Emotional Cooke captures Illinois Open

By Tim Cronin

Writing from Long Grove

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

The numbers were astounding. An aggregate score of 199, 16 under par for 54 holes. A total of 128 for the final 36 holes.

All were records, all set by 22-year-old David Cooke, who won the Illinois Open by five strokes on Wednesday at Royal Melbourne Country Club. That matched the largest margin of victory by an amateur, equaling Gary Hallberg’s success in 1977.

But there was someone missing on Wednesday, as there has been since Dec. 23, when Chad Cooke, David’s younger brother, died while he and David were playing a game of pick-up basketball in the western suburbs. A heart disorder was the cause.

“It’s been an emotional few months,” Cooke said at the trophy ceremony. With older brother Jay on his bag and his parents tagging along for the round, Cooke made Chad proud with a final-round 9-under-par 63.

“Chaddie the caddie, my dad said when I don’t have a caddie in my college events,” Cooke said. “It’s been really difficult. We’ve been helping each other out. But he was a strong encourager of everybody, and so I knew if it was up to him he’d definitely want me playing. I tried to focus on that, think about the positives.

“We had a lot of great memories, me and my little brother, and I wish more than anything I could have him back.”

Cooke, a Lisle resident who entering his senior year at North Carolina State, beat Web.com pro Vince India (11-under 204), who collected the $12,500 first prize, by five strokes and Bloomington’s Matt Miller (10-under 205) by six. Rich Dukelow of Evergreen Park would have finished tied for fourth at 5-under 210 after his final round 71, but signed for an incorrect scorecard and was disqualified. The miscue of signing for a 4 on the last hole when he scored 5 cost him $5,166.67.

Instead, he got nothing and Eric Meierdierks and Gary March, the two others at 210, earned $5,750 each.

Dukelow discovered the mistake and told the scoring department.

“You can’t be a cheat,” Dukelow said between puffs on a cigarette.

The only snag in Cooke’s round came on the 17th hole, where he airmailed his approach over the green and into the junk behind the hole. After his drop, he knocked a couple of leaves off a branch taking a practice swing, but was ruled not to have violated a rule against improving his swing because the practice swing was well away from the ball.

“I talked to Trey (Van Dyke, a rules official), he was the one who helped me drop, and he said it was OK as long as it wasn’t on the intended path,” Cooke said. “And it was only a couple, three leaves.”

Cooke, who bogeyed the 17th, would have won regardless of a penalty, so solid was his game. He opened with an eagle and two birdies, then birdied the fifth and eighth holes to go out in 6-under 30. He built a four-stroke lead over India at the turn and could coast from there.

“There were some nerves on the first tee, and I was just trying to get off to a good start,” Cooke said. “I was trying to take advantage of the first hole since it was changed to a par 5.  I had a good yardage and figured I could go straight at it.”

He did, drilling a 144-yard pitching wedge to six feet and dropping the putt for an eagle. That broke the overnight tie with Brad Marek, who birdied. Cooke didn’t stop there. Really, he didn’t stop until he was in the clubhouse, scattering nine birdies in all, including a curling six-footer at the last for the 63, a stroke off the course record.

“It was definitely nerve-racking, the first time with an overnight lead in a professional event,” Cooke said.

Cooke was not only the winner and low amateur, he was the low amateur by 13 strokes, that far ahead of Lincolnshire’s Jack Watson.

India, able to play because the PGA Tour’s stepping-stone circuit had the week off, played with Cooke and knew he’d have to go lower than the 67 he posted.

“I’d have had to shoot 11-under (61) to win,” India said. “I didn’t get in trouble all day and shot 5-under.”

His goal is the PGA Tour, but at 26 he still wants to win a state title.

“This one has eluded me,” India said.

Amateur Matt Weber, out in the day’s third group, fired a 10-under 62 to match the course record set by David Lawrence on Monday, when the course was set up as a par 71. For Weber, a Hinsdale resident who will be a sophomore at Indiana, the day was a dream round. He birdied six of the first seven holes, turned in 7-under 29, and ended up with birdies on 11 of the first 15.

Yes, 59, golf’s magic number, entered his mind.

“I was trying to just not worry about it too much,” Weber said.

His last birdie, on the par-5 15th, came about when he rolled in a putt from five yards off the green. But a lip-out on the par-5 17th and a closing bogey when he missed a curling six footer for an up-and-down forced him to settle for a 62 and an eventual tie for 13th.

For his part, Lawrence rebounded from Tuesday’s 80 at Hawthorn Woods with a 2-under 70 to finished tied for 9th at 2-under 213.

Cooke, Marek share lead entering Illinois Open's final round

Writing from Long Grove, Illinois

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

By Tim Cronin

LONG GROVE, Ill. – Everything lined up perfectly for David Cooke on Tuesday. The 22-year-old amateur from Lisle was in the second group off the tee at Royal Melbourne Country Club. The wind was negligible, the greens inviting.

And Cooke took advantage, scoring 6-under-par 65 for a 36-hole total of 7-under 136 and a share of the lead with Brad Marek of Arlington Heights going into the final round of the 66th Illinois Open.

Marek scored 6-under 66 in the afternoon at Hawthorn Woods Country Club, the other course the first two rounds were played on.

The duo has a one-stroke lead over Deerfield’s Vince India and a three-stroke advantage on Evergreen Park’s Rich Dukelow entering the final 18. India added a 1-under 71 at Hawthorn Woods Country Club for 6-under 137, while Dukelow toured Royal Melbourne in 2-under 69 for 4-under 139.

Bloomington’s Matt Miller, Algonquin’s Scott Cahill and Wilmette’s Eric Meierdierks, the 2010 winner, are a stroke further back at 3-under 140, Miller and Meierdierks firing 69s, Cahill a 72 at Hawthorn Woods.

Curtis Malm, the 2000 winner, and perennial contender Gary March are tied for eighth at 2-under 141.

The cut fell at 8-over 151, with 80 players, including 51 pros and 29 amateurs, surviving from the expanded field of 258.

“I was trying to stay patient,” said Cooke, who opened with a 1-under 71 on Monday at Hawthorn Woods. “The greens were still in perfect shape, still soft because of rains earlier in the week. It was the right time to play well.”

Cooke is entering his senior year at North Carolina State. He advanced to the Illinois Open by surviving a three-hole playoff in his qualifier at Royal Hawk Country Club. After opening the second round with a pair of birdies, he bogeyed the third hole, but birdied the sixth to go out in 2-under 33. The big noise came on the inward nine, starting with a 20-footer for a deuce on the 10th hole.

Cooke stood 4-under for the day on the 17th tee, and took what he called “a pretty aggressive line” on the dogleg-right par-5. That gave him the chance to go for the green on the 543-yard hole in two, and he drilled his second shot to eight feet, sinking the putt for an eagle 3 and, after one more par, 65.

“I knew it was out there,” Cooke said, referencing the record 9-under 62 of David Lawrence on Monday.

Dukelow’s game had been average until he took a putting tip from Medinah Country Club shop manager Preston “Pepi” Irwin. He’s responded with a 70 at Hawthorn Woods and Tuesday’s 69 at Royal Melbourne for 4-under 139 and a contender’s position entering the final 18 holes.

“I made some setup changes,” Dukelow said. “I’d gotten into some bad habits. How? By playing golf!”

He was even par for the day through 12, but dropped an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-4 13th after a splendid 6-iron approach from a tilted lie. It was the first of three straight birdies that jumped him up the leader board.

Meanwhile, there was a meltdown at Hawthorn Woods. Lawrence, whose 62 established course and championship scoring records Monday at Royal Melbourne, imploded with an 8-over 80. The stroke-a-hole higher score may be a record for a contender’s going higher in an Illinois Open. Lawrence, who managed but one birdie, and capped off his round with three bogeys and a double-bogey, still stands at 1-under 142 and tied for 10th with Josh Esler, Michael Sainz and amateur Varun Chopra entering the final day.

Northbrook’s Nick Hardy, whose summer included making the cut in the U.S. Open, also went in the wrong direction. The sophomore at Illinois added an 81 to his opening 66 to fall to 4-over 147 and a tie for 37th.

The kiddy corps had a mixed day. Morton’s Tommy Kuhl, 15, made the cut by adding a 76 at Hawthorn Woods to Monday’s 72 at Royal Melbourne. Lincolnshire’s Jackson Bussell, 14, missed the cut with a 81-79 showing for 17-over 160.

Record 62 for Lawrence in Illinois Open

Writing from Long Grove

Monday, July 20, 2015

By Tim Cronin

David Lawrence is one of the countless players with enough game to play in the big leagues of golf who has yet to have the opportunity to play for millions.

Monday, he may have moved a step closer.

Lawrence, a 25-year-old from Moline, scored a career low 9-under-par 62 at Royal Melbourne Country Club, simultaneously setting records for the course and a single round of the Illinois Open.

His afternoon delight in the opening round of the 66th edition pushed him four strokes ahead of Glen Ellyn’s Matt Slowinski, Deerfield’s Vince India, and Northbrook amateur Nick Hardy. Their 66s look positively bloated in comparison.

Lawrence, an Eastern Illinois graduate, is mostly living off mini-tour income while he counts the days toward the next PGA Tour qualifying tournament. That means grinding out rounds on Florida’s Moonlight Tour and in picture postcard outposts as Vermillion, South Dakota.

He’d managed a 29 over the winter, a suggestion that the mental coaching from Darin Hoff is paying off. Monday’s 62 on the 6,701-yard Greg Norman-designed layout was more than a suggestion. It was proof.

“I’ve always had a hard time keeping the momentum going,” Lawrence said. “He’s taught me to reset during a round.”
He punched the reset button early and often, the first time soon after his birdie on the par-3 10th, his first hole.

“It’s good to put a two on your card early,” Lawrence said of his 8-foot uphill putt.

Lawrence splashed 10 birdies across his card, sullied by only one bogey on the par-4 12th hole.

“I had two lip-outs and a couple of putts that could have fallen,” Lawrence said.

He birdied his first two holes, then the 14th through 18th to make the turn in 6-under 30, and added three more birdies in the middle of the front nine. No birdie putt was longer than 15 feet, indicating great accuracy with his approach shots.

Lawrence’s marvelous score erased the Illinois Open record of 64 set by Dusti Watson at Royal Fox Country Club in 1994 and matched by Scott Moore at the Glen Club in 2003. It also knocked off, by four strokes, the Royal Melbourne mark of 66.

The last time a course record in the Chicago area was broken by four strokes, the culprit was Robert Gamez, whose 64 on Cog Hill’s Dubsdread layout during the 1989 U.S. Public Links Championship erased a collection of 68s. Soon after, he was on the PGA Tour.

Earlier, Slowinski’s day on the golf course did not start propitiously.

“You never feel good hitting a provisional on the first hole,” Slowinski said of his opening drive at Royal Melbourne, which turned left and found driveway rather than fairway.

The day ended delightfully, with a 125-yard pitch for an eagle 2 on the 432-yard home hole. Slowinski’s deuce brought him in with a 5-under-par 66, good for a share of the lead in the expanded field of 258 competitors until Lawrence barged in.

He shared the lead with Hardy, who graduated from Glenbrook North 14 months ago and since then has played a key role in Illinois’ winning the Big Ten championship, its semifinalist finish in the NCAA Championship, and has made the cut in the U.S. Open. Hardy birdied four of his first five holes on Monday before coming back to earth and going around Royal Melbourne in 1-under figures the rest of the round.

“The experiences have been building up and the confidence has been growing,” Hardy said while hanging out at a luncheon table with fellow Fighting Illini player Alex Burge, who opened with a 75 at Royal Melbourne, and coach Mike Small, who is among those eight strokes back after a 1-under 70 at Royal Melbourne.

Slowinski, India and Hardy, at 5-under 66, would have been the tri-leaders in most circumstances. There are three players at 3-under, with amateur Philip Arouca and professional Scott Cahill scoring 68 at par-71 Royal Melbourne, with Casey Pyne posting a 69 at par-72 Hawthorn Woods Country Club, the other site for the first two rounds of this expanded-field Illinois Open. There are 258 players in the field, 132 at Royal Melbourne and 126 at Hawthorn Woods, with the field exchanging sites on Tuesday. The low 70 and ties will advance to Wednesday’s final round at Royal Melbourne.

“It’s nice to get more people in the field,” Slowinski said. “I think it’s just going to make the event better and build upon it from year to year.”

To Solwinski, the key to his round was a slight change in his putting stance. Putts rolled truer, and disappeared more often. After the opening bogey, he birdied the second, fourth and sixth holes to go out in 2-under 33, followed by a birdie on the par-3 10th. A string of pars ended with the hole-out at the last.

“I pushed it a little to the right, but it caught the slope and went in,” Slowinski said of his pured gap wedge.

Brad Hopfinger, the 2014 champion, is on the Web.com Tour and was unable to defend his title.

Dustin Korte of downstate Metropolis, who tied for second and was low amateur two years ago, was disqualified on Monday for carrying his own bag. Illinois Open rules require either a caddie or a cart.

More John Deere magic from Spieth

By Tim Cronin

Writing from Silvis, Illinois

Sunday, July 12, 2015

“Magic happens here,” goes the two-year-old slogan for the John Deere Classic.

It was coined after Jordan Spieth’s par save from the greenside bunker on the 18th hole catapulted him into the playoff he won that sent the then-19-year-old’s career into golf’s stratosphere.

Two years on, Spieth arrived at TPC Deere Run as the reigning Masters and U.S. Open champion, the No. 2 player in the world, and the favorite to win next week’s British Open at St. Andrews.

Critics said he should already have been touring the Old Course, where he played in 2011, to soak up its nuances, or at least play the Scottish Open on a links course.

Spieth knows his game and knows how to prepare for every eventuality. He came to the Deere, flirted with the cut line for 22 holes, then got down to business.

Sunday, after surrendering the lead and then roaring back from a four-stroke deficit, came the fruits of his labor, a second Deere title in three years. Once again, it came in a playoff.

This time, it was against one man, journeyman Tom Gillis, and it lasted two holes. When Gillis, who turns 47 on Thursday, sent his approach on the par-4 18th into the water from a sketchy lie in the right rough, all Spieth had to do was find the green with his approach and two putt for par. Mission accomplished.

Magic accomplished as well.

Spieth, who turns 22 on July 23, is the first player since 1990 to have four victories in a year before the British Open. Tiger Woods accomplished that feat what now seems like an eternity ago.

And he remains the nicest kid on the block that is big-time golf. Even Gillis, trumped in his best chance for a victory since finishing second, along with Woods, to Rory McIlroy in the 2012 Honda Classic, thought so, especially after Spieth started talking to him as they walked to the tee for the second hole of the playoff.

“He said, ‘This is fun, isn’t it?’ And I said, ‘This is what you strive for.’ And that’s the point where I say he’s a good person,” Gillis said. “He didn’t have to say anything. He’s grounded and he had perspective that he’s enjoying it, and I think that’s really important.

“I don’t want to say I’m in awe, but this kid’s the future of the game.”

Gillis was pleased to be competitive after a four-month layoff for shoulder surgery and struggling to make cuts. He came into the week 643rd in the world and 199th on the money list, and left with a ticket to St. Andrews and a spot on the Deere-provided nonstop charter to Scotland.

“There’s still tread on the tires,” Gillis said. “You start to get to the point where you wonder how much more is there. The window is closing, so anytime you get into a playoff or you could have avoided a playoff, you think about it.”

There was enough for him to fire a 7-under-par 64 in the heat of Sunday – both the atmospheric sauna and the pressure – while Spieth was struggling for the longest time en route to a 68. He was four strokes back after Gillis, who went out in 5-under 30, birdied the 12th hole and Spieth bogeyed the 11th. At that point, Spieth was tied for fourth, with Johnson Wagner and Zach Johnson between him and Gillis, and holes were running out.

Or were they?

“All we were saying is, we birdied five out of the last six two years ago to get into a playoff, so why can’t we do it again,” Spieth said of his conversation with caddie Michael Greller.

So he birdied the par-4 13th from 23 feet, the par-4 14th from five feet, the par-3 16th by chipping in from 21 feet, and the par-5 17th from 3 1/2 feet. The shock waves – not as loud as the M-80 that went off courtesy of a lout on a boat on the Rock River that caused Zach Johnson to jump two feet in the air, but close – reverberated around Deere Run.

Spieth, thinking ahead toward next week, liked the birdie on the 17th most.

“Seventeen gives me a lot of confidence because I know where I’m at,” Spieth said, referencing a drive in the fairway – one of only eight on his day – and a solid second shot. “I’m going to look back on that hole as how I performed under pressure. The most pressure.”

Much like he may feel next week.

Gillis had birdied the par-4 15th, but bogeyed the 16th, three-putting from 26 feet by missing a 4-footer for par. He saved par with a nifty chip on the 17th, forcing Spieth, Johnson and Danny Lee to match his total of 20-under-par 264.

Spieth did. Johnson lipped out a 14-foot birdie putt at the last after scrambling to save par on much of the back nine and finished at 19-under 265 via a 65.

Lee, who played with Spieth, fired a 67 and also missed by a stroke – one he never made. He was penalized a stroke on the par-4 fourth hole for picking up his ball, believing the day’s rules included the PGA Tour’s “lift, clean and place” regulation, as was the case Saturday.

It was not the case on Sunday, and he made a bogey 5 instead of a par 4. After a rally with birdies on the 14th, 16th and 17th to get to 20-under, Lee bogeyed the home hole, overshooting the green and failing to sink a 16-footer for par, misreading the break.

“I wasn’t thinking anything,” Lee said of his gaffe. “I just put a tee behind the ball and picked it up and, oh no, wait a minute, it’s not life, clean and place.”

In contrast with his climb back into contention, the playoff for Spieth was, if not easy, routine. Spieth missed the fairway to the right off the tee on the first playoff hole, but wasn’t blocked by trees, and had no trouble making par along with Gillis. The second time around, Spieth hit the fairway, Gillis missed wide right and was forced to manufacture an approach out of a sketchy lie. He overcooked it into the pond well short of the green.

“I tried to force it, and I’d do the same thing again in a playoff,” Gillis said. “I wouldn’t do it in medal play.”

Gillis’ consolation prize, aside from a career-best payday of $507,600, $6,000 more than he won at the Honda three years ago, is the last ticket into the British Open. He’s played in two of them, plus the Old Course on several occasions when he was a member of the European Tour.

“Spent five years over there and went back and forth,” Gillis recalled. “I said I wasn’t going if I got a spot. I think I was just talking big. Then I find myself looking at the board and thinking, man, I wouldn’t mind getting that spot.

“I don’t have any sweaters, I have nothing. I have a passport, but that’s it.”

Even as Spieth looks forward to the challenge of getting three-quarters of the way to the Grand Slam, Gillis looks forward to what may be one last whirl around the Auld Gray Toon and the course that made it famous.

“I’ve played it a bunch,” Gillis said. “Last time I was there was about three years ago for the Dunhill Links Championship, and every time you walk up that first tee, it’s emotional.

“I’ve never been like that anywhere else. I’ve never been to Augusta, but when I walk off the first tee at St. Andrews, it’s very euphoric.”

Given that, it can nearly be said there was two winners on Sunday at Deere Run. Magic works that way.

About next year

The presence of golf in the Rio Olympics is jumbling the PGA Tour calendar, and the Deere’s expected to be affected. Tournament director Clair Peterson said it wasn’t set in stone, but don’t be surprised if the Deere is scheduled directly against the men’s tournament at Rio in early August, which will likely mean Jordan Spieth wouldn’t be around the defend his title. The PGA Championship moved to July next year to open the way for the Rio tournament.

“We’ll worry about that later,” Peterson said. He expects to know next year’s date by late this month.

Around Deere Run

With 47 rounds under 70 and 60 of the 73 players breaking par, the average of 68.767 strokes was the lowest for the final round since at least 2003. The overall average of 69.648 was the lowest since 2013. There were 1,990 birdies over five days for the Birdies for Charity donors to write checks against. ... Chris Stroud’s 8-under 63 was the day’s best round, and vaulted him into a tie for fifth with Johnson Wagner and Justin Thomas at 18-under 266. ... Tom “Boo” Weekley had the day’s high round, a 7-over 78. ... Peterson doesn’t give out attendance figures for some reason, but said that compared to 2014, revenue from tickets, concessions and parking was up 200 percent on Wednesday, up 35 percent on Thursday and up 36 percent on Friday. He said they were about 30 cars from filling the main spectator parking lot at Quad City Downs, the shuttered horse racing track, on Thursday. “That’s never happened,” Peterson said. ... Sunday’s crowd, which appeared to be about 26,000, was the largest many longtime Deere attendees had ever seen. Even Spieth was impressed with how crowded the 18th hole was. ... Amateur Lee McCoy, first out and playing as a single, started at 7:10 a.m. and finished just before 10 a.m. Trailed by about 10 fans, he scored 1-under 70 and finished at 2-over 286.

Spieth roars to the front

By Tim Cronin

Writing from Silvis, Illinois

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Jordan Spieth is chasing more than the Grand Slam.

To this loyal 21-year-old who remains grateful for receiving an exemption into the tournament three years ago, there’s the not inconsiderable matter of capturing a second John Deere Classic in three years.

And beating last week’s winner in the process.

And moving ever closer to the No. 1 ranking.

That’s world No. 2 Spieth’s goal on Sunday, when he tees off in the final twosome after a 10-under-par 61 that featured more fireworks than a Fourth of July grand finale to barge into the lead at TPC Deere Run.

He’ll be paired with 24-year-old Danny Lee, the winner of last week’s Greenbrier Classic. All Lee did on Saturday after a pair of rain delays on Twinkie-soft Deere Run was fire a 9-under 62 – and get passed by the guy playing supersonic golf in the following group.

“It would be really cool to grab a win at a place that’s special to me and take down a guy that’s as hot as anybody in golf,” said Spieth, who has never seen a challenge he didn’t relish.

Thanks in part to a pair of eagles, Spieth stands at 17-under-par 196 through 54 holes, two strokes ahead of Lee and three ahead of Shawn Stefani, Justin Thomas and Johnson Wagner.

How he arrived at that lofty position – not a record at the low-scoring, but sufficient for the nonce – was remarkable. Spieth’s second shot on the par-5 second stopped 30 inches from the cup for a kick-in eagle 3. He saved par with a difficult 8-foot putt on the par-4 fourth, then hit the flagstick with his approach on the par-4 eighth, and the ball ricocheted back 25 feet. That’s bad luck, but Spieth didn’t pout.

“It came back right on the fall line, and I saw I had a straight putt,” he said.

He hammered it home. A birdie on the ninth followed and he was out in 5-under 30, 12-under, and tied for the lead with Kevin Chappell, who woke up tied for 42nd, shot a 64 in the early going thanks to an eagle-birdie finish and then was lapped by the field. He’s tied for ninth at 12-under 201.

Then, after Spieth birdied the 13th and 16th, it got crazy. Spieth pulled his tee shot on the 560-yard par 5 17th, with a fairway as wide as the Mississippi, into a copse of trees on the left.

Caddie Michael Greller thought he had no shot to advance the ball deep down the fairway and recommended a pitchout. Spieth thought the opening he spied for a big second shot was no worse than the pitchout option, and grabbed a 5-iron.

“One of the biggest advantages of my game is trouble-shooting,” Spieth said. “I had 170 yards to carry the bunker. The 5-iron was the right trajectory. It carried over one tree and split the other two.”

The crowd was impressed by that, but however many in the gallery of approximately 22,000 were around the 17th at the moment were absolutely floored by the next shot.

Spieth, 105 yards out, holed his pitching wedge, a shot that at the instant he hit it thought was mis-hit. He took his right hand off the club, and, after it landed some six feet past the cup and spun back into the hole, threw his hands up as if to say, “You have got to be kidding me.”

At 6:14 p.m., it gave Spieth the lead. The gallery erupted. Over on the 16th green, Zach Johnson turned and bowed to the crowd in mock tribute. He was in the process of firing a 66 to climb into a tie for sixth place.

Spieth was now 16-under and floating on air, but still cognizant of his position, and a possible achievement. He knew a birdie at the last would equal 61 and set a personal mark for low score on the PGA Tour.

First came the tee shot – pulled into the right rough.

But he had a clear shot to the green and left himself an 18-foot putt.

Bingo.

Sixty-one.

Imagine what his score would have been had he not scored even-par 71 on Thursday, and even worried about missing the cut until the birdie barrage began five holes into in his second round. He’s 17-under in his last 32 holes, and has three eagles on par 5s but no birdies.

All of that impressed Lee, but not so much that the New Zealander would wave the surrender flag in advance of the final round. Not after a 62. No sir.

“This definitely gives me momentum,” Lee said. “A lot of people will be watching us tomorrow. I hope some people will pull for me, just to make it fair.”

Lee posted matching 31s, scattering nine birdies across his card, to finish the day at 15-under 198. He had the clubhouse lead for a good eight minutes until Spieth signed his scorecard.

“It was a little bit ridiculous,” Lee said of Spieth’s birdie-eagle-birdie finish. “Tomorrow? My best answer is just to go out there and play and see what happens. I love playing in a crowd.”

The last player to capture his first two wins in back-to-back starts is Camilo Villegas, in the Western Open / BMW Championship and the Tour Championship in 2008. Lee’s amateur career finished with a flourish, when he scored victories in the Western Amateur and the U.S. Amateur in 2008. A bright future was predicted. It may finally have arrived.

“The difference between the amateurs and the pros, that’s a huge mountain in front of you,” Lee said. “It took me a long time to go up that hill. It was fun but not fun. I was hard on myself, but not too hard on myself.”

Lee credited improved ball-striking as the biggest improvement in his game. But this week, while he’s hit 31 of 42 fairways, his scrambling has been even better. He’s gotten up-and-down for par on 10 of 11 occasions, including seven straight the last two rounds.

Messrs. Stefani, Wagner and Thomas, the trio at 14-under 199, scored 64, 68 and 69 respectively. Stefani likely spoke for them, and the rest of the field, in saying, “I’m going to go out there and play aggressive.”

It’s either that, or watch Spieth and Lee run away from you like Affirmed and Alydar.

Around Deere Run

Spieth and Lee go out in the final twosome at 12:40 p.m. Amateur Lee McCoy is first, going as a single at 7:10 a.m. ... Defending champion Brian Harman scored even-par 71 and plays at 9:48 a.m. ... The two weather delays – a 57-minute pause for lightning at mid-morning, and one of 1:51 for a downpour and puddling at the lunch hour – helped soften an already soft course. The rain totaled .79 inches. Yet, pillow-soft or not, the scoring average of 70.357 was the highest for the third round since 2003 (71.015).