Brian Campbell is your basic throwback player on the PGA Tour, a golfer who relies on accuracy and short game in an era when just about everyone else is swinging out of their shoes with a driver to obliterate the game’s sense of scale. We’re not talking pre-Tiger era here. We’re talking pre-Jack. Maybe pre-World War II.

A guy who loses more than a stroke per round off the tee and ranks 171st on tour in driving distance isn’t supposed to have much chance of winning. And he doesn’t. Only twice has Campbell been in contention this year and has missed the weekend more than half of his 17 starts. Fortunately, he’s turned those rare opportunities into top-10 finishes.

Both wins. In playoffs.

A career that got stalled by injuries is now one of ingenuity amid today’s style of bomb and growl. On Sunday, Campbell captured the John Deere Classic by defeating Emiliano Grillo with a two-putt par on the first sudden-death playoff hole at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill. The former University of Illinois golfer, who 10 years ago made his pro debut in this same event, is now a two-time winner in his second year on tour.

It makes no sense. Or so it seems.

“Right now, it’s surreal. I don’t know what’s going on,” said Campbell, 32, who earned $1.512 million and added a third year to his exemption status while rising 60 spots to 55th in the world. The Korn Ferry Tour graduate began the year 196th. “I have no words. I mean, to be let alone in a playoff and to finish it off this way, it’s just been amazing.”

RELATED: Here are the clubs Brian Campbell used to win the John Deere Classic

Campbell became the sixth player to win multiple titles this year. He joins Ben Griffin and Ryan Fox as first-time winners who have added a second victory this season.

“I guess that’s how I approach most weeks,” Campbell said of his outlook on his rare chances for success. “There are things I can control and things I can’t control. The best thing I can do is give myself as many looks as I can; I was doing that.

“So I think there were definitely moments in the week where I was thinking about, ‘Hey, you know, this could be a special week.’ I don’t know if I like to let myself get ahead of myself and think about winning all that much, but I know if we stick around and keep doing the right things, that we’re going to be there in the end.”

Campbell and Grillo, who each closed with four-under 67s to finish at 18-under 266, emerged from a leaderboard so congested that at one point midway through the final round 19 players were within two strokes of one another. Nine players held at least a share of the lead at some point, not including 54-hole leader Davis Thompson, the defending champion, whose closing 72 was the only round over par among the top 32 finishers.

The players who enjoyed some time at the top included not only Campbell and Grillo, but also a rejuvenated Max Homa—who forged an early two-stroke advantage—Nick Dunlap, Beau Hossler, Carson Young, Kevin Roy, Jacob Bridgeman and David Lipsky. It might well have been a three-man playoff after Lipsky climbed into a tie with an eight-foot eagle putt at the par-5 17th, but his duck-hook off the tee at 18 led to a bogey after he missed a 15-footer. He tied for third with Roy at 267 after a 68, while Roy shot 65.

Grillo, relegated to his seventh runner-up finish, nearly ended it in regulation, but his 38-foot birdie try for the win on the tough par-4 18th missed left of the hole by inches.

“I got myself there. I gave myself a chance. You know, I made some good putts,” said Grillo, 32, who started the week 105th in the FedEx Cup standings—outside the new magic number for keeping a card—and moved to a safe 64th. “Hit a good putt on the 72nd, and that’s all I can do. We’re one short, but we’ll keep working.”

In the playoff, Campbell, deciding to rest for 40 minutes to conserve energy rather than keep loose on the range, drove the ball 286 yards safely into the fairway and then parked his 7-iron approach from 188 yards 16 feet below the hole. Grillo, after finding the right rough off the tee, then nuked a wedge over the green. His high lob came up short of the putting surface,e and he was not close on a par save from 23 feet. Campbell safely two-putted to prove that his playoff win at the Vidanta Mexican Open in February over the tour’s longest hitter, Aldrich Potgieter, was no fluke.

Brian Campbell. Image by David Berding

Enjoying support from the crowd who were aware of his Illini ties, Campbell confesses to being a grinder who prides himself on course management. “I love having the moment to figure out any shot.”

He has figured out how not to worry about the one shot that is a handicap against the bombers. He averages 276.6 yards off the tee. That isn’t just short in today’s terms. Ten years ago, when he turned pro, that would have ranked 173rd on tour, tied with Colt Knost, who was on the grounds Sunday as part of the CBS broadcast team.

He was asked about the message he was sending to the tour’s long hitters, who are many. “I’m not going to tell them to hit it any shorter, that’s for sure,” he replied. “I think they’ll be just fine doing what they do. It just goes to show that there is so many different games out here and so many different ways to play the game. There is not one way to get it done, and that was something that I proved to myself earlier this season, and it’s paid off.”

His perseverance has paid off, too. He lost two years to injury, in 2021-22, and thought about finding a different line of work. Now he finds himself vying for a potential spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Surreal indeed.

“I’ve worked my entire life to be in this position, and unfortunately, we had a couple of years there where it wasn’t looking so good,” Campbell said. “You have to start thinking about am I going to do something else. Maybe pro golf or this route is not going to work out. But it all … it really was all second-stage Q-School about two, three years ago. I made like a quintuple bogey on a par-3, and I thought my career was over in that moment. That night just kind of had a self-talk with myself. Said, ‘you know what, whatever happens is OK. Trust yourself.’ The next round, I went out there and shot eight under and got myself right back in there. I guess I was like, ‘Maybe golf is not over for me.’ That moment was when everything changed.”

Has it ever.

Main image: Brian Campbell and his girlfriend Kelsi McKee celebrate with the trophy after Campbell won the John Deere Classic in a playoff. David Berding

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In the wise words of the late Yankee legend Yogi Berra, “it’s getting late, early.” Meaning, we’ve only just started July but there are only five weeks remaining until the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

The tour was at TPC Deere Run for its annual stop at the John Deere Classic, which was big for some of those lower in standing to make up ground with little time remaining in the regular season.

While that happened, it was Brian Campbell who topped Emiliano Grillo on the first hole of a playoff to earn his second PGA Tour victory of the year. He earned $1.512 million from the $8.4 million purse and joins Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Sepp Straka, Ben Griffin and Ryan Fox as multiple winners this year. He won the Mexico Open over Aldrich Potgieter in a playoff.

“Right now it’s surreal,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going on. I have no words.”

Campbell, 32, birdied the 17th hole, then made par at 18 and had to wait 45 minutes for those behind him to finish. The victory moves him from 59th to 28th in the FedEx Cup standings. Grillo’s birdie putt on the 72nd hole looked like it was going to drop but slid just low. In the playoff he airmailed the green with his approach shot and was not able to get up and down for par. He did, however, move from 105th to 64th in FedEx Cup standings.

David Lipsky was looking for his first PGA Tour title and eagled the 17th hole to tie Campbell and Grillo for the lead. But he blew his drive on 18 way left, had to lay up, then was not able to get up and down and made bogey to finish a shot out of the playoff. Lucas Glover and Jacob Bridgeman both shot 64 to jump into a tie for fifth place. Max Homa also tied for fifth place, but he held a two-shot lead early Sunday after making three straight birdies on Nos. 2-4. Bogeys at five and nine dropped him back and he shot 69.

Amateur Jackson Koivun, a junior at Auburn this fall, shot 70-64-68-67 and tied for 11th place.

Up next: the Genesis Scottish Open and ISCO Championship are both held next week, followed by the Open Championship at Royal Portrush. The Barracuda Championship, 3M Open and Wyndham Championship then close out the regular season.

Here’s the rundown of what each player earned who made the cut.

WIN: Brian Campbell, -18/266, $1.512 million

2: Emiliano Grillo, -18/266, $915,600

T-3: David Lipsky, -17/267, $495,600

T-3: Kevin Roy, -17/267, $495,600

T-5: Carson Young, -16/268, $278,250

T-5: Lucas Glover, -16/268, $278,250

T-5: Jacob Bridgeman, -16/268, $278,250

T-5: Matt Kuchar, -16/268, $278,250

T-5: Kurt Kitayama, -16/268, $278,250

T-5: Max Homa, -16/268, $278,250

T-11: Beau Hossler, -15/269, $174,300

T-11: Nick Dunlap, -15/269, $174,300

T-11: Si Woo Kim, -15/269, $174,300

T-11: Denny McCarthy, -15/269, $174,300

T-11: Rico Hoey, -15/269, $174,300

T-11: Austin Eckroat, -15/269, $174,300

T-11: Jackson Koivun, -15/269, $0 (amateur)

T-18: Rickie Fowler, -14/270, $128,100

T-18: Patrick Fishburn, -14/270, $128,100

T-18: Davis Thompson, -14/270, $128,100

T-21: Michael Thorbjornsen, -13/271, $91,980

T-21: Jake Knapp, -13/271, $91,980

T-21: Kevin Yu, -13/271, $91,980

T-21: Sam Stevens, -13/271, $91,980

T-21: Lee Hodges, -13/271, $91,980

T-21: Chris Gotterup, -13/271, $91,980

T-27: Garrick Higgo, -12/272, $63,840

T-27: Kris Ventura, -12/272, $63,840

T-27: Nate Lashley, -12/272, $63,840

T-27: Cameron Champ, -12/272, $63,840

T-31: Doug Ghim, -11/273, $56,280

T-31: Taylor Montgomery, -11/273, $56,280

T-33: Brandt Snedeker, -10/274, $44,940

T-33: Bud Cauley, -10/274, $44,940

T-33: Taylor Moore, -10/274, $44,940

T-33: Mark Hubbard, -10/274, $44,940

T-33: Jeremy Paul, -10/274, $44,940

T-33: Vince Whaley, -10/274, $44,940

T-33: Zac Blair, -10/274, $44,940

T-33: Camilo Villegas, -10/274, $44,940

T-41: Rikuya Hoshino, -9/275, $34,860

T-41: Brendan Valdes, -9/275, $34,860

T-41: Philip Knowles, -9/275, $34,860

T-44: Zach Johnson, -8/276, $24,964.80

T-44: Keith Mitchell, -8/276, $24,964.80

T-44: Jesper Svensson, -8/276, $24,964.80

T-44: Hayden Springer, -8/276, $24,964.80

T-44: Adam Svensson, -8/276, $24,964.80

T-44: Thriston Lawrence, -8/276, $24,964.80

T-44: Bronson Burgoon, -8/276, $24,964.80

T-44: Ben Kohles, -8/276, $24,964.80

T-44: Justin Lower, -8/276, $24,964.80

T-44: Seamus Power, -8/276, $24,964.80

T-54: Patton Kizzire, -7/277, $19,964

T-54: Cristobal Del Solar, -7/277, $19,964

T-54: Dylan Wu, -7/277, $19,964

T-57: Henrik Norlander, -5/279, $19,404

T-57: Quade Cummins, -5/279, $19,404

T-57: Joel Dahmen, -5/279, $19,404

T-60: Ryo Hisatsune, -4/280, $18,984

T-60: Eric Cole, -4/280, $18,984

62: Gordon Sargent, -2/282, $18,732

63: James Hahn, -1/283, $18,564

64: Chris Kirk, +2/286, $18,396

Main image: Dylan Buell

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The kid can ball.

Screw it, Davis Thompson basketball highlights. pic.twitter.com/FsFTvkGIOr

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 8, 2024

By our count, this video makes Thompson the only other tour pro besides Tony Finau capable of throwing down. Both are 6’4”, so that certainly helps, but Thompson’s overall game is pretty complete, knocking down long-range jumpers on offense and picking pockets on D. In fact, this is the best overall tape we’ve seen since Gary Woodland’s, and he originally attended Washburn University on a basketball scholarship before “falling back” on golf.

The ”are golfers athletes?” debate shows no signs of abating, but with Thompson rattling rims and firing at pins, it appears he’ll be valuable asset for Team Golf for years to come.

RELATED: England star Bukayo Saka launches first-ever golf shot … then immediately embarrasses himself

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The streak with the Trophy House continues.

For the third straight year, a player who rented the same house near TPC Deere Run won the John Deere Classic. After J.T. Poston and Sepp Straka each won the last two years, this time it was Davis Thompson’s turn, winning for the first time on the PGA Tour after shooting 62-64 on the weekend to end at 28-under-par 256 total. It was a tournament-scoring record.

RELATED: Davis Thompson is victorious at the John Deere Classic

Thompson earned an exemption into the British Open in two weeks and took home the $1.44 million winner’s check from the overall $8 million purse. Amateur Luke Clanton, from Florida State, shot a final-round 63 to tie for second place and become the first amateur since 1958 to record back-to-back top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour. Michael Thorbjornsen and C.T. Pan tied Clanton in second place, four shots behind Thompson. Pan also earned an exemption into the British Open at Royal Troon, as he was ranked higher in the Official World Ranking among the group tied for second.

Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer in the field in Silvis, Ill.

Win: Davis Thompson, -28/256, $1,440,000

T-2: Michael Thorbjornsen, -24/260, $712,000

T-2: Luke Clanton, -24/260, $0 (amateur)

T-2: C.T. Pan, -24/260, $712,000

T-5: Ben Griffin, -23/261, $360,000

T-5: Carson Young, -23/261, $360,000

T-7: Aaron Rai, -21/263, $252,400

T-7: Denny McCarthy, -21/263, $252,400

T-7: Andrew Novak, -21/263, $252,400

T-7: Hayden Springer, -21/263, $252,400

T-7: Eric Cole, -21/263, $252,400

T-12: Sungjae Im, -20/264, $171,600

T-12: Brendon Todd, -20/264, $171,600

T-12: Harry Hall, -20/264, $171,600

T-12: Chan Kim, -20/264, $171,600

T-12: Sami Valimaki, -20/264, $171,600

17: Seamus Power, -19/265, $138,000

T-18: Ben Silverman, -18/266, $126,000

T-18: Keith Mitchell, -18/266, $126,000

T-20: Kevin Yu, -17/267, $106,000

T-20: Mac Meissner, -17/267, $106,000

T-20: Jhonattan Vegas, -17/267, $106,000

T-23: Jason Day, -16/268, $83,600

T-23: Lucas Glover, -16/268, $86,600

T-23: J.J. Spaun, -16/268, $83,600

T-26: Zach Johnson, -15/269, $64,200

T-26: Max Greyserman, -15/269, $64,200

T-26: Rico Hoey, -15/269, $64,200

T-26: Jordan Spieth, -15/269, $64,200

T-30: J.T. Poston, -14/270, $56,000

T-30: Pierceson Coody, -14/270, $56,000

T-32: Chesson Hadley, -13/271, $51,200

T-32: Mark Hubbard, -13/271, $51,200

T-34: Sam Stevens, -12/272, $39,200

T-34: Robby Shelton, -12/272, $39,200

T-34: Adam Svensson, -12/272, $39,200

T-34: Hayden Buckley, -12/272, $39,200

T-34: Joshua Creel, -12/272, $39,200

T-34: S.H. Kim, -12/272, $39,200

T-34: Patrick Rodgers, -12/272, $39,200

T-34: Sam Ryder, -12/272, $39,200

T-34: Doug Ghim, -12/272, $39,200

T-34: Brice Garnett, -12/272, $39,200

T-44: Chandler Phillips, -11/273, $29,200

T-44: Trace Crowe, -11/273, $29,200

T-46: Ben Taylor, -10/274, $23,280

T-46: Kevin Streelman, -10/274, $23,280

T-46: Adrien Dumont de Chassart, -10/274, $23,280

T-46: Joel Dahmen, -10/274, $23,280

T-46: Zac Blair, -10/274, $23,280

T-46: Kevin Dougherty, -10/274, $23,280

T-52: James Hahn, -9/275, $18,924.45

T-52: Jake Knapp, -9/275, $18,924.45

T-52: Ryo Hisatsune, -9/275, $18,924.45

T-52: Stewart Cink, -9/275, $18,924.45

T-52: Nico Echavarria, -9/275, $18,924.45

T-52: Blaine Hale, Jr., -9/275, $18,924.45

T-52: Bill Haas, -9/275, $18,924.45

T-52: Ben Kohles, -9/275, $18,924.45

T-52: Dylan Fritelli, -9/275, $18,924.45

T-61: David Lipsky, -8/276, $17,200

T-61: Austin Smotherman, -8/276, $17,200

T-61: Bud Cauley, -8/276, $17,200

T-61: Scott Gutschewski, -8/276, $17,200

T-61: Beau Hossler, -8/276, $17,200

T-61: Sepp Straka, -8/276, $17,200

T-61: Roger Sloan, -8/276, $17,200

T-61: Henrik Norlander, -8/276, $17,200

T-61: Thorbjorn Olesen, -8/276, $17,200

T-61: Kyle Westmoreland, -8/276, $17,200

T-61: Kevin Chappell, -8/276, $17,200

72: Wilson Furr, -7/277, $16,240

T-73: Justin Lower, -6/278, $16,00

T-73: Justin Suh, -6/278, $16,00

T-75: Matt NeSmith, -5/279, $15,680

T-75: Ryan Palmer, -5/279, $15,680

77: Lee Hodges, -4/280, $15,4400

Main image: Dylan Buell

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Destroying all drama, not to mention the hopes of his pursuers, Thompson, leader by two after 54 holes, birdied five of his first six holes, went out in 29 and relegated the rest of the field to duking it out for second place and a berth in the Open Championship in two weeks at Royal Troon. And trust us, that skirmish was far more entertaining with a half-dozen players involved in the fray.

But first, let’s give Thompson his due for making the primary story one big yawn. In his 63rd PGA Tour start, the former University of Georgia All-American was as cool as an iceberg and just about as stoic—at least until the end. A final-round seven-under 64 gave him a tournament record 28-under 256 total and four-stroke victory. Thompson, 25, is the ninth first-time winner on the tour this year and the 24th first-time winner of the event.

When he tapped in for par at the home hole at TPC Deere Run, he shared a long embrace with his wife Holly Grace and sobbed on her shoulder, the only time he cracked all day.

“I played great all week. Kind of had a few hiccups on Friday but worked hard after the round and was able to kick it into gear on the weekend,” said Thompson, who jumped from 70th to 38th in the world with the victory. “Just feels great. A lot of hard work went into this, and thankfully I was able to get the job done this weekend.”

Coming off a T-9 finish at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst and a T-2 at last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit—his second runner-up in six weeks—Thompson seemed primed for the push that got him to his maiden victory. He sensed it was coming, too. “The goal, I guess, in May was to make the playoffs, and then next thing I know I finished second at Myrtle Beach and then ninth at the U.S. Open and second last week,” he said. “This week my goal was to just kick the door down and get a win, honestly.”

An emotional winning moment

Davis Thompson seals the deal with his first TOUR victory @JDClassic. pic.twitter.com/BNOHLLaYXO

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 7, 2024

Thompson birdied the first hole with your basic destiny-seeking 44-footer to immediately increase his lead from two strokes to three over Eric Cole and Aaron Rai, and even though it was far from over, it sure seemed headed in that direction. Then he got up and down for birdie at the second, holing a three-footer, and his lead was four. Then he birdied the fourth from 13 feet, the fifth from 29 feet, and the sixth from 12 feet and his lead was six strokes. He made 120 feet of putts in that outward 29.

That’s quite a kick.

He got it in the house (and then had to pick up the tab at the mythic Trophy House, the residence that now has produced the last three winners) with a rather uneventful back nine, getting only the briefest threat from a collection of birdie hunters trying to one-up one another for the honour of being number two, which in this case was one big deal.

Thompson not only qualified for the Masters with his win, but he also claimed one of the two Open berths available at the Deere, which is one of the 16 Open Qualifying Series events for the 152nd Open. The other spot went to C.T. Pan, who tied for second at 24-under 260 with Michael Thorbjornsen, playing in his third event as a pro, and amateur Luke Clanton. Thorbjornsen and Clanton, whose combined age leaves them eight years shy of eligibility on the Champions Tour, each shot 63 while Pan, the bronze medalist in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, had a 64 but got the Troon ticket by virtue of a higher world ranking among the trio at 144th.

Clanton, 20 and a rising junior at Florida State, became the first amateur since Billy Joe Patton in 1958 to register consecutive top-10 finishes on the tour. Amateurs are having themselves a year, huh?

Also in the dustup behind Thompson were Ben Griffin, Carson Young and Denny McCarthy. Griffin fired the day’s low round (62) but he couldn’t catch his neighbour, and a late bogey cost him a shot at the Open. Griffin estimates that his house and Thompson’s house next door on St. Simons Island, Ga., are separated by about five feet.

Dylan Buell

“He’s just solid. Hits it long and hits it straight. He does everything you can expect of an elite golfer,” Griffin said of Thompson. “I knew both of us … one of us was going to get a win sooner rather than later. Great guy. He’s even-keeled, and he’s not going to talk a lot. He is just going to go about his business, and he is not afraid to make a lot of birdies as we can tell.”

Thompson made 30 of them, best in the field of course, not a surprise for a player ranked 29th on tour in birdie average. His adjusted scoring average of 70.076 ranks seventh overall. This guy looks like he might stick around for a while.

Brendan Todd, another Sea Island neighbour, has called Thompson a future Ryder Cup player and top-10 player in the world, and Zach Johnson, who also lives at Sea Island, likewise sees plenty of potential in a young man who has been around tournament golf for a long time; his father Todd is the tournament director of the tour’s RSM Classic.

In Thompson’s mind, it’s all about building blocks. He just established the foundation.

“Throughout my life, it’s taken me time to get adjusted to anything in life,” he said. “Took me a while to get adjusted to college. Even back to junior golf when I started playing the back tees. It just kind of takes me a while to get adjusted, and then once I get comfortable I kind of get in a groove and start to play well. I feel like in the past couple of months I’ve got more and more comfortable and was able to break through this week.

“Now that I’ve got my first win, I feel like the work is only beginning,” he added. “The goal is to play this game for 20-plus years and have a great career.”

Main image: Stacy Revere

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It wasn’t always this way, of course, and Day was reminded of that on Wednesday in his return to the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run, where, in 2006, he made his first start as an 18-year-old professional. He’d only recently married his wife of now 18 years, Ellie.

“I think we might have stayed down at the Super 8 hotel somewhere,” Day recalled.

RELATED: Golfer known for tragedy shoots 59 in John Deere Classic

Sitting next to him during the interview was longtime PGA Tour media official Doug Milne, who happened to be working that same Deere week of Day’s debut. Milne also was staying in the hotel, and the two ended up having this entertaining exchange:

Day: “I think back then your AC unit fell out the wall.”

Milne: “I had the dog come into my room on my bed. I literally woke up with a dog on my bed.”

Day: “Then my caddie at the time, Colin [Swatton], you walk into his room, and it had a heart-shaped bathtub right next to the bed. It was like high-rent stuff back then. … I walked in there [my room] and tried to close my curtains. My curtain fell off—it broke off, and I’m like, ‘well, I guess I’m waking up at butt crack of dawn now.’ Good memories, man.”

Day is indeed staying in the RV this week with Ellie and their five kids—the most recent to be born, daughter Winnie, last September.

“You got room?” Milne joked.

“I do,” Day said, “but you’re going to be sleeping next to my kids.”

From that week in Silvis, Ill., it would take Day four years to earn his maiden victory in the 2010 Byron Nelson. His best season has been 2015, when the Aussie notched five victories, including the PGA Championship. Injuries have slowed Day during his career, and he went through a five-year victory drought that he fixed with a win in last year’s AT&T Byron Nelson. At No. 36 in the world, he’s getting the opportunity to play in his first Olympics after skipping a chance for 2016 in Rio.

“Looking back on it, I probably should have gone to Rio and played,” Day said. “I think it’s something bigger than yourself. You’re actually representing your country and your sport. As an Australian, the Olympics is a big thing because we’re a big sporting nation.

“To get another turn at it I feel very grateful for it.”

Interestingly, Day is playing in his first John Deere in 13 years despite never having missed the cut while notching two top-15 finishes.

This week, he’s noticed there are fewer trees at Deere Run while marvelling at the pretty views of the river. The Super 8? It’s long been in the rearview mirror.

Main image: Stacy Revere

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It was a story of remarkable resilience, and now Springer has a golf tale that, if not anywhere close to what he’s overcome, says a lot about what he can endure.

Springer, 27, entered the first round of Thursday’s John Deere Classic having missed the cut in six of his last seven starts, though he’d shown progress by notching a T-10 last week in the Rocket Mortgage Classic. At TPC Deere Run, he reached a level he’d never found before.

With eight birdies and two eagles—including an unexpected 55-yard pitch-in at 17 and birdie at 18— Springer shot 12-under-par 59 on the par-71 course. The score gave him a two-shot lead over Sami Valimaki.

FIREWORKS on the 4th of July!
 
Hayden Springer sinks the 12-footer for a 59 @JDClassic. pic.twitter.com/cPYNgPneKB

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 4, 2024

With this latest feat, the once-magic number of golf is becoming a bit more routine. Just two weeks ago, Cameron Young shot 11-under 59 in the Travelers—the first time in PGA Tour history the number has been achieved twice in three weeks. It also was the second 59 scored at Deere Run, where Paul Goydos pulled it off in 2010.

Overall, 14 players have combined for 15 sub-60 rounds on tour, with Jim Furyk having done it twice.

Springer, who hadn’t shot lower than 61 in his life, said he remembered seeing Goydos’ feat. He would have been 13 at the time. “I know I was watching it,” he said. “I don’t really know much.”

Springer’s 59 will be memorable for its start and finish. After a par on the first, he eagled the par-5 second and followed with four straight birdies. When he also birdied the eighth and ninth, Springer had set the course record of eight-under 27 for the nine.

In December, Hayden Springer earned his PGA TOUR card via Q-School.

Today, he shot just the 14th sub-60 round in TOUR history pic.twitter.com/UkEXk2Mfal

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 4, 2024

At that point, making “only” four more birdies seemed wholly possible. “I thought about it,” Springer said. “But just trying to …like always, take it one shot at a time and be patient. … I still have to go make birdies to be able to even do it. Just try not to get ahead of myself. But I was thinking about it.”

Five straight pars, however, killed the flow, though Springer said the six-foot putt he made for par at rejuvenated him. He notched a birdie at 15 by making an 18-footer and then came the skillful and lucky pitch-in at the par-5 17th.

“I didn’t ever think I would make that shot really, but it kind of changed the momentum to actually be able to go shoot 59,” Springer said.

A good number of pros have gone into an 18th hole with a chance at shooting 59. Far more have failed than succeeded. Springer seized the chance by hitting a 308-yard drive, his 155-yard approach to 12 feet, and draining the putt. He celebrated with a fist pump and smile before depositing the ball into his pocket.

“I feel like that’s one the rare things in golf, so to kind of have that opportunity and pull it off, it feels pretty special,” Springer said.

This is only Springer’s 19th start on the PGA Tour. He played in college at Texas Christian but has spent most of his time on smaller tours, with only 10 starts on the Korn Ferry, where he’s made four cuts.

This season, Springer finished T-3 in the Puerto Rico Open but had struggled until last week’s T-10 in Detroit. He credits the improvement with getting back to working with the coach from his childhood, Rosey Bartlett, who identified some setup issues. “Felt like I needed to get something going, so she was able to help me,” he said.

Springer was, of course, asked about the impact that the death of his daughter has had on his approach to life and golf.

“I don’t know,” he said. “We’ve had some challenging things happen. … But at the end of the day, I also want to compete and I love doing that. I think that that drives me to want to make that putt or want to shoot low scores more than anything.”

Sub-60 rounds in PGA Tour history

58 – Jim Furyk, final round, 2016 Travelers Championship.

59 – Al Geiberger, second round, 1977 Memphis Classic.

59 – Chip Beck, third round 1991 Las Vegas Invitational.

59 – David Duval, final round, 1999 Bob Hope Invitational.

59 – Paul Goydos, first round, 2010 John Deere Classic.

59 – Stuart Appleby, final round, 2010 Greenbrier Classi.

59 – Jim Furyk, second round, BMW Championship.

59 – Justin Thomas, first round, 2017 Sony Open.

59 – Adam Hadwin, third round, 2017 CareerBuilder Challenge.

59 – Brandt Snedeker, first round, 2018 Wyndham Championship.

59 – Kevin Chappell, second round, 2019 Military Tribute at Greenbrier.

59 – Scottie Scheffler, second round, 2020 The Northern Trust.

59 – Cameron Young, third round, 2024 Travelers Championship

59 – Hayden Springer, first round, 2024 John Deere Classic

Main image: Hayden Springer poses with his ball following a score of 59 in the first round of the John Deere Classic. Stacy Revere

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Sepp Straka stood in the 18th fairway at TPC Deere Run Sunday with an 8-iron in his hands, confidence coursing through his veins and a second PGA Tour victory in his sights. That he also had a chance to add his name to the list of tour players to break 60 was a mere secondary consideration.

“It popped in my mind, for sure, yeah, but I wasn’t going to change my game plan or strategy for the 59,” the 30-year-old native of Austria said. “The goal was still to keep the same game plan and try to finish and win a golf tournament. As fun as the 59 would be, I think winning the golf tournament is always more fun.”

Good thing he felt that way. Straka proceeded to rinse the shot, pulling his approach from 181 yards into the water left of the green. It cost him a double bogey on the par-4 home hole and marred what had been a sensational round, one of the finest this season. But sometimes a round qualifies as great by being good enough, and that’s what Straka submitted by carding a nine-under 62 and posting a two-stroke victory in the John Deere Classic.

For 17 holes, Straka absolutely strafed defenceless TPC Deere Run with nine birdies and an eagle, but after rallying from four strokes back to begin the final round to building a five-stroke lead, he left the door open with a mistake out of character with the quality of golf he had been putting on display on a temperate day in Silvis, Ill.

A birdie on the final hole—or on any of the three previous holes after getting to 11 under par—would have given Straka the 13th sub-60 score in tour history. He also would have become the third player, after David Duval and Stuart Appleby, to win with a final-round 59.

Instead, after the dyspeptic conclusion, he had to stew for more than an hour, hoping his 21-under 263 total would hold up. Third-round leader Brendan Todd climbed within a stroke, but he couldn’t catch Straka and Straka found himself $1.332 million richer and a step closer, perhaps, to making Luke Donald’s European Ryder Cup team.

“Hopefully, I can make a push for that [the Ryder Cup],” said Straka, who was born in Vienna but moved with his family to Georgia when he was 14 and attended the University of Georgia.

Straka, who rose to 27th in the world, is the second tour winner this season to double bogey the final hole, following Emiliano Grillo at the Charles Schwab Challenge. He is the first player since David Frost in 1992 to win the event with a round over par. Straka began the week with a two-over 73 and sat in 133rd place before rallying with 63 and 65 to climb into contention.

He credited short-game instructor Tim Yelverton with a putting tip that turned around his fortunes. Yelverton texted him Thursday after that first round and told Straka that the toe of his putter was sticking up. Straka adjusted his hands a little higher to flatten the clubhead.

Straka led the field in strokes gained/putting on Sunday and was fourth for the week at 6.731. He also was tops in birdies with 26.

“It was crazy because you don’t want to think about it too much because you don’t want to lose the feeling,” he said of being in a zone of sorts. “I was hitting the ball really well. I don’t think the ball-striking was as out of this world as the putting. The putting was just phenomenal.”

The final round began with 12 players within three shots of Todd’s lead. Straka wasn’t one of them. But by the sixth hole, when he tapped in a two-footer for birdie, he had the lead alone at 17 under, and he never trailed thereafter. He went out in seven-under 28, the third 28 posted on the front nine at TPC Deere Run. Then he added four birdies in a row starting with a seven-footer at the 11th to reach 11 under par.

His best chance to get to 12 under came at the par-5 17th hole, but he pulled a nine-foot birdie attempt. Then came Sepp’s misstep at 18, which for a while looked like it could cost him the tournament.

“It was not a good shot,” he said of his final approach. “Wind was off the right. I was just trying to go middle of the green and let it feed down to the left. Pulled it early. And then the wind drags it over to the water. It’s unfortunate. It was the first bad shot I hit today, I think, so I’ll give myself a little bit of slack there.”

Todd provided breathing room that he couldn’t afford to surrender when he three-putted the par-4 16th hole from 29 feet to drop two behind. The first putt had too much steam and raced six feet by.

“I just forgot. I’ve had that putt before and ran it passed. It’s just faster than it looks,” he said. “I was kind of line-locked knowing that I probably needed a birdie or two coming in, and so I just forgot how fast it was.”

More noticeable was just how fast Straka, a fellow Bulldog, raced by him.

“On 8 or 9 I saw that Sepp had gotten to 22 or 23 under, which was obviously amazing,” said Todd, who closed with a 68 and tied for second with Alex Smalley at 265. “I was pretty amazed, but I did say in my interview yesterday, there’s been a 59 [by Paul Goydos in 2010]. Anybody could have gone out there and shot a great round today, and he did it.”

Straka did a lot of things with that one round. He set the tournament record for low final round by a winner, eclipsing Payne Stewart’s mark of 63 in the 1982 event at Oakwood CC in Coal Valley, Ill., and the tournament record for largest comeback after 18 holes when he trailed Jonas Blixt by 11 shots. He tied what is believed to be a tour record with the lowest round that includes a double bogey, joining four others, including Harry Higgs earlier this year at The American Express.

Finally, no player since 1983 had ever been lower on the leaderboard in a tour event after one round. Ian Poulter was 123rd after 18 holes before winning the 2018 Houston Open.

“Any time you play a tournament, you get in contention, you find out something new. That experience is invaluable,” Straka said. “So just knowing that I was in 130-something place after the first round and ended up winning, you just can’t ever really count yourself out because you could get hot any moment.”

And stay hot all the way to the podium.

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The nature of an important looming two-week stretch abroad means the 2023 John Deere Classic doesn’t boast the stoutest field on the PGA Tour’s schedule. But that doesn’t mean the action itself isn’t compelling. Coming into the final round, there are a few interesting storylines at stake. With the biggest names in golf resting up, Sunday may be the best opportunity for the rest to accomplish something truly career-changing.

Let’s break down what some of the contenders are playing for.

A validating victory

A win is a win, but for certain players at the top of the leaderboard, picking up the trophy on Sunday would bring with it a long-awaited sense of validation.

Cameron Young, the highest-ranked player in the field this week at World No. 19, is one of them. Young has finished inside the top 10 in three of his last six majors, including at the 2022 Open Championship, and notched a runner-up finish at the WGC Match Play earlier this year. But that first victory has eluded him. Fans are wondering: Why can’t this guy win one?

Young came into Saturday as the 36-hole leader, but some scrappy chips and putts led to bogeys on the sixth and seventh holes. Then, after birdies at 16 and 17, a series of duck hooks (one of which ended in the hazard) resulted in a double bogey on the 18th hole. His even-par 71 dropped him to 13 under and three back of the 54-hole lead. He’ll need to recover in a hurry if he hopes to shake his winless PGA Tour career.

Denny McCarthy and Adam Schenk come into Sunday T-2, one back of Brendon Todd’s 16-under lead. Like Young, they’ll each be hoping to notch their first overdue victory here. The former lost in a playoff to Viktor Hovland at the Memorial last month; the latter has finished runner-up twice already this season.

Michael Reaves

Ryder Cup points

Automatic spots on each respective Ryder Cup team are running out quickly — and with the final major of the year just two weeks away, there won’t be many more coming available. It means those with Rome ambitions are effectively playing for Captains’ Picks. Finish as high up the rankings as you can, and force the captain into picking you.

For Young (currently 10th in U.S. Ryder Cup rankings), McCarthy (14th), Schenk (24th) a win could do just that. Same for Sepp Straka on the European side (10th in Europe’s World Points ranking), who is four back heading into the final round.

Fifty-hour-hole leader Todd, whose third-round 66 leaves him with a one-stroke cushion at 16-under, is currently 42nd in the rankings. He has a lot of work left to do to convince Captain Zach Johnson he deserves a spot, but there is no better place to start making that argument than with a win on Sunday.

A slightly-random collection of 15 golf swings from 2022.

Each swing is fun and interesting in its own way. I learned a little something from every one.

— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) December 29, 2022

Future Status

And of course, wins and Ryder Cups aside, there’s the basic — and important — perk of status to play for. The Genesis Scottish Open will award a sponsor’s exemption to any player not already in the field. Todd, Peter Kuest and Jonas Blixt are some notables inside the top six who would qualify for that.

The case of Kuest is especially interesting. Kuest Monday Qualified for the Rocket Mortgage Classic last week. His top 10 finish there qualified him for the John Deere Classic this week, where he’s now two shots back of Todd heading into Sunday. Suddenly, full status on tour is within reach. It’s a hot run he’s cooked up. Sunday will show if he can turn up the heat even higher.

The post 2023 John Deere Classic: The top 3 things contenders are playing for appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

With most of the golf world’s focus shifting abroad ahead of the two-week Scottish Open-Open Championship stretch, many of the game’s highest-ranked players are opting for a week of rest.

It’s probably the smart move, which makes it all the more interesting that Cameron Young decided to tee it up this week.

It may just work, too.

At World No. 19, Young is the highest-ranked player in the field this week, though the man who finished solo second at the 2022 Open Championship has struggled for form in 2023, with no top-10 finishes since a T-7 at the Masters.

Young’s U.S. Ryder Cup prospects have taken a hit accordingly (he’s down to 10th in the U.S. standings). But a six-under opening round 65 leaves him T-3 after his first round at the John Deere Classic, and a chance to create some momentum for a late-season surge.

More Power for Team Europe?

Christian Iooss

Speaking of Ryder Cup hopefuls looking to boost their chances of a ticket to Rome: Irishman Seamus Power with a five-under 66 opening round. Unlike Young, Power is trending in a direction where he will make the team (he’s currently 11th in the World Points standings), though a good stretch starting this week would secure those ambitions. It’d be welcome news for the European Team, too, which is lacking the same depth as its U.S. counterparts at the bottom of the order.

Rest and opportunity

All in all, the beauty of weeks like the John Deere Classic is that they’re an opportunity for anybody else with an itching sense of unfinished business. Patrick Rodgers (T-65), Young (T-3), Denny McCarthy (T-23) and Byeong Hun An (T-13) have each made more than $10 million on the PGA Tour, but are all winless. Zac Blair (T-23) is chasing full membership after a T-2 finish at the designated Travelers Championship and joins an army of others looking for a last-minute ticket to Royal Liverpool. It’s not often the big names take a break. The opportunity this week is to work hard while they rest.

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