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.