The US’ Davis Thompson on Sunday birdied five of the first six holes and cruised to a record-setting four-stroke victory at the John Deere Classic, while Taiwan’s C.T. Pan tied for second and also earned a berth into the British Open.
Thompson, 25, fired a seven-under-par 64 to finish on a 72-hole tournament record of 28-under 256 at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois, to take home his first PGA Tour title.
Thompson, ranked 70th in the world, broke the old mark of 27-under set by the US’ Michael Kim in 2018. He followed his sizzling start with back-to-back birdies at nine, and 10 then answered his lone bogey at 12 with a birdie at 14 and parred his way into the clubhouse.
Photo: AFP
“I’m just thankful it worked out. I got off to a great start today and was able to just kind of cruise on the back nine,” Thompson said after closing with a seven-under 64. “Getting off to a good start was crucial, and I was just able to ride the momentum coming in.”
Thompson made a 45 foot (41.7m) birdie putt on the first hole for a three-shot lead, and no one got closer to him the rest of the way.
The 25-year-old from Georgia finished at 28-under 256 to break by one the John Deere Classic record set by Michael Kim in 2018.
Photo: Joseph Cress-USA Today
“I just wanted to stay aggressive,” Thompson said. “I knew there would be low scores out there today, because the wind kind of died down and the conditions were a little soft. So I knew I was going to have to go play well. Thankfully, I made a great putt on one and had a great up and down on two and kept the ball rolling.”
The victory gets him into the next three majors, starting with the British Open in two weeks at Royal Troon in Scotland.
The final hour was all about who would finish second and earn the other spot to the British Open. That went to Pan, who birdied the 16th and 17th holes and finished with a two-putt par from 20 feet for a 64.
However, a pair of youngsters made him sweat it out.
Florida State sophomore Luke Clanton holed a 25 foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 63 and was the first to get to 24-under. Michael Thorbjornsen, the No. 1 player in the PGA Tour University ranking after finishing at Stanford, hit out of a fairway bunker to 18 feet and made the birdie putt for a 63 to join Clanton.
With a three-way tie for second, the British Open spot went to Pan based on the world ranking.
“Honestly going to be hectic to arrange all the travel details last minute, but it will be a good problem to have,” Pan said.
Additional reporting by AP
Former European champions Celtic exited the UEFA Champions League in the qualifiers after a 3-2 penalty shoot-out defeat at Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty on Tuesday, following two goalless legs in the playoff tie. Kairat are to compete in the competition proper for the first time, while Norway’s Bodo/Glimt and Cyprus’s Pafos also secured debut appearances after coming through the playoffs. Celtic’s night ended in disappointment as they missed three penalties in the shoot-out, Daizen Maeda failing with the decisive spot-kick. The slugfest of a match went into extra-time with neither side finding the net and few overall chances, echoing the first
Rangers on Wednesday bowed out of the UEFA Champions League playoffs with a humiliating 6-0 defeat at the hands of Club Brugge which piles further pressure on head coach Russell Martin, while SL Benfica secured a place in the competition proper at the expense of Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce. The Glasgow giants traveled to Belgium right up against it after losing 3-1 at home in last week’s first leg, when they conceded three times in the opening 20 minutes. They never looked like turning the tie around as Club Brugge took the lead inside five minutes at the Jan Breydelstadion through Nicolo Tresoldi
Noah Lyles on Thursday warmed up for the upcoming athletics world championships by chasing down Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo to win the 200m at the Diamond League final. Lyles trailed Tebogo at the start, but gradually erased the deficit over the final 100m and pipped the Botswana sprinter to the line by centimeters. Lyles, the Olympic 100m champion and reigning world champion in both the 100m and 200m, clocked 19.74 seconds in a slight headwind. Tebogo was 0.02 seconds behind. It was Lyles’ sixth Diamond League title, a record for track athletes. “Six, that’s a big number,” Lyles said. “Shoot, that’s another record on
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
RSS