The hottest piece of real estate in the Quad Cities has to be the house that’s been rented by a handful of PGA Tour players the last two seasons for the John Deere Classic.
Why? It’s produced the winner each year.
At the PGA Tour’s annual stop at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois, J.T. Poston passed on the usual hotel and stayed in an unusually large house with Patton Kizzire, Greyson Sigg, Denny McCarthy, Brendon Todd and Ben Kohles. The majority of the gang ran it back in the same place this year, with Poston, Kizzire, Sigg and McCarthy all returning alongside the new additions Chris Kirk and Sepp Straka.
Poston picked up the tab after last year’s victory, and this year it’s Straka’s turn after the 30-year-old Austrian blew a chance at history and still walked away with the trophy at the 2023 John Deere Classic.
“I didn’t think I would be sitting here on Thursday after the round,” said Straka, who opened the week with a 2-over 73. “Just found some magic and then started hitting the ball really good, which I did on Thursday too, but really started making some putts. I think that’s the key out here. You’ve got to get the putter hot. Thankfully it stayed hot.”
On 59 watch following an 11-under start through 14 holes, Straka made double bogey on the 18th hole to sign for a 9-under 63 and took the clubhouse lead at 21 under. He was two shots clear of Brendon Todd and Alex Smalley, the final group of the day that was just midway through its back nine, and in the end the 21-under mark was good enough for the Georgia grad to earn his second career PGA Tour win following his maiden victory at last year’s Honda Classic.
“It popped in my mind, for sure, yeah, but I wasn’t going to change my game plan or strategy for the 59,” said Straka. “The goal was still to keep the same game plan and try to finish and win a golf tournament. As fun as the 59 would be, I think winning the golf tournament is always more fun.”
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Todd (68) and Smalley (67) finished T-2 at 19 under with Ludvig Aberg (63) and Adam Schenk (68) T-4 at 18 under.
“My family came Tuesday to Thursday, so it was fun to spend some time with them. Didn’t want to put them through the debauchery of the house, so we got a hotel in Moline,” explained Todd when jokingly asked if he was kicked out of the house on Saturday. “It’s been a great week so far, and it’s pretty cool how well that house is playing.”
Five of the six players within five shots of the lead entering the final round – Kizzire missed the cut – and three finished inside the top 10 with J.T. Poston (68) and Denny McCarthy (70) finishing in a seven-way tie for sixth at 16 under. All five who made the cut were in the top 25, with Greyson Sigg (68) T-13 and Chris Kirk (71) T-21.
“I hope J.T. went ahead and renewed before this,” Straka said with a laugh about the house.
Of the 69 players to make the cut, 53 were under par in the final round, but nobody went lower than Straka, who shot a career low 9-under 62 and tied the low round of the week with Jonas Blixt (T-17), who did so on Thursday.
Straka was 3 under through his first two holes after a birdie-eagle start and proceeded to add circles to his scorecard on Nos. 4, 6, 7 and 9 to make the turn at a blistering 7-under 28. The only thing warmer than the temperature in the Quad Cities on Sunday was Straka’s putter, which got back to work on the back nine with four consecutive birdies on Nos. 11-14 to put him on sub-60 watch with four holes to play.
A birdie putt from 43 feet on No. 15 just missed the edge, which led to three consecutive pars and brought the 59 watch to the 18th hole. Straka hit the fairway on the par 4 but hooked his approach into the water guarding the left side of the green, which led to a double-bogey 6 after his bogey putt from 15 feet failed to find the bottom of the cup.
“I hit one bad shot. Honestly after that the recovery, the wedge shot was great after that shot into the green. I hit a really good number and hit a really good putt and just broke a little more than I thought,” Straka said of the 18th. “You know, I gave myself a lot of grace there because that was my only real bad shot of the day. So, yeah, I didn’t dwell on it too much.”
Todd made a late bogey on No. 16 that stalled his back-nine momentum and a poor approach to the par-5 17th led to a par that killed his chance at catching his friend Straka.
“If you told me when I teed it up that I shot 3-under and tied the guy I was playing with, I would have thought I had a pretty good chance to win,” said Todd. “So obviously Sepp went out well there and played an unbelievable round. Hats off to him. Really happy for him.”
