SILVIS, Ill. — The PGA Tour’s annual stop at the John Deere Classic is well known for two things: first-time winners and rising stars stepping into the spotlight.
Both were on display during Friday’s soggy second round at TPC Deere Run, seeing as seven players within four shots of the lead have yet to win on Tour. Two are PGA Tour rookies, and one is playing on a sponsor exemption. Only a handful of notable names missed the weekend cut, and the highest-ranked player in the field sits atop the leaderboard with 36 holes to play.
JOHN DEERE: Saturday tee times, TV info | Photos
Here are five things that we learned from the second round of the 2023 John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run.
Cameron Young puts new resource to work
Cameron Young has been knocking at the door so often his knuckles have to be bruised.
With a little less than two full PGA Tour seasons under his belt, the 26-year-old has already finished runner-up six times in 45 starts. After rounds of 65-64, the Wake Forest product is back in the mix once again and holds the lead at 13 under, two shots clear of Adam Schenk (66), Garrick Higgo (66) and Brendon Todd (65) who are T-2 at 11 under.
Earlier this week, Young mentioned how he has never really choked away any of his previous close calls, and as he looks to earn that elusive first win, he knows the key is to keep the pedal down over the weekend.
“There’s a lot of golf left, and there’s a lot of people that are three and four shots behind me, and that can go away really quick,” said Young, who noted how after birdieing his first three holes Friday morning he was tied at the top before 18-hole leader Jonas Blixt had even teed off.
“It’s a golf course that is very scorable when you are in control, but if you play it kind of loosely, it’s not that easy either,” he said. “I think it’s just remaining really committed to what we’ve planned on for how to play the golf course and just keep myself in each shot as much as I can.”
Caddie Paul Tesori, who picked up Young’s bag back in March, has looped for previous winners at the John Deere Classic like Vijay Singh and Sean O’Hair, and Young sees him as a weapon.
“He has a wealth of golf knowledge and course knowledge for everywhere we go on the PGA Tour. He is a massive resource for me in that way,” added Young, who noted Tesori’s past success at TPC Deere Run doesn’t necessarily apply this week. “His previous boss, (Webb Simpson), I hit it just a little farther than him. He is by no means short, but there’s just a couple of places where that 15 yards makes a difference. Paul is having to relearn a little bit of that. I spin the ball a lot more.”
“I feel like we’re really getting there. We’ve had our really good and really bad moments I feel like,” he continued. “All in all, it’s been amazing, and he works so hard and knows so much that he has turned into a huge resource for me, even in this short period of time. I trust him.”
Sponsor exemptions show out
The Deere has a reputation for giving up-and-coming talent an opportunity to showcase their abilities. Of the seven sponsor exemptions in the field, three made the cut, including a pair of amateurs in Vanderbilt rising junior Gordon Sargent and Stanford rising senior Michael Thorbjornsen.
William Mouw, a Pepperdine graduate, fired rounds of 66-66 to climb to T-5 at 10 under, just three shots off the lead in his first professional start on Tour.
Thorbjornsen shaved 10 shots off his first round in his second after he tied the low round of the day with a bogey-free 8-under 63 on Friday. He sits T-29 at 6 under. Sargent birdied two of his last three holes to shoot a 4-under 67 and climb inside the cut line at 5 under, T-45.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned this year, the world’s best amateurs deserve an early shot to prove themselves on Tour.
Another PGA Tour card is on the horizon via PGA Tour University
Ludvig Aberg became the first player to earn a PGA Tour card via PGA Tour University this year, and the young Swede could soon be joined by another.
Sargent, the No. 1 amateur in the world, is inching closer and closer to securing his PGA Tour card via the PGA Tour University Accelerated standings (more on those here). So far, the 2022 NCAA individual champion – yeah, he won as a freshman – is sitting on 17 points after his made cut this week at the Deere. That puts him just three points away from the 20-point threshold that will earn him automatic PGA Tour membership.
If he finishes inside the top 10 this week, that’s another point. Barring injury or an unforeseen circumstance, Sargent is a lock for the Walker Cup team, which will nail down two more points.
He could also earn a point representing the U.S. in the 2023 World Amateur Team Championship, set for Oct. 18–21 in Abu Dhabi. He was a member of the team last year in France. There’s also three points available at the U.S. Amateur and two at the Western Amateur.
Long story short, don’t be surprised if Sargent’s time with the Commodores doesn’t reach the full four years on campus.
Contributing: Cameron Jourdan
A fan actually made a player laugh with a one-liner after a drive
We’ve heard ’em all: “MASHED POTATOES!” “BABA BOOEY!” “GET IN THE HOLE!”
It’s rare when fans come up with something creative to yell after a player hits a shot. But one fan in particular put a smile on Higgo’s face after the 24-year-old South African ripped a drive on Friday.
Safe to say @Garrick_Higgo fans are having fun 🦛
He's currently in solo second and two back of the lead @JDClassic. pic.twitter.com/kPCbt2KZmR
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 7, 2023
After a 5-under 66 in the second round, Higgo finds himself T-2 at 11 under with Schenk and Todd as he searches for his first win since his maiden victory on Tour at the 2021 Palmetto Championship.
Denny McCarthy's back nine to remember
Through eight holes on Friday, Denny McCarthy had a pretty normal round going. He was three under and slowly moving up the leaderboard before his first blemish of the day, a bogey on the par-4 ninth hole. And then he made double on the par-5 10th. You’d think the wheels were coming off the tractor, right? Not quite.
Over his last eight holes, McCarthy plowed through TPC Deere Run’s back nine like a big, green, John Deere combine and proceeded to birdie seven of his closing eight holes to sign for a colorful 7-under 65 and climb into a tie for fifth place.
Birdie on seven of his last eight holes 🔥@_DennyMcCarthy has his eyes on the prize heading into the weekend @JDClassic. pic.twitter.com/uVCtku7g5L
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 7, 2023
