Marquee groupings and starting times (FedExCup standing) – John Deere Classic
Thursday, 12:45 p.m. CT No. 1 tee (Friday, 7:30 a.m. CT No. 10 tee)
Steve Stricker (20) -- Camilo Villegas (131) -- Kyle Stanley (16)
Thursday, 12:55 p.m. CT No. 1 tee (Friday, 7:40 a.m. CT No. 10 tee)
Jhonattan Vegas (114) -- Mark Wilson (22) -- Tim Clark (130)
Friday, 12:45 p.m. CT No. 1 tee (Thursday, 7:30 a.m. CT No. 10 tee)
Zach Johnson (6) -- Nick Watney (62) -- Ted Potter, Jr. (51)
Thursday, 12:55 p.m. CT No. 1 tee (Thursday, 7:40 a.m. CT No. 10 tee)
Jonathan Byrd (36) -- K.J. Choi (88) -- Stewart Cink (123)
At this week’s John Deere Classic, Steve Stricker will attempt to become only the fifth different player in PGA TOUR history to win the same tournament four consecutive times:
Tom Morris, Jr., British Open, 1868-70 (no event 1871), 1872
Walter Hagen, PGA Championship, 1924-1927
Gene Sarazen, Miami Open, 1926 (schedule change), 1928-1930
Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, 2000-2003
Tiger Woods Farmers Insurance Open, 2005-2008
Ken Duke finished tied for seventh at The Greenbrier Classic for his career-best sixth top-10 finish of the season, tying him with Matt Kuchar, Bo Van Pelt andKevin Na for the most on TOUR. One year after playing in the 2008 TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola, Duke lost his PGA TOUR card in 2009 and then spent two seasons on the Web.com Tour, finishing seventh on the 2011 season-ending money list to re-join the PGA TOUR in 2012.
Last week’s Greenbrier Classic champion Ted Potter, Jr. finished first in Strokes Gained – Putting (8.064) on the week. He is the third winner in 2012 to lead the field in Strokes Gained – Putting (Phil Mickelson/AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and Luke Donald/Transitions Championship).
Ted Potter, Jr. finished eagle-birdie (-3) on his 71st and 72nd holes of the tournament to force a playoff at last week’s Greenbrier Classic. Potter is the first PGA TOUR winner to play his final two holes of regulation at 3-under and win since 2007 when Charley Hoffman went birdie-eagle on his final two holes at the Humana Challenge before winning a playoff over John Rollins.
The leading player not otherwise exempt, among the top five finishers and ties at both The Greenbrier Classic (Troy Kelly) and John Deere Classic will receive exemptions into British Open.
Marc Leishman and Ted Potter, Jr. earned exemptions into the 2012 British Open from a cumulative money list taken from THE PLAYERS and five TOUR events (FedEx St. Jude Classic, U.S. Open, Travelers Championship, AT&T National and The Greenbrier Classic). Below are final earnings for the six tournaments:
Player Earnings
Marc Leishman $1,162,509 (qualified)
Ted Potter, Jr. $1,098,000 (qualified)
Michael Thompson $718,412
Troy Kelly $672,094
CHAMPIONS TOUR
Kirk Triplett, a rookie on the Champions Tour, shot a final-round 66, the low round of the day, to come from four strokes off the pace and win his first title in eight starts on the Champions Tour at the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. At 50 years, 3 months and nine days, Triplett became the youngest winner on the Champions Tour since Brad Faxon claimed the Insperity Championship last fall just over two months after turning 50. With his win at the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, Kirk Triplett earned a two-year exemption into the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.
Last year, Olin Browne became the fifth player to win his first Champions Tour event at the U.S. Senior Open. He will try to become the fifth multiple winner and the first repeat winner since Allen Doyle claimed his second consecutive U.S. Senior Open title at Prairie Dunes in 2006.
Joe Daley, who claimed his first major title on the Champions Tour at the recent Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship, is bidding to become the first player to win consecutive senior majors since Bernhard Langer in 2010 (Senior British Open/U.S. Senior Open). It will be Daley’s first appearance in the U.S. Senior Open.
WEB.COM TOUR
Casey Wittenberg was named June's Player of the Month on the Web.com Tour. The Memphis, TN native had a victory (Wichita) and a T6 (Mexico).
Sunday's Greenbrier Classic win by Ted Potter, Jr. was the 335th on the PGA TOUR by a Web.com Tour alumnus.
Ted Potter, Jr. and The Greenbrier Classic runner-up Troy Kelly played the previous week in the Web.com Tour's United Leasing Championship at Victoria National Golf Club near Evansville, IN where they finished T51 and T58, respectively, against one of the Tour's strongest fields of the year.
The Web.com Tour is in the Salt Lake City area this week for the Utah Championship. It is the 14th of 27 events, effectively marking the halfway point in the 2012 season.
The Utah Championship will host “Mustache Week” for the sixth year in a row. Players, caddies and Web.com Tour staff have been growing their facial hairs the last few weeks. A winner will be determined on Tuesday evening. Canada's Bryan DeCorso is the “defending champion”.
The Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational announced on Tuesday that the world's top-ranked amateur (World Amateur Golf Ranking) Jordan Spieth of the University of Texas and reigning U.S. Amateur champion Kelly Kraft are among 12 current or former collegians who have accepted invitations to compete in the July 26-29 event at Ohio State University's Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio.
The USGA will also be conducting one of its national championships this week in the Salt Lake City area, the Men's Public Links Championship at Soldier Hollow Golf Course in Midway. Past winners of the Championship who have also won on both the Web.com Tour and the PGA TOUR include Tour alums
Tim Clark (1997),
D.J. Trahan (2000),
Chez Reavie (2001) and
Brandt Snedeker (2003).
