. Howell III, 38, is in his 17th year on tour, with two wins and well over $30 million in career earnings. Schniederjans, 24, is making just his 32nd start on the PGA Tour, and has shown promise in his limited appearances. The young gun and the veteran are tied for the first-round lead at the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill., after posting eight-under 63s on Thursday.

Something about TPC Deere Run brings good vibes for certain players, and Howell III (pictured) is one of them. He’s finished in the top-25 six times in 10 tries at the John Deere, including a solo third in 2000 in just his third start on tour as a professional. His consistency during his career has been well-documented, and 2017 has been no exception. Howell III has made 16 of 17 cuts, the only miss coming at the Safeway Open, his first start of the season last October. His round on Thursday was bogey-free and the lowest of the year.

For Schniederjans, his 63 is the lowest round of his nascent career, featuring birdies on three of his last four holes, all coming inside 10 feet. Unlike Howell, the former Georgia Tech standout has no prior experience at the John Deere, making his first round in the event all the more impressive. He’s still in search of his first victory, but four top-10s and a T-3 at the RBC Heritage indicate that day might be coming soon.

Another veteran who has enjoyed success at the John Deere is Zach Johnson, who posted a six-under 65 and sits just two back. Johnson, 41, won the event in 2012 in a playoff and lost it in a playoff a year later. He now has 12 rounds of 65 or lower in his career at TPC Deere Run, the most of any player.

Also at six under are Rory Sabbatini, Patrick Rodgers and Chad Campbell.

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