Sylves, Illinois – Doug Ghim snatched the Hawks from the fairway for the second consecutive day, giving him a lead in John Deere Classic’s Under 68 38 and singles, his first 36-hole lead in six years on the PGA Tour.
Defending champions Davis Thompson (63) and Max Homa (68) are five players, one game into the weekend. The start time of Saturday has risen due to forecast rainfall.
Ghim ranked fourth and sixth in the first round. This time it was from 15, 15, 179 yards.
“I think it’s always good to hang out for two days in a row,” Jim said. “It’s been a few years since I’ve been hanging out from the fairway. It’s great to get two days for two.”
Ghim’s lead was his last hole. He hit a tree, along a shopping cart road, crossed the green, hit 18 feet, missing the putt to make his second burn. He was 130 years old at the time.
Mexico Open champion Brian Campbell (66), David Lipsky (67) and Emiliano Grillo (66) were tied for second place.
Ghim still believes he is still a long way from winning the tournament for the first time, which has produced more titles than any PGA Tour since 1970.
“The guys who are going to win this game will be in the 20-under-par area, so last time I checked I haven’t,” Jim said. “I don’t feel like I’m leading, I’m happy to kick off in the competition later tomorrow.”
Late in the afternoon, Homa tied with Ghim when the greens were dry and crusty. But on the 18th hole, Homa shot the T-shirt into a bunker, missed the green on the right and eventually lost a 12-foot par putt to the bottom.
He was still in good shape when he tried to turn his game around. Putting four rounds or even three rounds together is difficult, and Homa doesn’t sound like she’s willing to surpass herself.
“I don’t think there’s much change. I mean, just play the golf course.” “You’re going to have to shoot very low. If you go there and try to do something specific, I’m not sure it’s going to work.
“Just keep waiting until the last nine on Sunday.”
Thompson played in the morning, the first game to go below 11 with 131, trying to be the first champion of John Deere Classic since Steve Stricker won three straight games from 2009 to 2011.
Later that day, there was a high drama that made the cut of 137 and 5 shots.
Rikuya Hoshino and Jesper Svensson moved Birdie to 5 down the last hole, and only Paul Peterson brought Bogey to his last hole and moved it back to 4 down the road.
But in the final group, Brendan Valdes drilled his tee in the 18-foot game of the 4th, hitting about 8 feet and hitting a birdie putt for 66. This will cut back to 5, eliminating 14 players from the weekend.
Rickie Fowler and Jake Knapp eventually cut that number.
Meanwhile, 12 players were twice entered into the third round, including Camilo Villegas, Sam Stevens and Si Woo Kim. Stevens and Kim are trying to get high enough to improve the world rankings that will be used next week to set up an alternative list for the Open.
