Deere fits like a Glover for Lucas

Writing from Silvis, Illinois

Thursday afternoon, July 2, 2026

Sometimes the old salts know best.

Example One: Lucas Glover. He’s been around the block a few times. Knows what works, was doesn’t, and knows it can go away in the blink of an eye.

Glover’s been on top as a U.S. Open winner and on the bottom, searching for his swing. He’s also done well at the John Deere Classic, winning at TPC Deere Run in 2021 and cobbling together six other top 25 finishes, including a tie for fifth last year.

With that resume, one would expect Glover could waltz into the clubhouse with a 67 in his pocket.

Uh-uh. He rolled up the driveway wondering about his swing. He’d been wondering for a while, and experimenting.

“My backswing, I was getting a little ‘lifty,’ stopping my turn, club going up, two-way miss. Not a good combo. I hit some shots at Hartford last week like that. When you’re in last place on Sunday morning, you can try some things you might not usually do.”

This things confirmed trouble. Monday on the Deere range, Glover and coach Jason Baile went to work. The result in Thursday’s first round, an 8-under par 63, his best opening effort in 17 starts and a share of the first round lead with Zac Blair.

“It was basically just turning a little bit lower, flatter,” Glover said.

That turned his whole game around.

“Been having just a lot of those days where my ball seemed to just roll away from the hole; today it kind of rolled toward it, so maybe it’s turning,” Glover said. “I’ve been doing this long enough to know that one swing, one round, one week can change a lot.”

Glover, 46, came back from the golf dead by winning the Deere in 2021, and has been among the best of the 40-plus set since.

“I’ve always liked it here,” Glover said. “They gave me a start here right out of college in 2002 (he finished tied for 40th and earned $10,800). I’ve always been fond of the course, the town, the community, the people. Even struggling like I have this year, you pull down the driveway where you’ve had success, it gives you a good feeling.”

Blair’s feeling good as well after his best individual round of the year, one keyed by an eagle 3 on the second hole, where he sank a 17-footer after an approach from the right rough.

“I hit it pretty good and made a few putts and didn’t do anything stupid,” Blair said. “I got pretty lucky with the lie (on No. 2) and hit a 9-wood out of the rough. It just kind of ran forever.”

Blair was out with an injury – designing a golf course while on the mend – and is bouncing between the PGA Tour and the Korn Ferry circuit at the moment. He also made the U.S. Open and finished 32nd at Shinnecock Hills, so the recovery is going well. But, never fixing better than second on the big tour, he yearns to take the next step.

“I’ve always been right in that 125 to 150 (ranking) spot my whole career,” Blair said. “So every start is important.”

Example Two: Zach Johnson, the Cedar Rapids legend. Masters winner, British Open winner, John Deere Classic winner and board member. Now 50 and a senior tourist, he’s playing without the pressure to keep his status and brilliantly so. Four-under through 16 holes, he ran in a 46-footer for eagle on the par-5 17th and, after an accidental pull hook put him 11 feet from the cup at the last, sank that for a birdie and 7-under 64 – and his 64th round in the 60s at Deere Run – to join Lee Hodges and Stephan Jaeger a stroke back.

“This is as strong as I’ve seen this golf course in a while,” said Johnson, 247-under in his career at Deere Run. “I was just trying to hit solid shots and let the scorecard reveal itself.”

This is something of a victory lap for Johnson, who is skipping the U.S. Senior Open at Scioto to participate here for the 24th straight tournament, matching the record of Jay Delsing.

“The outcome of my week from a golf standpoint, professionally speaking, is irrelevant almost,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if everything’s icing on the cake, but you could maybe say it’s kind of that way. My scorecard is an ingredient this week but it’s not everything.”

But if he’s within shouting distance on Sunday, look out.

Davis “Twin Eagles” Riley, Ben Kohler and Patrick Fishburn are two back at 6-under 65, and a twelvesome at 5-under 66 that includes amateur Preston Stout of Richardson, Tex., and Oklahoma State, in on a sponsor exemption and based on a round featuring six birdies offset by a single bogey, deservedly so. All the above-named except Johnson played in the morning, before the greens dried out to match fast-running fairways and the south-south-southwest wind kicked up to confuse players.

Stout’s circuit overshadowed the professional debut of Jackson Koivun, who scored 2-over 73 and sits in a tie for 123rd entering the second round. Only the top 65 players and ties move on to the weekend, so Koivun will have to step on it to make a check this week.

“I never really got settled into the round,” Koivun said. “The golf swing was a little off.”

Memo to Mr. Koivun: See Mr. Glover’s experience above.

Around Deere Run

Davis Riley aced the 16th hole, negotiating the 151 yards with a 9-iron. It was the first ace at the Deere in four years (Kevin Streelman on No. 12) and the first on No. 16 in five (Maverick McNealy). Riley then eagled the par-5 17th for back-to-back eagles, the first such instance in memory in the Deere, and the third time this year on the Tour. … The course played to 7,277 yards, the field averaging 69.800 strokes. … High man was Danny Walker, whose untidy 10-over 81 included a quadruple-bogey 8 on the ninth, the day’s most difficult hole. … Seamus Power was humming along in the morning, 2-under at the turn. Then golf happened. He bogeyed Nos. 10 and 11, then double-bogeyed the 15th, 16th and 17th. Par at the last gave him an inward 44 and total of 6-over 77, prompting his withdrawal. A back injury was the stated reason. … While tournament executives don’t announce attendance, the morning gallery at Deere Run looked larger than normal. Perhaps people were trying to beat the heat. It was 91 degrees at Quad Cities International Airport at 2 p.m. and most members of the gallery were using trees for shade by then. Some 17,000 were probably on hand.

– Tim Cronin