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.