Sylves, Illinois – Doug Ghim hangs out for Eagle on the par 4 and shuts the Bogeys out on Thursday’s lower score day. He opened with a 62-shot below 62 and became John Deere Classic’s latest PGA Tour champion.
Ghim has taken a lead on Max Homa and Austin Eckroat on TPC Deere Run, with winning scores reaching 20 or below 12 in win scores over the past 15 years.
He’s long enough – six years on the PGA Tour, when the 160 Tours started – knowing it’s just the beginning. The conditions were so ideal Jim wasn’t even sure that his 62-year-old would take the lead at the end of the day.
There was more wind in the afternoon and the best anyone could do was four players, including Cameron champion and Mexican Open champion Brian Campbell.
“Honestly, as long as you can be under 20 or better, you have a chance,” Jim said. “It’s still golf. It’s still a challenge. You have to hit the fairway. I played a lot today. So every day I’m trying to shoot forward at 6 and see where that put me.”
South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter won his first PGA Tour title last week in Detroit, and his lead was challenging until he stagnated at the end of the round, winning the 17-17 par and having to score 67.
John Deere Classic created 24 first-time winners, the most champions of any PGA Tour since 1970, including Davis Thompson last year, Bryson DeChambeau in 2017 and Jordan Spieth in 2013.
Homa and Eckroat have won before and both have tried to rediscover their own matches. Homa has received the most attention, especially since he played in the final Ryder Cup and reached the world’s No. 8 until he entered the downturn including new equipment, new coaches and new caddies.
Eckroat won two championships in 2024 but has been struggling this year. Last year, he ranked 35th in the world and now ranked 75th, pulling him out of the last two majors. He hasn’t made the top ten in the 19 competitions this year.
Homa ran four birdies early and tied for the lead with Ghim until he missed the last green in 9th place, entered a bunker and failed to fall up and down, his only round of shack. Eckroat has a pair of Eagles, one on 5 and shot to 12 feet and the other when wedged into the gap at 137 yards on the fifth hole of the 4-shot.
The score is so low that there are 18 players at 65 or higher, while more than half of the 156ers are 70.
Michael Kim and Sam Stevens are part of the group. Kim Jong Il was one of the first winners in 2018 when he scored eight shots with a 27-under 27. He then stepped back in the worst way, even back on the Korn Ferry Tour before contacting Swing Coach coach Sean Foley and turning his game around.
Kim and Stevens are players who can use great games to improve their world rankings and will be used as a replacement list for the British Open next week. King is ranked 55th in the world and seems to be in a reasonable state.
This will be Kim’s first time in all four majors that same year.
