Monday Morning Golf Recap
(no trophy better represents the area that the course is in than the John Deere Classic trophy)
Tournament Details:
Name: John Deere Classic
Dates: July 9th – July 12th
Golf Course: TPC Deere Run
Location: Silvis, Illinois
Purse: $4,700,000
2014 Winner: Brian Harman
Tournament Recap:
Jordan Spieth! The legend continues to grow. 4 victories already this year and we’re not even to the British Open quite yet. Beyond impressive. But before we get into all that, quick shout out to the Stoolies who joined me in Renner’s Army this weekend at the John Deere Classic. Hung out in Silvis, IL, drank some beers, met The People’s Golfer and cheered him on. Good times all around. Did he have his best round when we weren’t out there and is that just a coincidence? Well that’s only for God and The People’s Golfer himself to know. All I know is I had a blast (despite getting SOAKED on Saturday in the rain. That wasn’t great).
Back to Spieth. It’s hard to keep coming up with adjectives to explain just how good this guy is. Maybe the most amazing part of this win was that he didn’t always have his best stuff and still won anyway. He shot an opening round 71 and there were rumblings that maybe he wouldn’t even make the cut and he’d be able to jet off to Scotland a little early. Then he fired a 64 on Friday and a RIDICULOUS (and career low) 61 on Saturday and all of a sudden he was atop the leaderboard just like that. People sometimes dismiss the JDC because it’s always the tournament that players tear up each year. The winner is almost always at -20 or lower. I’m the opposite. I love watching players rip apart courses. It’s more fun that way. Sure, there are times when it’s cool to see a course challenge players (See: Chambers Bay) but it’s also cool to see them rain hell fire on an easier course. It was fun watching what happened when world-dominating Jordan Spieth ran into TPC Deere Run and almost burnt it to the ground with a 10-under 61.
Then Sunday rolled around and once again Spieth didn’t have his best stuff. He bogeyed two of the first three holes and tumbled down the leaderboard as every one else hopped on the birdie train. Most unexpectedly, 46-year-old Tom Gillis birdied 6 of his first 8 holes of the day and found himself atop the leaderboard seemingly outta nowhere. I don’t want to say Gillis was ruining everybody’s day but he was ruining everybody’s day. We had past JDC champions up there with Spieth and local boy Zach Johnson and that’s what people wanted to see. A rematch of the playoff a few years back when Spieth got his first PGA victory. And here was this old man named Gillis trying to be Buzz Killington. But then Jordan Spieth became Jordan Spieth on the back 9 and birdied 5 of his last 6 holes.
Including this on #16
Coupled with another birdie on #17 to put him at -20 and in a playoff with Gillis. At that point, it’s Spieth’s tournament to lose. No disrespect to Gillis but he’s not beating Spieth in a playoff. It’s always a race to see who can make the last mistake and Gillis made the first mistake on the second playoff hole when he hit a wayward drive and then put his second shot in the water. Then it was over. Spieth is your John Deere Classic winner and he continues to dominate the world. So here we are. Spieth has four wins on the season including the first two majors and he’ll head to Scotland to try to get his third. It’s a good time to be Jordan Spieth in case you didn’t already know. And not to be a wet blanket but stupid Rory and his stupid ankle and stupid soccer. Such a bummer he can’t play at St. Andrews next week and defend his title against Spieth. It’ll still be fun because it’s a major but a lot of “what ifs” with an injured Rory watching from the sidelines.
Quick shout out to Spieth for still playing in the JDC despite being the most famous golfer in the world at the moment. It might seem weird to thank a guy who came and played an easier course and will cash an $846,000 check but it really does mean a lot to the area. I was there and all people could talk about was how awesome it was that Spieth still decided to play. He could’ve EASILY big-timed the tournament and gotten to Scotland a lot earlier to get ready for The Open Championship but he didn’t. That’s how you get the reputation as being a good guy.
Shot of the Week:
Spieth’s eagle on #17 on Saturday. Just a ridiculous shot. A shot that looked like Jordan hated when he hit it. His follow through was weird. Like he expected it to be terrible. Well it wasn’t. Even his reaction after it went in was odd. Not to make a weird comparison but remember when MJ went off against the Trail Blazers in the ’92 Finals and did The Shrug? That’s what Spieth’s reaction to that eagle reminded me of. Like he’s saying, “Fuck it. Even I don’t know how I’m doing this.” As I mentioned above, I was at parts of this tournament and this was one of them. I was up by the 18th green when that when in and all we heard was a ROAR. A roar that shook the ground. It was awesome.
Here’ another candidate for SOTW
More Spieth. Big surprise. This one was just as important, if not more so, than the chip-in eagle on #17 on Saturday. This one actually was more important. It happened at the par-3 #16 on Sunday. Spieth’s tee shot ended up just off the green. He chipped it in and got him to -19 and then birdied #17 to put him at -20 and line him up for a play off with Gillis. This could’ve easily been the SOTW but it lacked the style that the eagle on #17 had the day before.
Fan of the Week:
I’m giving it to pontoon guy. Not even really a fan but lots of people hating on this guy. LOTS. Saying he’s an asshole and that he shouldn’t be firing off air cannons during PGA events. All of that is probably true but I thought it brought some uniqueness to the event. Think about it. At Chambers Bay the players had to deal with a course that had impossible greens. At St. Andrews next week there will more than likely be rain and swirling winds. And at the John Deere Classic in the midwest you have to deal with drunk dudes on pontoon boats shooting off cannons. Gave it a local feel. I hope he does this every year and it becomes tradition. But he can only do it once each year. That way, any golfer putting on the 16th green will have that in the back of their head. “Is this the putt where that asshole fires the cannon?” Rattle them a little bit. Everybody is always shooting low scores at the JDC. What’s one putt every year that makes a golfer shit his pants?
Random Shit:
Tiger and Dufner play their British Open practice round together
ICYMI. Tiger and Jason Dufner played their St. Andrews practice round together on Sunday. All but putting to bed (pun?) the rumors that Tiger went heels to jesus with the artist formerly known as Amanda Dufner. It’s absolutely not an accident that these two decided to play together. That’s them very publicly downplaying those rumors. The more I thought about it though, the weirder I bet it probably was. Not weird because Tiger fucked Amanda. He didn’t. Weird that there were rumors out there that he did. They watched it all play out in the media like we did. The first time Tiger and Duf saw each other after that had to be awkward, regardless of what actually went down.
Rickie Fowler wins the the Scottish Open
Other than the John Deere Classic, the Scottish Open was the other big tournament going on last week. It was won but yet another young guy, the not-so-overrated-because-he-never-was-overrated-because-you-can’t-finish-in-the-top-5-of-every-major-and-be-overrated Rickie Fowler. With the win at the Scottish he’ll be trying to do what Mickelson did a few years back. Win the Scottish and then win The Open Championship. I’d say there’s a good chance he does it. And I’ll say it again. Stupid Rory and his stupid ankle and stupid soccer. We could’ve have Rickie, Jordan and Rory all playing at St. Andrews and it would’ve been electric. Rickie coming off a win, Spieth coming off a win and Rory being the #1 player in the world. The three young guns battling for the major that, in some circles, means the most depending on how you feel about the green jacket. But nope. Instead Rory will be laid somewhere playing PS3 or some shit.
The Open Championship is this week
Speaking of St. Andrews, the time has come! We’re here! The third major of the year is upon us. A special one obviously because Spieth comes in holding the green jacket and the U.S. Open trophy. The Open is always sort of weird for Americans because of the time difference but it’s always one of the best tournaments of the year simply because the course and conditions are so much different than the first two majors of the year. Also, and this might partly be just me, but I love everything about The Open Championship. How old it is, the history, simply the way it looks and, as always, the bag pipes. So many commercials with bag pipes. I’ll be pulling for Spieth. I wanna see history. I want him to head to Whistling Straits with a chance for the grand slam. It’d be incredible. Let’s go!
JOHN DALY WATCH
There he is! The man, the myth, the legend getting his practice on at St. Andrews. If there is a God or any sort of deity out there then they’ll at least let JD make the cut. Come on. One time for me. It’d be just another storyline we get to follow.
The recap before the Masters started we had a gallery of Augusta replace the normal gallery of a hot girl. Let’s do that again. Next week, we head to (or at least our TVs do) Scotland and the home of golf, St. Andrews. I’d give my left nut to play there. Pumped for this week.
Quick last thing. The first round groups came out for The Open Championship as I was writing this and check out this fucking group. Best group ever. Holy shit. Do they need a 4th? All I want to do is get hammered with them.
And then here’s the opposite of that
