Before the best players in the world head over the pond for the Scottish Open and 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, it’s time for the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run.
Thanks to its unfortunate spot on the PGA Tour schedule, the field in Silvis, Illinois, is lacking some star power.
Cameron Young, who’s still searching for his maiden victory, is the biggest name in the field and is 16/1 to win. After a few close calls at the Memorial Tournament and Travelers Championship, Denny McCarthy is the betting favorite at 14/1. Last season, he tied for sixth at TPC Deere Run.
Golf course
TPC Deere Run | Par 71 | 7,289 yards
A view of the second hole with the Rock River in the background at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois. Photo by Brian Spurlock/USA TODAY Sports
Course history
Course history at TPC Deere Run for the #JohnDeereClassic going back to 2015.
-Includes average finish position and Strokes Gained per round in each category. Players are sorted by SG: Total.
Here’s what you missed from the first round of the 2023 RBC Canadian Open.
NORTH YORK, Ontario – The RBC Canadian Open, established in 1904, is the second-oldest non-major on the PGA Tour schedule behind the BMW Championship, which dates back to 1899.
This week, some of the PGA Tour’s best are getting a first look at Oakdale Golf and Country Club, as the course hosts the event for the first time and becomes the first new venue for the Canadian Open since 2002.
Two-time defending champion Rory McIlroy called the course good, but also penal if you miss fairways. Justin Rose called it “quirky.”
Despite the unconventional setup – the par-5 18th is forcing most players to tee off with an iron, but more on that later – and inclement weather in the afternoon, players went low and produced a bunched leaderboard after Thursday’s opening round.
From history in the making to stellar Tour debut and more, here’s what you missed from the first round of the 2023 RBC Canadian Open.
NORTH YORK, Ontario – Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose were grouped together for the opening round of the 2023 RBC Canadian Open and walking down the first fairway the pair made a deal: no talk about the PGA Tour’s partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund until lunch.
“Rosie and I said, ‘All right, no chatting until lunch so that we can actually concentrate on what we’re doing out there,” said McIlroy, the event’s two-time defending champion who shot a 1-under 71 at Oakdale Golf and Country Club. “So it was nice to play a round of golf and focus on something else for those five hours we were out there.”
After fighting for professional golf supremacy for more than a year now, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan shocked the sports world with the news that the Tour would be partnering with the PIF, the very group it was countersuing amid its struggle with LIV Golf. With the PIF as its sole funder, the upstart circuit has long been criticized as a way for Saudi Arabia to sportswash its controversial human rights record, which includes accusations of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners.
And while the dust has far from settled on the announcement of the new deal that may shake up professional golf as we know it, it was back to business as usual for the PGA Tour on Thursday in Canada, where the people were just as welcoming as the golf course (so long as you’re in the fairway).
After the early wave of the first round of the 2023 RBC Canadian Open, four players are tied for the lead after taking advantage of calm conditions on Thursday morning at Oakdale Golf and Country Club. Playing in his national open for the seventh time, Corey Conners fired a bogey-free 5-under 67 and sits atop the leaderboard alongside Aaron Rai, Justin Lower and Chesson Hadley.
Conners is looking to become the first Canadian to win the Canadian Open since Pat Fletcher in 1954, a drought that Mike Weir nearly ended in 2004 before his playoff loss to Vijay Singh. David Hearn had a two-shot lead in the final round in 2015 as late as the 15th hole, but ultimately lost out to Jason Day. A year later, amateur Jared du Toit was a shot back on Sunday before finishing T-9, three behind winner Jhonattan Vegas.
“I think golf is a funny game. It’s very different on a day-to-day basis,” said Rai, who has missed four of his last five cuts on Tour. “But it’s funny, the more you try and force it and impose it on coming days, the less it seems to happen. So we’ll definitely take the positives and just try and approach the rounds with the right kind of mindset. Stay patient. Just see what happens, really.
“I’ve been really working hard on driving it better. I’ve driven it like crap all year,” added Lower. “Just really trying to get the ball in the fairway. Especially around this place with the rough being so thick.”
“Course is good. It’s penal,” echoed McIlroy. “If you miss fairways the rough is very, very thick … I certainly hit a few loose shots and got myself out of position, and the golf course does start to get quite tricky from there. So need to do a better job of just putting my ball in play off the tee. Then from there the golf course is still quite scorable.”
While he isn’t at the top of the leaderboard, one of the stars of the day was rookie Ludvig Aberg, who is making his pro debut this week after finishing atop the PGA Tour University rankings and earning a Tour card for the rest of the season. The Texas Tech product began his professional career 4 under on the front nine before signing for a 3-under 69.
“I was nervous. I mean, I think it would have been weird if I wasn’t nervous,” said Aberg of his emotions on the first tee. “But I tried to embrace it. I tried to view it as something fun.”
“I’m super fortunate to be in this position, to actually get my Tour card,” said the 23-year-old from Eslov, Sweden. “I’m just going to be prepared to play a lot of golf. Play as much as I can, get as many points as I can and kind of see where that takes me.”
Las Vegas has been a staple of the PGA Tour since 1983.
LAS VEGAS — It has had ten different names. It has been played on 12 different golf courses. It has been held in March, May and October. But whatever it has been called and wherever it has been played, a stop in Las Vegas has been a staple on the PGA Tour for 39 years.
So what does the future hold for the Shriners Children’s Open?
The Tour has had a wrap-around schedule, starting in September and ending in August, for eight years.
But what’s old is new again, so beginning in 2024, the Tour will return to its calendar-year schedule format, with the season starting in January like it used to do.
That means 2023, which will also mark the 40th anniversary of the first regular PGA Tour stop in Las Vegas, could very well be the end of the fall series as fans know it now.
A view of the 16th green and 17th tee box at TPC Summerlin for the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas. (Photo: Todd Kelly/Golfweek)
Patrick Lindsey, in his eighth year as tournament director of the Shriners Children’s Open, is optimistic about the future.
“Ultimately, we have really two great things that are going on for us. One we have, we have a great title sponsor. The mission of the charity is awesome,” he said. “We also live in this incredible market in this destination of Las Vegas. So talking with players, they’re like, ‘Listen, we love Las Vegas, we love Shriners, we’d love just being there. We are always going to kind of schedule your event and be here and be a part of it’, so that made me feel a little bit better about the direction.”
Count Max Homa among them.
“I’m not sure that the future of all these, I don’t know what changes when we don’t have a wraparound season,” he said. “I would imagine that the events would still do all right because, like I said, I think a decent amount of us are still very excited about the events that we would play.”
A year ago, Shriners Hospitals for Children signed a five-year extension as title sponsor through 2026. As for the tournament itself, there are no plans to go anywhere. Lindsey says they like their spot in the fall.
“In this climate that we’re in, it’s built to have this event in the fall, because we don’t overseed and the growing process and winter in the spring being very light, they would have to, my opinion, change some agronomy standards of this golf course,” said Lindsey. “So really, this tournament works out great being in the fall, because we have the whole summer growing season to get the course exactly how we want it for the PGA Tour event, the first week of October.”
Matt Wallace putts on the eighth green during the first round of the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas. (Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
As the LIV Golf Series eyes expansion, there is some internet chatter about Greg Norman and Co. perhaps trying to pick off one of the PGA Tour’s fall events, maybe due to the notion that a fall Tour event may not want to risk facing diminished status or a weaker field.
But since the Shriners is staged on a TPC course, “it won’t happen here,” Lindsey said, adding that no one from LIV Golf has contacted him or anyone else at his tournament, nor would he take the call even if they did.
Two recent past champs of the Shriners—Bryson DeChambeau and Kevin Na—won’t ever be back, due to their defections to LIV, and Lindsey did sound a bit bummed about that.
“I respect the guys that left, disappointed that they left,” he said. “I have no problem with that. I wish they were here, you know, I wish they hadn’t moved but you know, still appreciate those guys and what they have done for Shriners.”
The big picture for the Vegas stop is keeping the event in a burgeoning sports market.
“This is a great sports town,” said Chesson Hadley. “It’s becoming more and more of a phenomenal sports town. I mean, the next 10 years—they’ve got hockey and football—there’s going to be basketball and baseball here.”
Jim Furyk, who won three of his 17 PGA Tour titles in Las Vegas, has fond memories.
“When I started playing, Las Vegas was one of four bigger purses,” he said. “The first time I won in 1995, the purse was $1.5 million and lot of the purses at that time were $1 million. It’s Las Vegas, right? It had a lot of buzz.
“I know it’s in the fall now. … three of my first four victories came there so I always have a soft spot for it. I hope to see it on the schedule in the future. I really do.”
Garry Smits from the Florida Times-Union contributed to this article.
Argentina’s Tano Goya made his first PGA Tour start in eight years.
LAS VEGAS — Withdrawals happen just about every week on the PGA Tour. Sometimes a golfer will pull out on a Tuesday, giving possible alternates time to prepare.
Other times, for a variety of reasons, a WD may come the morning of the first round. Sometimes they happen just minutes before a tee time. This can make life a little more interesting for those on the precipice of a Tour start.
Take Argentina’s Tano Goya. When he played in the Fortinet Championship three weeks ago, it was his first PGA Tour start in eight years. This week, he was the first alternate in Vegas, and, well, let’s let him tell the rest of the story.
“It was weird because I had the feeling that I was going to get in somehow. Obviously yesterday I heard that Matt Kuchar was struggling with his knee, so I was like maybe I have a chance. He was playing in the afternoon, but I have to be here early.
“I get here at like 5:30 in the morning. I didn’t hear anything, so I was like, okay, I’m going to take my time. I went to the track to have a warmup, so I was taking my time there.
“All of a sudden, my caddie called me saying like Peter Malnati was like ten minutes ago and couldn’t see him. I said, I saw him in the gym. I saw him in the track. So I was like he’s here. I’m not sure, maybe that’s wrong information or something.”
“Then all of a sudden, I was like ‘Just in case, I’m going to get ready’. So I put my clothes on, and they called me saying, you’re up in two minutes. So I didn’t have time to have breakfast, didn’t have time to put my shoes on. I hit the first tee shot with my trainers. It was funny, no practice at all or anything.”
Goya started on the 10th hole and says he was finally able to get changed into his golf shoes on the 10th fairway. He then birdied Nos. 13, 16 and 17 to make the turn in 3 under. He bogeyed the second and birdied the ninth, his last hole of the day, to sign for a 68.
“I was confident that I was going to get in. So I did a great preparation Tuesday and Wednesday, and I felt good about my game. So I hit it pretty good today. Only one mistake that I hit it into the desert on, I think No. 2 or 3. Other than that, I played pretty consistent, pretty solid.”
A second alternate, Kevin Roy, also got in the field when Kuchar ultimately withdrew.
Tucker knows how to stay busy when he’s not carrying a bag.
LAS VEGAS — Tim Tucker just can’t stay away.
The veteran PGA Tour caddie is back on a bag this week, looping for Chesson Hadley at the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas.
Why would Tucker, who owns a successful shuttle operation at Bandon Dunes and who has invented a putting alignment device and who loves to dive into with data, go back to his old gig?
“Because Chesson’s a great guy,” Tucker said after monitoring Hadley’s Tuesday range session. “He asked me a year ago to caddie here and I didn’t. I told him I wished I would have because, you know, it’s fun to get around different players and see what they’re doing. You learn more, you can help them in some of a different way. So it’s awesome. And he’s a great guy.”
True Aim putting marker is an aid designed by veteran PGA Tour caddie Tim Tucker. (Photo: Todd Kelly/Golfweek)
On Tuesday, he was watching Hadley hit iron shot after iron shot while calculating data from a Trackman as well as a Foresight launch monitor. Some of the discussion involved altitude, temperature, wind speed and even barometric pressure.
“I was in the military, I was on a rifle team. And we used anemometers for long range,” he said as he explained how back in 2016 he and DeChambeau really started to explore metrics. “We started to apply that to golf ball density, temperature and barometric pressure, all that mattered determines how far the ball is going, temperature and altitude in time, then it’s quantifiable. So we started with that, when we started working into green density and understanding with angle of descent of an iron shot with a certain spin rate leading into a certain slope, then the run out was predictable. And so we started doing that, and we just kept on and we never stopped.”
Tucker was alongside DeChambeau for all eight of his PGA Tour victories, including the 2020 U.S. Open but it was their breakup in July 2021 on the eve of the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit that made headlines in the golf world.
“It’s just one of those things that just happened. For better or for worse,” Tucker said. “Bryson doesn’t need me to play great golf, and he’s proven that. The kid is amazing athlete.
“He turned me into what people would say is a reliable, good caddie. Whether I am or not, that’s the perception because of him, right? And, you know, he helped me make a lot of money. Help me get my kids through college. You know, and so I’m forever in his debt.”
Today, the two are still friends.
Bryson DeChambeau talks with his caddie Tim Tucker on the fourth green during the final round of the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. (Photo: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports)
“We’re good. Yeah, absolutely. I’ve talked to him probably once every two weeks, you know?,” Tucker said. “And we don’t really necessarily talk about golf. We just talked about, he’s building his dream house and talk to him about that, or talk to him about long drive.”
DeChambeau recently finished second in the World Long Drive Championships, about 90 miles northwest of TPC Summerlin in Mesquite, Nevada. That performance didn’t surprise Tucker.
“He’s the hardest working guy I’ve ever seen. And like, dedicated to his intensity level, his dedication is second to none. He is laser focused. When he when he gets it in his head, he’s gonna do something he gets it done.”
So when he’s not working as a part-time caddie or pitching his True Aim putting device, Tucker’s putting as much time and energy into Loop Golf Transportation, a high-end shuttle service that gets golfers to and from Bandon Dunes in Oregon. Tucker used to caddie at Bandon and knows the lay of the land of the remote location. Looping on the Tour from time to time gives him the chance to let more people know about it.
“It’s great being out here because you know, we get a lot of exposure,” he said. “Players are always helping me out. Stewart Cink asked me ‘What was the name of your business in Bandon again? I know people going there all the time. I’ll tell them.’ Yeah, I mean, how nice is that?”
Tucker said he’s not trying to overload Hadley this week with numbers and Hadley himself said he doesn’t want too much of the deep data. But everyone who Tucker caddies for knows that he knows what he’s talking about.
“I worked for Lexi [Thompson] in the Women’s Open and there was an article that came out, like they tried to make Lexi seem like she wasn’t wasn’t able to handle the information that Bryson is. And of course she she’s smartest can be. I mean, these are pro golfers. This is what they do. They look at his stuff. Some of the stuff they may not pay attention to. But once you show it to him, if they get it, they understand it, this is what they do.
“And I hated that for her that they did that, you know, and it was unfair because she’s a very intelligent woman.”
Several players are still angling to make the PGA Tour postseason. Some are just inside the cutline while others have work to do.
The PGA Tour regular season is coming to an end Sunday, meaning the FedEx Cup playoffs begin next week.
The Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, will offer some PGA Tour players one last chance to improve their position or perhaps even make it into the field of 125 for the playoffs.
Since the points structure changed in 2009, an average of fewer than three players per year entered the final week of FedEx Cup regular season outside the top 125 in the standings and went on to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Some players also will look to crack the top 200 in the FedEx Cup Eligibility Points List to qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, which is set for September 1-4 at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Indiana.
Scottie Scheffler, who has four wins this season, leads the FedEx Cup standings by more than 1,000 points over second-place Cameron Smith. Tony Finau, who has won the past two weeks, is up to No. 7.
The three-event playoff series starts at the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, next week, but many in the field at the Wyndham Championship this week will be angling to keep their seasons alive.
Here’s a closer look at some interesting names in the FedEx Cup points standings, including some who are in the field and others who need a big week to make the playoffs.
The Georgia Tech alum was a rambling, blubbering wreck in his post-round interview conducted by CBS’s Amanda Balionis.
JERSEY CITY, N.J. – It took him 34 years, or as he put it, “all my existence,” but Chesson Hadley finally made a hole-in-one on Sunday, and he couldn’t have picked a better time to do it.
“Everybody always gives me so much crap about it,” he said during his pre-tournament interview ahead of the Northern Trust. “It’s not like I’m not good enough to make a one or wasn’t good enough to make a one. It just wasn’t my time yet, but I did it in a PGA Tour event on the very last round when I most needed something, and I guess not many of them could probably say that. So that was pretty cool.”
Indeed, it was. Hadley aced the par-3 16th at Sedgefield Country Club during the final round of the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina. It sparked a first-nine 29 and nifty 62 and when Justin Rose made bogey at the last, Hadley edged him by 1.2 FedEx Cup points to finish No. 125 in the regular-season FedEx Cup point standings. It meant he kept his card and qualified for the Northern Trust, the first of the three playoff events, which begins Thursday at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey.
“The whole day was kind of magical from the start, from the hole-in-one to the finish,” Hadley said. “I’m very blessed to be here right now, that’s for sure.”
The Georgia Tech alum was a rambling, blubbering wreck in his post-round interview conducted by CBS’s Amanda Balionis. With his fate still hanging in doubt – he was No. 126 at the time – Hadley choked up and fought back tears as he showed viewers how much he loves his job. Asked about his emotional interview and turning on the water works, Hadley said he didn’t cry when he blew a four-stroke lead earlier in the summer at the Palmetto Classic. That was a bittersweet moment, but the last time he wept at a golf tournament he figured was during junior golf.
“That’s not true. When I earned my card back in ’17, I remember getting emotional in New York after I won, but I tapped in, and then I kind of went off to the side and like – I mean, the round was over, but I knew I’d locked my card up and I was going back there,” he said. “So, I was emotional then.”
The always affable Hadley brought moments of levity to his press conference, especially when he reversed roles and began asking a reporter? “What did you think of my crying?” he asked. “What about the crying specifically? Was I a good crier? Could I be better? How can I get better at it since you’re asking about it? I’m messing with you. I’m totally hijacking you.”
Hadley was driving him home to Raleigh, N.C., when he was informed he had officially secured the last spot in the FedEd Cup playoffs and would be fully exempt for next season. He squealed with glee that he could cancel his travel plans for Boise, Idaho, and the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. To hear Hadley tell it, Kevin Kisner, who survived a six-man playoff, wasn’t the only winner at the Wyndham Championship.
“I felt like I beat Kevin, honestly,” he said. “I felt like I won the golf tournament.”
Hadley celebrated with some good wine he’d been saving for a special occasion and had a couple of days to enjoy a big sigh of relief. Now, it’s back to the grindstone to see if he can extend his off-season another week with an equally strong performance. He’ll need one to bump into the top 70, and advance to play next week at the BMW Championship.
“I’m playing with house money. I’m on credit at the casino, and I can just kind of let it go,” he said. “I think I need to set a new goal to – I probably need to figure out exactly what I need to finish to get inside the top 70, so I need to set a new goal, figure out kind of where I need to finish, and just kind of look at the leaderboards and kind of get motivated and figure out a way to get to that number and obviously try and win the golf tournament.
“I feel like, when my back’s against the wall, I’ve done pretty well…you’ve got to tap into a little bit of a reserve or something that you have in there that you might not necessarily tap into all the time.”
Chesson Hadley makes a hole-in-one and fires 62 to lock up the final spot in FedEx Cup Playoffs as three players move in, three fall out.
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Chesson Hadley had two plane tickets: One was headed to New York for the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the possibility of a bounty of riches afforded to the top 125 finishers in the regular-season points standings. The other was headed to Boise, Idaho for the start of the Korn Ferry Tour playoffs where Nos. 126-200 would have to battle with 75 KFT players for one of 25 PGA Tour cards.
“Man, I would love not to have to get on that flight,” Hadley said of the trip to Boise.
For proof look no further than his final round at the Wyndham Championship. Hadley made his first career hole-in-one, celebrated in grand style, went out in 29 at Sedgefield Country Club to tie the low nine-hole score of his career, and birdied the last for 62. None of it surprised Brice Garnett, who locked up his card by finishing No. 122 in the standings.
“Guys are told they’re going to get their job taken from them,” he said, “and they do miraculous things out here. Nobody wants to leave out here. It’s the greatest job in the world.”
And yet for all of Hadley’s miraculous efforts, it didn’t look as if it would be enough. He stood at No. 126, the proverbial biggest loser, when he finished.
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When he was asked what the rollercoaster ride was like by CBS Sports reporter Amanda Balionis, Hadley, who blew a lead in the final holes at the Palmetto Championship in July that would have made his precarious position a moot point, broke into tears.
“It’s emotional because I care. I’m not just out here for fun. This is my job and I love it and I care deeply about it and that’s why I’m emotional,” he said, his voice cracking. “I’m about as pretty of a crier as this leap you’re about to see. Hopefully, Amanda can go ahead and bring me back to something positive because this is going downhill quick.”
When Hadley next met with the assembled media, he pulled himself together and called it what it was, “a good day,” but when asked to describe the difference between Nos. 125 and 126, he looked at the questioner as if asked to describe the difference between living and dying, and said, “That’s your question? How different is it? It would kind of suck, right? To have Congaree happen and then have today happen the way it did, that would suck.”
The difference between a great day and one that “sucks” turned out to be just over one FedEx Cup point. Hadley was left in a strange spot, needing someone still on the course to falter, and lamented that for him to succeed he’d likely have to leapfrog his good friend Scott Stallings, who missed the cut. That turned out not to be the case.
Hadley didn’t get any help from Roger Sloan, who started the week one spot ahead of him in the standings. Sloan made two late birdies and went from being in danger of losing full-exempt status next season to in a playoff for his first win. Rory Sabbatini did Hadley no favors by canning an 8-foot par putt that otherwise would have bumped Hadley to the right side of the cutline.
Justin Rose reacts to a par save on the ninth hole during the final round of the Wyndham Championship. Photo by Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports
But Justin Rose, winner of the 2018 FedEx Cup, was feeling charitable. He missed a pair of 6-foot putts at the final two holes. The latter was for bogey and dropped him from No. 119 to No. 126. But it wasn’t over until the final group. Had Branden Grace and Tyler McCumber both bogeyed the last hole, Hadley and Rose would have flipped places. McCumber made a 3-putt bogey but Grace sank a 29-foot birdie putt to jump into the six-man playoff.
And so at the end of the day, Hadley received a call from PGA Tour executive Tom Alter to break the good news. Hadley already was in his car on his way home to Raleigh but he answered and screamed with glee when told that his ticket to the playoffs had been punched. Next stop: New York.
What an interview. “It’s emotional because I care.”
The PGA Tour’s regular season ends today with the final round of the Wyndham Championship and there is so much on the line for so many players as the top 125 players in the FedEx Cup standings will advance to the playoffs and those who are at 126 or higher will not.
There are huge career implications for the guys who finish 126 or higher. Some can lose their PGA Tour cards and have to fight to regain them at the Korn Ferry Tour championship. Others will lose out on how many events they are guaranteed to play in next season.
It’s a lot.
And it was a lot for one player, Chesson Hadley, who is right on the edge of that 125 number after firing a 62 on Sunday and also getting his first hole-in-one of his life on the the 16th hole.
He gave this incredible interview after his round. It’s a much-watch interview:
"It's emotional because I care. I'm not just out here for fun. This is my job and I love it."
