Gentlemen, start your engines.
Yes, one of the top calling cards of the John Deere Classic is the assortment of farm equipment on display at the tournament, the impressive machinery certainly not to be mistaken for the speed seen at the Indy 500. But this is the John Deere Classic we’re talking about, and the tournament’s other lures are par-busting rounds of golf, tight leaderboards and high-octane, spirited sprints to the 72nd-hole finish line and many times beyond.
And folks, there’s a stampede coming on Sunday at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois, where more birdies have been made since 2000 than on any course on the PGA Tour. After the rain – heavy at times – finally stopped falling on Saturday and all the birdies had been circled on the scorecards, 21 players were within five shots of the lead.
“You’re going to have to be in attack mode here,” said Scott Brown, who made nine birdies and vaulted up the leaderboard into a tie for third with an 8-under-par 63 that left him at 14 under through 54 holes.
JOHN DEERE CLASSIC: Leaderboard | Photos | Sunday tee times
Ahead of the huge pack was Sebastián Muñoz, who held a share of the lead after a first-round 63 and added a 67 in the third round to stand at 16 under.
He’s one clear of Brandon Hagy, who shot 67.
Joining Brown at 14 under were Adam Long (64), Cameron Champ (65), Kevin Na (66) and 2016 John Deere champion Ryan Moore (68).
Overnight leader Luke List made just three birdies and shot 71 to go from one up to three back with 18 to play.
Others at 13 under were Chez Reavie (69), Jhonattan Vegas (67) and Maverick McNealy (65). At 12 under were Lucas Glover (70), Adam Schenk (70) and Jason Dufner (68). At 11 under were seven players including Sean O’Hair (65), Rafa Cabrera Bello (66) and Camillo Villegas (67).
Scores were so low that 10 under had you in a tie for 22nd.
“Just going to have to keep making a lot of birdies,” Long said. “These guys are really good, and they’re going to be making a lot of birdies, too, so going to have to make a lot just to keep up with them.”
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Muñoz got a huge break on the par-5 10th hole after his errant drive settled a few inches right behind large tree. But because he could hit the ball sideways either right-handed or left-handed, and because there was so much damage around the trunk of the tree, he was allowed penalty-free relief. From there he made par.
And then in his last eight holes Muñoz added three birdies to grab the lead.
“We could see on the leaderboard that people were going low, and you didn’t want to kind of fade into the leaderboard, so it was really important to birdie 11, 13 and 16 coming in, so it was nice to be in the position I am right now,” he said. “As soon as you see that you’re not in those first couple names (on the leaderboard), then you try to make a couple birdies to make it happen again. Every shot counts and having every extra one for tomorrow might help me out a lot. Momentum is a huge thing. I feel like I rode it pretty good.”
One thing could mar the final round – Mother Nature. While the players dodged the worst of some nasty storms in the surrounding areas, another front of bad weather could be in store for the final round.
Champ, who missed four cuts and withdrew from a tournament in his last five starts, is playing on the weekend for the first time since May.
“Based off the weather forecast, it’s not looking too good and it’s going to be windy, which I love, so again it might be an all-day type deal, depending upon the thunder storms and how things go,” he said. “But who knows how the weather’s going to play. If it’s like today the course is definitely scorable; it got super soft, it played longer, the greens were super receptive and spinning, you had to really control shots. So, if it’s like today, you could definitely be a little more aggressive, but again I think it’s just whoever doesn’t make the big mistakes out here.”
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