Gentlemen, start your tractors

    Writing from Silvis, Illinois
    Wednesday, July 10, 2013

    Louis Oosthuizen is a tractor person.
    A tractor nut, in fact.
    Even for a farmer, he’s extreme.
    Some guys would buy a Ferrari after winning a major championship.
    Three years ago, after winning the British Open on the Old Course at St. Andrews, he bought a John Deere tractor.
    Two years ago, he followed up the purchase by playing in the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run a week before his defense across the pond.
    Hey, he’s a fifth-generation farmer. What better way to spend a day before a golf tournament than going to Deere headquarters and playing with potential new toys?
    Oosthuizen has been at it again this week, on the eve of the John Deere Classic that starts at 7 a.m. on Thursday. On Tuesday, he was at a Deere factory eyeing new equipment the way most golfers drool over new drivers.
    “I don’t need to be here to look at John Deere products, but yeah, I’m always looking,” Oosthuizen said. “I’m a big fan of their product. I’ve got a few of their equipment and tractors on the farm. You never know, I might ask for something more. Every time I’m here, I see something I like, so it’s dangerous.”
    And the sponsor of the tournament and owner of the course a couple of miles from its world headquarters will be thrilled to know it’s all Deere and nothing but a Deere for Oosthuizen. That’s been the family way since 1947, when his grandfather bought their first Deere tractor for the family farm in South Africa. Louis remembered it as model 3120.
    “You can ask him anything about the John Deere,” his father, Piet Oosthuizen, said on Tuesday. “He’s on the computer every day, knows every spec of this harvester, so he loves it.”
    Louis can’t argue that. But his farm is only about 150 acres, a big small for a harvester.
    “The next time, probably we’ll try to go down the road to Waterloo to see the tractors. I’m more a tractor guy.”
    As long as it’s a Deere, that is.
    “I don’t drive it if it’s not green farm equipment,” Oosthuizen said.
    Imagine if he wins. He could jump in the pond edging the 18th green, swim a few strokes and jump onto the pedestal upon which a riding lawn mower is spotlighted. Would a drenched Oosthuizen sitting on a mower with hands in the air be a great photo or what?

    Numbers game

    Headed by defending champion Zach Johnson – which means little business will get conducted in Cedar Rapids for the next four days – and three-time winner Steve Stricker, the field features eight of the world’s top 50 players, 44 of the top 100 on the money list, 48 of the top 100 in the FedEx Cup point standings, and 26 players who are committed to next week’s British Open in Muirfield, Scotland.
    It’s the sixth year of the special charter the Deere runs in conjunction with the Canadian Open. Players pay $1,500 a seat to go over, and can buy additional seats at $1,500 each for family. That’s boosted the quality of the field. Tournament chairman Clair Peterson saw it as a must to do so after seven players played the Deere and the British in 2007, all few commercial to London, and all lost their luggage at Heathrow Airport.
    Feature pairings on Thursday include:
    Tenth tee, 7:30 a.m.: Zach Johnson, Steve Stricker, Davis Love III
    Tenth tee, 7:40 a.m.: D.A. Points, Keegan Bradley, Charles Howell III
    Tenth tee, 8:10 a.m.: Jordan Spieth, Ryo Ishikawa, Luke Guthrie
    First tee, 8:30 a.m.: Camilo Villegas, John Rollins, Todd Hamilton
    First tee, 12:45 p.m.: Ken Duke, Harris English, Kevin Streelman
    First tee, 12:55 p.m.: Jonas Blixt, Nick Watney, Louis Oosthuizen
    Tenth tee, 1:15 p.m.: Rory Sabbatini, Johnathan Byrd, Trevor Immelman
    Additionally, Iowa Hawkeyes standout Steven Ihm, in on a sponsor’s exemption, tees off at 9 a.m. Winner of the Sunnehanna Amateur, Ihm is the first Hawkeye to get an exemption while still in school. The first all-Big Ten player from Iowa in ages, the native of Peosta, a town near Dubuque, will be a senior in the fall.

    – Tim Cronin