Here comes Mr. Spieth

By Tim Cronin

Writing from Silvis, Illinois

Friday, July 10, 2015

Let the record show that Scott D. Pinckney, of the Anthem, Ariz., Pinckneys, was the leader of the 45th John Deere Classic at lunch hour on Friday.

Let the record also show that Justin Louis Thomas, of the Louisville, Ky., Thomases, who shared the lead at TPC Deere Run after Thursday’s competition, was the sole leader at the halfway point at 12-under-par 130 on the strength of a second round 4-under 67. That places him a stroke ahead of Johnson Wagner, whose 8-under 63 was the best round of the day, and two ahead of Pinckney and Daniel Summerhays.

Those efforts and that of Luke Guthrie, who is four back, were formidable, but nothing, not even local favorite Zach Johnson’s 26th straight Deere round in the 60s, surpassed the interest in nor the return to form of one Jordan Alexander Spieth, of the Dallas, Tex., Spieths. Followed by thousands of supplicants, Spieth followed his ho-hum opening round of even par 71 with a 7-under-par 64 on Friday to not only assure his place in the field for the weekend, but place himself in contention. Five strokes back at 7-under 135 and tied for 16th, he is very much a factor.

To put it mildly, Spieth was not amused with his opening round effort, one he thought little better than how he played in Wednesday’s pro-am. But Friday? Friday was real golf to the world’s second-ranked player, and the best player without a wonky ankle.

“Today was a big day,” Spieth judged. “I wasn’t feeling good about my game based on Wednesday and yesterday. Ultimately this was a big day for me in my preparation for next week.”

That being the British Open – or Open Championship, if you prefer – on the Old Course, the ancient muni at St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. The one where, should Spieth emerge as the champion golfer for the year and grasp the Claret Jug to go with his green jacket and U.S. Open trophy, he would be three-fourths of the way to the Grand Slam.

He can think about St. Andrews now, knowing he won’t be leaving for there until Sunday. And, despite what some writers with agendas have written, he wanted to play four rounds at Deere Run, period. That’s why he called Friday’s effort “a solid round when I just needed to play well just to avoid going home.”

In reality, Spieth’s round, only his third since winning the U.S. Open, didn’t begin until his fifth hole, the 14th at Deere Run, following a quartet of pars. He drilled his second shot to three feet and dropped the putt for a birdie. He added birdies on the 16th – from 24 feet – and 18th to move to 3-under and inside the cut line, then toured the front nine in 4-under 31. That side was punctuated by an eagle 3 on the par 5 second created by a 241-yard approach to four feet with a driving iron.

“Then the cut line was out of my head and it was, ‘How can we move up the board a little more?’ ” Spieth said.

By making birdies on the fifth and seventh, that’s how. At 8 under, he was one off the lead at that moment. When the day’s play was concluded, Spieth, whose round was marred only by a bogey on the par-4 eighth, was tied for 16th, an 85-position improvement on being tied for 101st after 18 holes.

“I wasn’t taking it for granted,” Spieth said of his return to superior form. “I was still searching yesterday. Went to the range in the evening, couldn’t find any answers. Couldn’t find any answers this morning. I was texting with my coach (Cameron McCormick), and just went out in a positive frame of mind. Once I got a couple shorter putts to go in and I had a little bit of breathing room, I was able to be a little more patient. That hole starts to get bigger with the putter.”

Spieth considered himself tentative at times, not that his score showed it.

“When greens are this soft, I’m hesitant to fly the ball to the hole, because it’s going to spin,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s going to spin below the hole to a fall-line spot, so I’m just trying to be a little too perfect on this course. That’s what’s bit me in the past.”

With a win and tie for seventh the last two years, Spieth has, like the shark he caught while fishing last week, bit more than he’s been bitten. And his trend of a great second round following an average first at the Deere is now four-for-four. To him, it was just a matter of playing.

“I’m getting on-course reps and it’s making a difference,” Spieth said.

Little things like being a bit more aggressive putting meant making putts rather than missing low.

“The putt on 16 was really big,” he said of the 24-footer. “I knew I had a lot of birdie holes left.”

Thomas, like Spieth, made his first appearance in the Deere on an exemption issued by tournament director Clair Peterson, who annually picks the best college players and lures them to the course. That’s paid off in loyal returnees, and Thomas, again like Spieth, has climbed up the leaderboard. His 130 matches the 36-hole total the last two years.

“I’m comfortable,” Thomas said of his leading position. “I’ve been there a lot. I’ve had my opportunities and learned from my mistakes.”

What he hasn’t done is win, but the Deere is the tournament that produces first-time PGA Tour winners the way the sponsoring company makes lawn mowers. They come off an assembly line at Deere Run. The next one will be the 21st, a list including Spieth and Brian Harman the last two Julys.

Wagner built his 63 on seven birdies in eight holes starting at No. 6, then added an eighth at the par-5 17th to close within a stroke of Thomas. Gillis added a 65 to his opening 66, and has managed to birdie the first, second, 10th, 14th and 17th hole each day. He’s 2-under on the other 26 holes he’s played.

Johnson and Guthrie are grouped at 8-under 134, joined by Steve Stricker, who, aside from a bogey at the last, isn’t playing like a 48-year-old part-timer still recovering from back surgery this week.

They’re a stroke ahead of Spieth. At least for now.

Around Deere Run

The cut fell at 4-under-par 138, with 73 players surviving. Those who missed by a stroke included Winfield’s Kevin Streelman, Stewart Cink, Camilo Villegas and Patrick Rodgers.  Others down the highway include Pekin’s D.A. Points, Trevor Immelman and NCAA champion Bryson DeChambeau. ... Those who squeezed in on the number include amateur Lee McCoy and Scott Langley, one of the many Illinois grads in the field. ... It’s the fourth straight year an amateur has made the cut, and the fourth year in five the cut has been 138. ... The field averaged 69.903 strokes on Friday. ... Mike Weir withdrew after bogeying the first hole, citing a bad back. He was 3 over at the time.

Thomas, Thompson and the great Deere Run birdie binge

By Tim Cronin

Writing from Silvis, Illinois

Thursday, July 9, 2015

The Oklahoma land rush, the Boer War, and the clearance sale at Filene’s Basement all started more quietly than the first round of the John Deere Classic.

That’s not news from this dateline as much as it’s confirmation that, given a golf course softened by heavy rains, professionals will find every tucked pin. And at TPC Deere Run, where the course is uniformly gettable in almost every condition, the softness annually equals red numbers.

They needn’t say “Fore please” on the first tee. They should play the 1812 Overture and shoot off a cannon or wave a green flag. This field is so fast, IndyCar could co-sanction the tournament.

This year’s race began at 7 a.m., and while Charles Howell III birdied the first four holes, he was a stroke behind by the end of the first round, even though he scored 7-under-par 64.

That’s impressive, but more impressive were the 8-under 63s authored by Justin Thomas in the morning and Nicholas Thompson in the afternoon. They share the lead entering Friday’s second round.

Right behind are Howell and all of his friends in hot pursuit. Don’t let the fact only 14 of the top 100 in the world ranking are in the field, for 100 players broke par in varying degrees of red. That select group that did not include second-ranked Jordan Spieth, a Texan of whom you may have heard. The holder of the Masters and U.S. Open titles scored even par 71 and stands 101st with 18 others going into Friday’s fray.

He’s eight strokes back of Thomas and Thompson, a margin equal to the biggest comebacks in Deere history, authored by Sam Adams in 1973 and Roger Maltbie in 1975. The standing of the 2013 JDC winner is important, for only the top 70 pros and those tied for 70th make the cut. Everyone else goes home. Or, in Spieth’s case, would get an early start to prepare for leg No. 3 of the Grand Slam, the British Open at St. Andrews.

However, an elite thoroughbred like Spieth can be rated by past performance. He’s opened with a pair of 70s and now two 71s in four starts at Deere Run. His second-round scores in his previous three appearances: 67, 65 and 64. Thus, it’s fair to expect something low on the morrow. He commences firing at 7:50 a.m. on the 10th tee.

Howell’s 64 was matched by Quincy native Luke Guthrie, his start a stroke better than the 65 he posted en route to a tie for fifth in his inaugural appearance in 2012, when the ink on his Illinois diploma was still wet.

Aside from a tie for seventh at Innisbrook in March, Guthrie’s had a sub-par year, one created by a swing change that he’s only now getting used to. A tie for 37th last week at the Greenbrier offered Guthrie some proof of performance while he tries to keep a grip on reality.

“That’s golf right there,” Guthrie said. “I keep getting better at that. I was working on my swing and my short game got away from me. I got into bad habits and had to get rid of them.”

Only a bogey at the last sullied his card. A 27-foot birdie putt on the par-5 10th was his brightest spot.

Speaking of Illinois grads, three-time winner Steve Stricker was in a quartet at 6-under 65, remarkable considering his inactivity coming off back surgery.

“I’m taking baby steps,” Stricker said. “If I can get in contention here, it’ll be a good momentum boost for me for the rest of the year.”

Zach Johnson, the winner in 2012, fired a 5-under 66 to run his string of rounds in the 60s to 25, an aggregate of 110 under par. Defending champion Brian Harman was in a gangsome after a bogey-free 4-under 67, while Winfield whiz Brian Streelman was among those at 3-under 68.

Meanwhile, Thomas and Thompson are in the vanguard, getting to 63 by different routes.

Thomas is coming off a 54th place finish last week at The Greenbrier, where he was a stroke off the lead entering the final round, tied during it, and then careened into the fence.

“I played 69 good holes,” Thomas said. “Nothing to take from that but positives.”

Likewise, Thursday, where he birdied four straight holes twice, holing putts from 50 and 20 feet for his last two birds.

“It’s just patience more than anything,” Thomas said of his ability to bounce back. “I’ve felt really good about my game the last couple weeks, just haven’t gotten results.”

That would have been deep analysis to Thompson, who hit 13 of 14 fairways but wasn’t about to think back on previous showings here, or what he did last week (missing the cut by six strokes), or who was in the field beyond Spieth, with whom he chatted on the practice green.

“There’s no number (to aim for), you’ve just got to play your game,” Thompson said.

Spieth, whose analysis was Einsteinian in comparison, called himself “just a little rusty” after a round where birdies on the 13th and 14th brought him from the netherworld of 2-over to even par. He hit 11 fairways and 13 greens in regulation, but was in the back half of the field in putting, which is usually his forte, and sloppy around the greens.

“I’m going to have to do a little better than 2-for-7 on up-and-downs in order to play the weekend,” Spieth said. “Given they really weren’t very challenging other than the one on No. 8, I really should have gotten the rest of them up and down, and I typically do. I lost five shots on those.

“A little disappointing, but at the same time, I didn’t put in the same preparation as I have (previously). I took a week off, didn’t touch a club. I don’t do that very often in the summertime.”

After all that, there was Spieth on the range at the dinner hour, making swings and looking at video of said swings. Beware the golfer with the green jacket in the closet and the bit in his teeth who doesn’t want to leave the Quad Cities for the Auld Grey Toon until Sunday night. 

Around Deere Run

Thomas and Thompson may not sleep well. Only about 14 percent of first-round leaders win the Deere. ... Greenbrier winner Danny Lee put together a quiet 3-under 68. ... The field averaged 69.529 strokes, the lowest opening-round average since at least 2003, with the par-5 second the easiest hole and the par-4 18th the most difficult. ... The Birdies for Charity contingent will be thrilled to know there were 637 birdies, compared to 582 in last year’s first round, when the course averaged 70.458. ... Brian Davis withdrew with a bad back after 10 holes. He was 6-over at the time. ... Many in the estimated gallery of 20,000 arrived early, and it seemed like everyone was around the first tee at 1 p.m. to see Spieth, Lee and Harman in the marquee group. Tournament director Clair Peterson said it looked like a Sunday gallery at that hour. ... Without Bill Murray to provide comic relief, D.A. Points posted a 3-under 68. ... Former British Open champion Todd Hamilton, once of nearby Oquawka, was high man with a 6-over 77.

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.

Hollatz goes long and low to win the Joe

    By Tim Cronin

    From the moment the pairings were issued, it was clear the title in the Boys 16-to-18 Division of the 27th Illinois Golfer Challenge Junior Golf Championship could come down to two men: Beecher’s Michael Barber and Lockport’s Gehrig Hollatz.
    The Milliken-ticketed Barber scored four straight regional titles playing for the Beecher Bobcats. Butler-bound Hollatz was a threat for the Porters every time he teed it up.
    They didn’t disappoint on Wednesday. Barber went out in 1-under-par 35. Hollatz recovered from a three-putt bogey after a 295-yard drive on the par-4 first hole with a birdie on the second and went out in 1-over 37.
    After each player had trouble on the treacherous par-4 11th, back-to-back birdies on the par-3 12th and par-5 13th allowed Hollatz to pull even.
    The break came on the par-4 17th, a runt of a hole at 284 yards from the newish white tee, down in the valley. Barber struggled to a double-bogey 6. Hollatz scored a birdie 3. Therein was the difference in Hollatz’s winning 1-under-par 71 and Barber’s runner-up 2-over 74. For his effort, Hollatz was awarded the 2015 iteration of the Joe Jemsek Trophy, named after the Hall of Famer who long leased Glenwoodie.
    Two fine rounds. One hole the difference.
    “I did not know what to hit,” Hollatz said of his quandary on the tee. “I finally hit driver and was 10 yards in front of the green.”
    A chip and a putt equaled a 3, while Barber doubled that.
    Hollatz’s round was up and down early – he drilled a wedge to five feet from 115 yards on the second hole for a bird, then sailed his second on the par-4 fourth out of bounds – and then settled into a comfort zone that featured, with the exception of the 11th hole, nothing but pars and birdies.
    “It was the first time I’d see the course,” Hollatz said. “If I had a practice round, I’d have put myself in better spots.”
    He’ll make sure to have a practice round at Illinois State’s Weibring course in advance of U.S. Amateur qualifying. He’d dearly like to make the field of 312 that will tee it up at Olympia Fields Country Club in August.
    For Barber, this is just about the end of his junior golf road. He picked Milliken after considering Monmouth and Carthage, and. while he’ll play for Milliken, doesn’t see a career in golf beckoning.
    “Business, maybe accounting,” he said.
    All the better to add up low scores.
    Ryan Dahlkamp of Crown Point was third with a 6-over 78. A double-bogey 5 on the third hole put him behind, and Hollatz and Barber gradually pulled away.

Unflappable Snyder's 76 captures Challenge title

    By Tim Cronin

    The goal of any tournament director is to pair players of comparable ability, so all can enjoy the round even if they’re not in contention.
    Christian Snyder wasn’t quite in that position in Wednesday’s Illinois Golfer Challenge Junior Golf Championship at Glenwoodie Golf Club in Glenwood.
    A fine player, happenstance paired him with a duo that failed to break 100.
    No problem. Snyder, a 15-year-old from New Lenox, cruised around Glenwoodie in 4-over-par 76 and scored a two-stroke victory over Oak Forest’s Jack Dykema to claim the Marshall Dann Trophy.
    “I just got to know the kids,” Snyder said. “That’s what you’re supposed to do in golf, have a good time.”
    Snyder splashed three birdies on his card, including a brace on the 12th and 13th. It was on the 12th, the picturesque par-3 of 121 yards, that he nearly had a lifetime memory.
    “Almost aced it,” Snyder said. “It was an 8-iron, the wind was left to right, the ball faded that way, and I heard it hit the pin.”
    The two-footer for a deuce was followed by a birdie on the par-5 13th. Dykema, playing two groups behind, played those two holes in par-bogey, and the final five holes in 4-over to Snyder’s 2-over.
    Snyder, going into his junior year at St. Rita, credits Mustangs coach Pete Godfrey for keeping his swing in the right place.
    “When he sees something, he tells me right away,” Snyder said.
    There was no reason for Godfrey to say anything but “Good job” on Wednesday.
    Dykema’s 78 was solid from the start. He opened and closed the front nine with birdies and turned in 1-over 37, a stroke better than Snyder, but three 6s on his back-nine card, including a double-bogey on Glenwoodie’s signature 16th, dropped him into second place.
    But for a rookie – and not just in the Challenge – it was a fine showing.
    “I’ve played a lot the last few days, but I’ve never played in a tournament,” Dykema said. “I guess it was really fun today.”
    The 40-foot birdie putt on the first hole was fun. So was the 12-footer on the ninth for a 3, set up by an approach from 70 yards. And, going into his freshman year at Wheaton Academy, where his dad will be an assistant coach, the expectation is of even more fun.
    Kevin Healy of Evergreen Park took third, with a 12-over 84.