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).

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.