The Sky Is the Limit
Phenom Jordan Spieth defeated journeyman Tom Gillis in a two-hole playoff to win the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run. The Americans posted 20-under-par 264 to set the stage for the 15th playoff on TOUR this season. They halved the first playoff hole, No. 18, with pars but Gillis found the water pitching out of the rough the second time they played it. Spieth comfortably two-putted for par and his fifth victory on TOUR and second at the JDC. Crowd favorite Zach Johnson and last week's playoff winner at the Greenbrier, Danny Lee, shared the podium T3.
Slow starts on Sunday have been the norm but so has raising the trophy at the end of the day for Spieth. It's not how a guy starts but rather how he finishes and the sky is the limit when he dials it in late on Sunday afternoon. His first win on TOUR came in a playoff on this same track and the result was the same again two years later. He trailed Gillis by five on the back nine but found birdies coming home on four of his final six holes to force the playoff. There wasn't going to be much question who was going to win the playoff as Gillis entered the week No. 643 in the OWGR and had never won on TOUR. Two years ago Spieth played this and every other event on exemptions as he didn't have status; next week he could be the No. 1 player in the world.
Jordan Spieth continues to reshape the fantasy landscape. A year ago he didn't win on TOUR and now he's won back-to-back majors and back-to-back starts. Only 11 players have won on TOUR the week prior to major championships. I doubt there would be many surprised if that number increases to 12 next week as both Spieth and Fowler, winner of the Scottish Open, have been in excellent form for most of the spring. He would join only Ben Hogan in 1953 as the only players to have won the first three majors in a calendar year. A year ago that would have sounded preposterous at best. What a difference a year makes.
Rain played havoc with Saturday's play but it didn't bother Spieth or Danny Lee too much. Spieth shot a career-best 61 and Lee almost matched him with 62. That was the sixth time 61 had been posted since 2000 on this track. The cut was four-under par and lift-clean-place was used because of the weather on Saturday.
Fantasy golf is easy when Spieth wins and Johnson missed the playoff by one shot! The field was led with 25 birdies and those who made bogeys didn't factor. The JDC is a tournament where you must go out and win it, similar to what's required at a much tougher Augusta, so it's hardly a surprise why Spieth played well here.
Why This Performance Doesn’t Surprise:
Er, he won the U.S. Open the last time out and won the Masters before that? He won his first victory on TOUR here in 2013 and was T7 last year.
Why This Performance Surprises:
The only surprising part of anything that went on this week was squashed 30 minutes after he won the U.S. Open: that he would show up and play.
How Spieth Won This Week:
He was T101 after 71 on Thursday and back into the top 10 after 64 on Friday. His 61 on Saturday, his TOUR best, gave him a one-shot lead going into Sunday. He only made 21 birdies but three eagles, including two on Saturday, pushed his seven bogeys to the back burner.
His putter and wedge game are where he makes his money, lots of it, and this week wasn't any different.
He was T60 in fairways and only T33 GIR but was first in putts per GIR and seventh in strokes-gained: putting. In a putting contest, it's good to have the man who makes the most putts when hitting the greens!
Spieth led the field with three eagles so he didn't have to play perfect golf. Heck, he made three bogeys in his first 11 holes on Sunday and trailed by five shots but those four birdies in his final six holes put him in the playoff.
His ball-striking numbers weren't dynamic but he did finish the week eighth in strokes-gained: tee-to-green.
Moving Forward:
Put him in the lineup every week where starts aren't tracked. Anyone who was saving starts on him were reinforced on why that's a bad idea AGAIN this week. He's the favorite to win at St. Andrews next week. He's 15-1 to win the grand slam.
With This Win:
Spieth has now won the last three times holding/co-holding the 54-hole lead after beginning his career 0-4. He closed the deal at Augusta, Chambers Bay and TPC Deere Run. That's a great career let alone four months.
He joins Woods as the only two players this century to win four times in a season. Woods won five times in 2000.
He's just the eighth player since 1991 to win four times in a season. You can guess the other seven quite easily.
He leads the FedExCup standings and will go to No. 1 in the OWGR if he can complete the third leg of the grand slam next week.
Déjà vu All Over Again?
After 28 wins in 45 events last season, the USA is back in the winner's circle again this week.
Brooks Koepka, Bill Haas, Jimmy Walker, Patrick Reed, Charley Hoffman, Bubba Watson twice, Ryan Moore, Robert Streb, Ben Martin, Brandt Snedeker, James Hahn (born in Korea; US citizen), Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Matt Every, Walker again, J.B. Holmes, Spieth again, Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler, Chris Kirk and Spieth FOUR TIMES, are the USA champs.
Alex Cejka (Germany), Paddy Harrington (Ireland), Sangmoon Bae (Korea), Nick Taylor (Canada), Jason Day (Australia), Justin Rose (England), McIlroy times two (Northern Ireland), Steven Bowditch (Australia), David Lingmerth (Sweden), Fabian Gomez (Argentina) and Danny Lee (South Korea) are the 11 international winners in 35 events. It’s quite the global game as the 11 winners represent Germany, Ireland, Korea (twice), Canada, Australia (twice), England, Northern Ireland (same guy twice), Sweden and Argentina.
Haas, Bae, Martin, Moore, Walker and Spieth have closed their 54-hole leads. Walker, Spieth and Kirk are the only persons on BOTH sides of this list; Walker couldn’t close out at HTOC but came back and won the following week at Sony. Spieth, who was 0-4 with the 54-hole lead in his career on TOUR, couldn’t hold out at SHO before winning the Masters. We know what's happened since. Kirk couldn’t close his 54-hole lead at THE PLAYERS but had no trouble coming off the pace at Colonial. Rose adds his name to this list as his three-shot lead evaporated. Gomez made it only 11 players in 30 events (no 54-hole leader at WGC-Match Play) that have finished the job. That makes only 13 players in 34 events to close it down on Sunday. It's hardly surprising that Spieth has figured this out.
After 13 first-time winners in 2013 there were only 10 last year. After 34 events in 2015 Gomez, Lingmerth, Martin, Streb, Taylor, Koepka, Hahn, Cejka and Lee have broken through.
This is the seventh time in the last six years that 20-under has been necessary. The other year was 19-under. #GoLowBro
Brian Harman was looking to join Steve Stricker in the repeat club. He finished T24.
Spieth breaks up a streak of two in a row from first-time winners.
Paul Goydos shot 59 here in 2011 and didn't win the tournament. Spieth's 61 was the low daddy of the week and he won.
Stricker's tournament record of 256 was plenty safe as well this week
Young Guns Versus Prime Time Versus Old Guys
I annually keep track of the age of the winners on TOUR because I’m an ageist. GET OFF MY VIAGRA.
Bae got the youngsters (under 30) on the board first in 2014-15 followed by Martin and Streb, both 27. Nick Taylor, 26, popped in to close out 2014 at SFC. Reed joined the party at a whopping 24 at HTOC followed by Koepka, 25 in Phoenix and Jason Day, 27, at Torrey Pines. Spieth, who turns 22 on 27 July, has won at Valspar, Augusta, Chambers Bay and now TPC Deere Valley. McIlroy, 26, Fowler, 26, and McIlroy won again at Quail Hollow. Lingmerth, the winner at Memorial, turns 28 in July. The youngsters have 15 winners in 35 events this year as Spieth is the landlord.
Dustin Johnson (30), James Hahn (33), Brandt Snedeker (34),Bill Haas (32), Jimmy Walker TWICE (36), Charley Hoffman (37), Bubba Watson (36) TWICE, Ryan Moore (31), Matt Every (31), J.B. Holmes (32),Justin Rose (34), Chris Kirk (30), Steven Bowditch (31) and Fabian Gomez, 36, are the prime time guys with silverware (30-39 years).
The old guys (40-and-over) have Jim Furyk, Paddy Harrington and Alex Cejka as representatives in their smallish club in 2015. Tom Gillis was some story this week but the 46-year-old made one-too-many bogeys coming home. Exactly one and he got the absolute wrong guy in the playoff.
Hindsight
What I learned from the finishers INSIDE the top 10 this week.
Tom Gillis: In 11 events this season his best finish was T26. His P2 equals his T2 finish at the 2012 Honda Classic as his best finish on TOUR. Remember, this is fantasy golf, not the Hallmark Channel. If you're into "good stories" or "underdogs", good for you. I'm not. He's a career journeyman who's never made more than $1.3 million in a season. He's played 172 TOUR events and has 10 top 10s and 29 top 25s. See if he stays hot next week but I'm not going to hold my breath. He entered the week in the upper 100s of ball-striking but was second in fairways and T2 GIR. Do the math.
Zach Johnson: Although he hasn't won three times in a row we can now rename this event the Zach Johnson Classic hosted by Steve Stricker. This is the fifth year in a row he's stood on the podium as his penultimate putt on the final hole lipped out for 20-under. For the second week in a row an unlucky break caught maybe the hottest player. Last week Streb accidentally broke his putter and missed the playoff by one shot. This week Johnson was six under and cruising until a firework went off in his back stroke on No. 16 green. He seemed to lose his focus, understandably so, after that event. It's criminally unlucky. Johnson otherwise did everything we expected from him. It's an easy game when they do what they should!
Danny Lee: He's had a busy fortnight. He won last week in a playoff at The Greenbrier Classic and had a 15-footer this week to try and make it back-to-back playoff wins. He missed and finished, like Johnson, T3. Lee called a penalty on himself on hole No. 4 because he thought LCP was in play. Oops. He missed the playoff by a shot. Gamers should note that he didn't mail it in and was immediately focused and back in contention. His 62 on Saturday was his lowest score on TOUR. That's more impressive considering it was the week after he won his first event. I like it.
Chris Stroud: Every year the guy with the lowest Sunday score ALWAYS finds the top 10 because that number can get salty. Stroud shot 63, the lowest round of the day, but only moved up EIGHT places. Eight. Hahahahahaha. That's what 18-under got folks this week, T5. Stroud had played in all six weekends here prior but never posted anything better than T15. He only made two bogeys on the weekend and his last 12 rounds on TOUR are 70 or less. His 25 birdies were T1 this week and his T5 is his second top 10 in the last three weeks as he was T10 at Travelers. We'll need to find him a spot in the TPC hall of fame as well.
Johnson Wagner: AFter 16-under and T7 last year Wagner hopped right back on the horse again at TPC Deere Run this year with 18-under and T5. It's obvious that this track fits his eye as he only made one bogey, on Sunday of course, in his final three rounds after carding three of them on Thursday. He was T9 GIR and third in SGP so it's no surprise he was in contention. This was his ninth event after losing in a playoff to J.B. Holmes (Spieth was in that one as well) at SHO and this was his third weekend. He MC in five straight before putting four rounds in the 60s last week at the Greenbrier where he was T32. Wagner's list: Waialae, Mayakoba, Greenbrier and JDC. Gotcha. He has five top 10s in three years and not many top 25s so use him where he fits.
Justin Thomas: The 36-hole leader finished T5 and for the second week in a row was a factor. He was the 54-hole leader last week before imploding on Sunday to finish T54. Playing in the penultimate group this week he had to watch playing partner Shawn Stefani shoot 76 and finish T35. Thomas held his cool and birdied three of his last four to hit the top 10 for the sixth time in 24 events. Gamer who only saw his T54 last week and saw a run of T55-MC-MC-T54 entering the JDC didn't look deep enough. He's had two bad rounds in three months. This week it was his ball-striking that was impressive as his putter was frozen. He led the field in SGTTG and was 57th SGP.
Steve Wheatcroft: As Rob Bolton told you in the chat on Wednesday that if you needed a guy to get low, he was a long-shot to look as he's gone real low before on the Web.com. He didn't disappoint as he also rolled in 25 birdies on the back strong ball-striking and putting. He made 25 birdies in his best finish of the year at Humana (T2). He shot 24-under on this weekend last year winning the Albertson's Boise Open. Find the easier track on the schedule and he's your flyer!
Will Wilcox: He's settling in nicely on TOUR now that he is in the middle of a full run of starts. He entered the week off of MC-MC but both of those were with under-par totals so he's not straying. His T8 now gives him two top 10s in 12 events and six top 25s. He was T2 GIR but it's his total package that gets my attention. Like Thomas, the pieces of the puzzle are all there; putting them together on the weekend is the next step.
Kevin Chappell: Make it seven weekends in a row when he's teed it up but T8 is his first top 10 since October. He entered the week No. 122 in birdie average and No. 100 in SGP. He made 23 birdies and was second in SGP. He was T52 last year and T45 in 2012. Yep, that just happened.
Daniel Summerhays: After MC in his first two trips Summerhays has T4, T13 and T8 this year in his last three. He loves making birdies and made 24 of them this week and his putter wasn't cooperating! He couldn't make anything down the stretch as he missed a 10-footer on No. 17 and a five-footer on No. 18 that would have made him a few more bucks. He is a course-horse as he entered the week MC in five of his last seven with T27 the best of those two finishes.
Chalk Dust
A quick recap of what happened to the Chalk from my preview column:
Jordan Spieth: Win, playoff.
Zach Johnson: T3, see above.
Kevin Kisner: Nothing above 70 and nothing below 67 for T35. He played the weekend three-under and that gets you left in the dust. He was T56 GIR and 43rd in SGP so it didn't happen for him this week. The stat that shows his three worst finishes since April are after the week he loses playoffs. Lived. Learned.
Robert Streb: T12 with his putter. His hot play continues and should be firmly in your sights moving forward. He was eight-under on the weekend and that included two doubles! He came home in 31 to almost crack the top 10 for the second week in a row.
Tony Finau: His 67 on Thursday looked to be business-as-usual but his 72 on Friday saw him miss by one shot. Yep, three-under was no good this week and neither was making one birdie on Friday. His run of seven finishes in a row inside the top 25 is over but I'm right back on next week.
Ryan Moore: Never fired on the weekend but still found T24 to increase his streak to four events in a row at the JDC T24 or better. He has nothing over 70 in his last 16 rounds.
Jerry Kelly: He shot three-under 68 today and dropped four spots to T17. #NotLowEnough. This is the old cheese head we need to be following, not Stricker. Kelly's last three at JDC are T4-T3-T17.
Justin Thomas: T5, see above.
George McNeill: He made 10 bogeys and lost almost four shots on the green in MC. He's played 18 events this year and lost shots on the green only five times. They have been four of his five worst finishes.
Shawn Stefani: Sitting T3 with Thomas after 54-holes, one more low one from Stefani would have put serious pressure on the leaders. He went out in 38 and was SEVEN-OVER-PAR through 15 holes before birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 saw him finish T35. Vomit.
Steven Bowditch: All (67 on Friday)-or-nothing (74 on Thursday). Nothing it is this week! He's played four weekends in a row after his win and was T12-T11 at JDC in his last two.
Jason Bohn: While #SpiethBoner took home the title, #Bohner continues his excellent play. His 64 on Sunday moved him to T12 and his best finish in his 10th JDC. He was T2 GIR and only made four bogeys on the week. He's played the weekend in six of his last seven and five of those are T29 or better.
Steve Stricker: The King is dead; long live the king. He's not playing enough to merit consideration here or anywhere else moving forward.
Brian Harman: The defending champ put up a noble defense but his 71 on Saturday stalled out his charge. His 67 on Sunday moved him into the top 25 (T24).
Pat Perez: Can't post rounds above par here and his 73 on Saturday would require a low one on Sunday. His 69 on Sunday saw him play the weekend in even par and T55.
Coming TUESDAY
I’ll publish my weekly preview, Range Rover, around lunchtime, children permitting. I’ll focus on history, current form, course characteristics, winning qualities and those who I think will and will not.
Coming TUESDAY Afternoon
Playing the Tips will be up and running this and every Tuesday late afternoon and will list all of the Rotoworld experts picks in the GolfChannel.com game, the Yahoo! Fantasy Golf game, DFS plus the European Tour! Oh, and my One-and-Done feature. Look for it every Tuesday until the Presidents Cup.
Coming Wednesday
And the analysis doesn't end here. Rotoworld's Rob Bolton and I will be co-hosting a one-hour live chat Wednesday at NOON ET. We will be breaking down the field at The Open Championship plus answering your questions. Simply return to the golf home page to join in on the chatter. Don’t forget to follow Rob (http://twitter.com/RobBoltonGolf) and Glass (http://twitter.com/mikeglasscott) on Twitter.
