Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau, Zach Johnson all made a name for themselves at John Deere Classic. How one tournament director wooed top young talent to America’s Heartland

The corn fields adjacent to John Deere headquarters in Silvis, Illinois, typically are knee-high by the 4^th of July. That’s how Webb Simpson remembers them as he returns to this northwestern corner of the Land of Lincoln for the first time in a dozen years to play at TPC Deere Run in the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic, which is celebrating its 50^th edition.

Simpson, winner of the 2012 U.S. Open among his seven Tour titles, is back in America’s Heartland to pay a debt of gratitude to longtime tournament director Clair Peterson, who is retiring this year, and gave him a sponsor’s exemption in 2008.

“I was elated because there’s so many uncertainties when you turn pro as a young player,” said Simpson, who graduate from Wake Forest that summer. “You don’t know which tour you’re going to be playing on, if any tour.”