Bill Murray brings the funny

By Tim Cronin

Reporting from Silvis, Illinois

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

It was Throwback Wednesday at the John Deere Classic.

Bill Murray made it so.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, when first Ed McMahon fronted the tournament and later Miller Brewing was the sponsor, the big day at Oakwood Country Club wasn’t Sunday, or Saturday, or Friday, or Thursday.

It was Wednesday, when McMahon, and later others, lured celebrities to the pro-am. You could go to Oakwood and rub elbows with Jerry Lewis or Bob Hope, to name a pair of the bigger names to make it to the Quad Cities.

That brought in crowds, which helped the gate and helped subsidize the purse in the days when the tournament was surviving from year to year.

Murray’s presence in the pro-am, where he played with D.A. Points, was the first sighting of a Hollywood type at TPC Deere Run in several years. He and his fans made the most of it, signing hats, shirts and at least one guy’s head. Meanwhile, Points went about his business, or attempted to, in refamiliarizing himself with a course where he’s made the only once in nine previous starts. Points tied for 38th in 2011, making $18,450. All the other years, he left with empty pockets.

Maybe Murray is his good luck charm. In 2011, Points won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am – the old Bing Crosby clambake – and he and Murray scored the pro-am victory as well. Points has one once on the circuit since, in Houston in 2013, with his best finish this year a tie for 12th in New Orleans.

“You just try to keep everyone relaxed,” Murray said. “We have a good relationship.”

Murray, whose golf connection became public when he filmed “Caddyshack” in 1980, has some game. Wednesday, he hammered a tee shot around the corner on the par-4 fourth hole, among the most scenic and perhaps the most difficult on Deere Run, then drilled a wedge to four feet for a birdie.

“He always seems to play the hardest holes really well,” Points said. “He’s got a wonderful game. If the left leg was a little better and you got to practice some, you’d play that way all the time.”

“These are options,” Murray quipped.

Murray and his five brothers, caddies at Indian Hill Club in Winnetka, had family in the Quad Cities, so the area wasn’t foreign to him.

“I think I was nine when I first came here. Maybe I was 10. I remember the Mississippi River, and there was a big flood and snakes came out of the river and all my cousins were shooting snakes with BB guns.

“So watch it.”

Naturally, Murray couldn’t resist needling Points, the pride of Pekin.

“We’re both Illinois boys and we’re a local hire,” Murray said. “It’s a tournament that I think would be great if D.A. would lay off the hard stuff this week and just stick to beer and wine and maybe win this tournament.

“There’s a lot of great players up on that wall, and he should be up there.”

It wouldn’t quite be a Cinderella story, but it would do.

Deere plows forward

Deere & Co. confirmed its title sponsorship extension on Tuesday, confirming what Illinois Golfer reported via Twitter on July 2. The seven-year extension covers 2017 through 2023, and not only keeps Deere’s name in the tournament title, but keeps the company the PGA Tour’s equipment supplier in a number of categories, including the Tour’s TPC group of golf courses that includes Deere Run.

“The sponsorship has helped the company sell equipment,” said Jim Field, president of Deere’s agriculture and turf division. “It’s helped us build relationships with customers, dealers, suppliers. It’s helped promote the John Deere brand throughout the world.

“We think it’s important to keep professional golf in the Quad Cities.”

Deere first sponsored what was the Quad Cities Classic in 1998, putting its name in the title the following year and moving to Deere Run in 2000, a year later than planned. That nine-year deal was extended beginning in 2007, and the new pact will make it a 25-year sponsorship, believed to be the fourth-longest on the PGA Tour behind the Honda Classic (1981), AT&T’s Pebble Beach deal (1986) and the Shell Houston Open (1992).

Field said Deere would be hosting over 3,500 suppliers, dealers and employees over the course of the week, with $50 million going into the Quad Cities economy.

Around Deere Run

Notable withdrawals Wednesday were Davis Love III, Stuart Appleby and 2005 winner Sean O’Hair. ... Most of the big names play Thursday afternoon, in the Golf Channel’s 3-6 p.m. TV window. Ryan Moore, Kevin Streelman and Kevin Stadler start at 12:40 p.m., Zach Johnson, David Toms and Stewart Cink 10 minutes later, with the marquee group of Greensboro winner Danny Lee, world No. 2 Jordan Spieth and defending champion Brian Harman at 1 p.m. The 1:10 p.m. trio of former British Open champion Ben Curtis, Eric Axley and Patrick Rodgers may feel left in the dust given the expected size of Spieth’s gallery. Morning notables include Robert Streb, three-time JDC winner Steve Stricker and three-time 2015 playoff loser Kevin Kisner at 7:50 a.m.