First Round Of John Deere Classic is exciting, historic Birdie-fest first,round,of,john,deere,classic,is,exciting,historic,birdie,fest,sbnation,com,golf,golf-pga-tour


Welcome to Playing Through’s morning ritual — Golf Talk Today.

Each morning will feature a Golf Talk Today, where the crew will discuss various elements throughout the PGA Tour, LPGA, LIV Golf, and more.

Thursday’s July 4th round provided fireworks at the John Deere Classic.

There were 26 scores of 65 or lower, including four 63s, a 62, 61 and Hayden Springer’s historic 59.

By the end of Day 1, his four-shot lead went down to two after Sami Valimaki shot a 10-under 61.

TPC Deere Run saw 748 birdies and 26 eagles during Thursday’s round, which is quite a lot considering the birdie totals in the last six tournaments.

Total Birdies in the last 6 PGA Tour events

— Charles Schwab Challenge: 1,116 total; 323 in Rd. 1

— RBC Canadian Open: 1,473 total; 487 in Rd. 1

— The Memorial: 750 total; 230 in Rd. 1

— U.S. Open: 1,007 total; 302 in Rd. 1

— Travelers Championship: 1,248 total; 265 in Rd. 1

— Rocket Mortgage Classic: 1,803 total; 587 in Rd. 1

While there were only three full-field events, the number of birdies scored on Thursday at TPC Deere Run is more noticeable. It is the most scored this season through the 30 first rounds played.

The last time the Tour saw this amount of birdies or close to it in the first round this year was at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. There were 683 birdies in the first round and 1,980 total.

Back at the beginning of the season, the Cognizant Classic saw 1,613 total and 572 birdies on Thursday. Last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic was also up there with 587 after one day of play.

The John Deere Classic could have the most birdies scored in a tournament this season, especially if the conditions stay like they are.

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Golf Talk Today: A quick July 4th golf fashion guide to stay trendy but patriotic

All golfers should do these 10 things during every round they play

Justin Rose qualifies for The Open; see who else made it to Royal Troon

LIV Golf’s Sergio Garcia falls short of The Open, frustrated by slow play warning

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

John Deere Classic: Hayden Springer’s epic sub-60 round looked easy john,deere,classic,hayden,springer,s,epic,sub,round,looked,easy,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour


PGA Tour rookie Hayden Springer made quite the debut at the John Deere Classic as he fired off a 12-under 59 to make TPC Deere Run look easy. His putter was red hot.

He made eight birdies and two eagles to mark the second sub-60 round of the year on the PGA Tour. Just two weeks ago, Cameron Young recorded a 59 during the third round of the Travelers Championship.

“It’s pretty special to be able to do that,” Springer said after his round on Thursday.

“I played well last week, but it’s been tough to get stuff going and go low — So, it is special. It feels good to be standing here and to have shot a good round of golf.”

The 27-year-old made par on the first hole, then went nuclear. He made a 13-footer for eagle on the par-5, 2nd followed by four straight birdies. Those were not easy birdies either.

He chipped in from around 62 feet off the green on the third. Springer’s touch was nearly perfect, as the ball only had eyes for the hole. His birdie at the par-4 4th was a little over 10 feet. The birdie at 5 was over 20 feet long, and his fourth straight birdie at 6th was over 16 feet.

At this point, Springer felt like today, he could see him shoot a low score.

“I had come up just short of the green on the fringe and probably had a 20-footer, and I made that,” he said. “I was like, okay, ‘I feel like I’m not missing today. I’m pretty much holing any putt I look at.’ So probably that putt going in was kind of the trigger, like we might be able to go super low.”

Springer made two more birdies on 8 and 9 to turn in 27 strokes.

After the turn, he made five straight pars before his seventh birdie came at 15. The former Texas Christian Horned Frog sank an 18-footer to move to 9-under. He explained that he got frustrated, but his caddie kept him balanced.

Springer did not think a 59 was on the table going into the par-5 17th, but he holed out from 55 yards for his second eagle.

“I had a really good lie over there,” he said. “I hit it nice. It landed right where we were looking, just short left, and happened to go in. I didn’t ever think I would make that shot, but it changed the momentum to be able to go shoot 59.”

To record a sub-60 round, he needed a birdie on the 18th, and the rookie sank a 12-footer to do so.

Springer earned every bit of this 59, making 111 feet of putts on Thursday. He hit 14-of-18 greens in regulation, 10-of-14 fairways and went 4-of-4 scrambling.

In the strokes gained categories, he is No. 5 off the tee, No. 4 in approach to the green, No. 1 around the green, No. 3 in putting and No. 1 in strokes gained total, picking up +10.110 on the field.

Springer had a nearly perfect round of golf and showed Thursday. He became the 14th PGA Tour player to record a sub-60 round and the second at the John Deere Classic after Paul Goydos shot his own 59 in round 1 of the 2010 event.

His last year has not been an easy one. It was full of heartache but also determination. He tragically lost his three-year-old daughter Sage to Trisomy 18 last November, and a month later, Springer earned his PGA Tour card.

The rookie currently leads by four shots over Harry Hall, who shot an impressive 8-under 63. There are 12 players at 65 or lower on the day, as another birdie fest seems to be on the horizon.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

John Deere Classic: Jordan Spieth makes 1st start in 9 years john,deere,classic,jordan,spieth,makes,st,start,in,years,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour


Jordan Spieth is back in the Quad Cities for the first time since his 2015 John Deere Classic victory.

So far, it seems to be a sentimental trip for him as he reminisces on his history at TPC Deere Run.

Ahead of the tournament, Spieth joined the media to reflect on his 2013 and 2015 victories and how much has changed for him.

“I probably spent a little more time at the course back then, but in general, my day-to-day on the course hasn’t changed much,” Spieth said on Wednesday. “Off the course, it’s obviously very different.”

He has grown a lot from the young 21-year-old kid on Tour.

“I think I try to be that kid,” he said. “I try to think about being that kid every time I tee it up.”

Spieth is now a dad of two kids and has 13 PGA Tour wins.

Ahead of the tournament, he, his son Sammy and his daughter Sophie went to ‘The Big Dig,’

“I think Michael [Greller] had the most fun,” he said. “He and his two kids were out driving tractors around. It was a lot of fun. It was full circle, right? I was 21 the last time I was here, and now I’ve got two kids that I took to The Big Dig.”

He explained that his return to the John Deere Classic had been on the table since early spring, and thankfully, the timing worked out for his schedule.

“I was pretty excited about the idea that I would be coming back the Deere this year, now that we’re here, it’s crazy,” Spieth said on Wednesday.

“It really does feel like a second home. It’s been really cool, the reception I received since coming back one day at Zach Johnson’s charity event and then a couple of days here at the golf course. I don’t have support like this anywhere outside of DFW, so hopefully, that continues this week, and I can pick up where I left off.”

Spieth has only played in this event four times. The John Deere Classic gave him a sponsor exemption in 2012 when he finished T58. He would win in 2013, tie for seventh in 2014 and win again in 2015.

Will he have similar luck in his fifth start? So much has changed for him since his last start in the Quad Cities.

Spieth has not had his best season on Tour in 2024. He has played in 17 events and has just three top 10s and three top 25s. The 30-year-old has also missed five cuts.

Last week at the Travelers Championship, he finished T63. At the U.S. Open, it was a T41. Spieth missed the cut at Jack Nicklaus’ Signature Event, The Memorial.

The last time he finished inside the top 10 was at the Valero Texas Open with a T10. Since then, it has been an up-and-down grind. Despite his performances in the last few months, Spieth is among the betting favorites.

Nonetheless, this week holds a lot of weight for him. Spieth is currently No. 59 in the FedEx Cup rankings. He will need to find some success in the coming weeks if he wants to play past the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

John Deere Classic: Sepp Straka’s 2023 win changed everything john,deere,classic,sepp,straka,s,win,changed,everything,sbnation,com,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news


Sepp Straka fired off a final-round 62 at last year’s John Deere Classic to win his second PGA Tour victory.

A few weeks after his win at TPC Deere Run, he went on to post a runner-up finish at the Open Championship. He then went on to make his Ryder Cup debut later that fall, helping the Europeans trounce the Americans in Italy.

His impressive come-from-behind victory at the John Deere Classic changed everything for the Austrian golfer.

“It was an incredible part of last year,” Straka said on Wednesday.

“I was playing some pretty good golf but wasn’t getting much out of it, and that all flipped here. I went to the Open and had another really great week, my best finish in a major. Ended up making it to Atlanta. Playing on the Ryder Cup was definitely the highlight of the year, but that wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t get hot here at the John Deere.”

Straka has played in 17 events so far this season, recording four top 10s and nine top 25s. He has made 12 of 17 cuts.

The former Georgia Bulldog finished T-5 back-to-back weeks at the Charles Schwab Challenge and The Memorial. A tie for 56th at the U.S. Open was sandwiched between those starts, although Straka made an incredible hole-in-one on Friday at Pinehurst No. 2.

He most recently played at the Travelers Championship, tying for 23rd. Yet, he has not won since triumphing at this event last year.

Straka felt his putter cooperated better a year ago, so perhaps TPC Deere Run will boost his momentum. He is currently 90th in strokes gained putting, 30 spots worse than where he finished last year in this metric.

“I made pretty good changes and am trending with the putter nicely,” he said.

“I think that’s helped. I’ve been hitting the ball well, hitting a lot of fairways, and giving myself a lot of opportunities. It’s been nice to have a lot of good events in the summer months. This is kind of the time you want to be playing well.”

Last year, the Austrian was the last player in the Tour Championship field.

Straka now sits 17th in the FedEx Cup standings this time around and is 24th in the world. The 31-year-old is trying to return to Atlanta and keep his hot streak going.

To get to Atlanta, a player must finish inside the Top 30 of the FedEx Cup standings. Straka is safely in right now, but playing well could help him out even more. The PGA Tour staggers the starting scores in Atlanta. First place starts at 10-under. Second place is at 8-under, third sits at 7-under, fourth is 6-under, and fifth is 5-under.

Players ranked 6-10th will begin the tournament at 4-under. Those ranked 11-15th start a 3-under, a 2-under start goes to the players ranked 16-20th, the 21-25th players are at 1-under, and the final four players start at even par.

If the Tour Championship started next week, Straka would start at 2-under, so if he played well in the next few weeks, he could earn a better starting score.

“You always want to finish the year in Atlanta,” Straka said.

“Don’t want to miss out on the last tournament. I feel like the last couple of months, I’ve given myself a pretty good chance to get there. Few more tournaments left, one major, and then the points ramp up for the playoffs. There is a lot of movement this late in the season, and if you can play, it’s really nice to be in Memphis in a good position.”

Straka will attempt to become the first repeat champion at the John Deere Classic since Steve Stricker won three in a row from 2009 to 2011.

He is paired with 2021 John Deere Classic winner Lucas Glover and 2015 PGA Championship winner Jason Day on Thursday and Friday. They tee off at 1:49 p.m. ET for Round 1 and 8:29 a.m. ET for the second round.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

John Deere Classic reminds fans of the greatest PGA Tour tee markers john,deere,classic,reminds,fans,of,the,greatest,pga,tour,tee,markers,sbnation,com,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-opinions

John Deere Classic reminds fans of the greatest PGA Tour


Welcome to Playing Through’s morning ritual — Golf Talk Today.

Each morning will feature a Golf Talk Today, where the crew will discuss various elements throughout the PGA Tour, LPGA, LIV Golf, and more.

Today’s topic is tee markers!

With the John Deere Classic this week, we wanted to look at some of the best tee markers on the PGA Tour.

Various tournament sponsors get so creative with their materials. From paint cans at the Valspar Championship to the little Waste Management dump trucks at the WM Phoenix Open, the creativity just flows.

Earlier this year, the RBC Canadian Open put itself on the list for its rink hole tee markers — goalie helmets.

There are iconic markers like the U.S. Open and other USGA events, but we wanted to do the more unique options for this article. The traditional ones are just as nice, but creativity goes a long way in this instance.

There are plenty of options, but these are the tee markers we consider to be the greatest on the PGA Tour.

The Greatest PGA Tour Tee Markers

Sanderson Farms Championship

Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

Sanderson Farms Championship uses little chickens as tee markers. However, it’s also a way for the title sponsor to engage with the community. Patients at Friends of Children’s Hospital paint the chickens that sit atop the white Sanderson Farms boxes on each hole.

Valspar Championship

Valspar Championship, John Deere Classic, PGA Tour

Of course, Valspar is a paint company, so using paint cans as tee markers is on-brand for them. People immediately know the title sponsor because of this, too. We still want to know if paint is in these cans—can someone get this answer for us?

RBC Canadian Open — The Rink Hole

Each year, the RBC Canadian Open changes up “The Rink” hole, but it is one of the most unique things on the PGA Tour. From referee volunteers to the goalie helmet tee markers, it is the most Canadian thing at the Canadian Open. This year, the tournament added an organist to add even more of a facade to the lore.

Wells Fargo Championship

Wells Fargo Championship, John Deere Classic, PGA Tour

Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Another iconic tee marker is the Wells Fargo stagecoaches. These were used at the Wells Fargo Championship, but now the tournament opts for the box one with the logo.

Regardless, it’s another excellent marker that is so on-brand.

John Deere Classic

John Deere Classic, PGA Tour

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Lastly, the John Deere Classic’s tee markers are truly iconic. The little tractors and various equipment are so creative and fun. John Deere understands its brand, and these tee markers prove it.

This handful of tee markers are just some of the best ones in professional golf. Which pro event has your favorite tee markers? Sound off in the comments below!

ICYMI: Top stories across professional golf

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Can Jordan Spieth shake off frustrations and win again at John Deere Classic?

Justin Rose qualifies for The Open; see who else made it to Royal Troon

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Rocket Mortgage Classic gives CBS Sports highest rated non-major/Signature Event of 2024

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

John Deere Classic: Luke Clanton knows professional golf can wait john,deere,classic,luke,clanton,knows,professional,golf,can,wait,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news


Luke Clanton played phenomenally, finishing tied for 10th at last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. The Florida State golfer is back on the PGA Tour for the second consecutive event as he is in the field for the John Deere Classic.

Heading into the final day of play, Clanton sat two strokes off the lead. Many felt he could join Nick Dunlap and become the second amateur golfer in six months to win a PGA Tour event. Instead, he shot an even-par 72 on Sunday.

Despite that level of success against PGA Tour players, the rising junior is not worried about professional golf just yet.

“I want to win a national championship with the team,” Clanton said ahead of the John Deere Classic.

“That’s been my number one goal in college, and we came pretty close this year. All of us back home are very driven this year to do it. Again, I think whatever happens happens. I’m still 20 years old. I’m still learning the ropes as much as I can. I’m going to do what I do.”

Clanton finished as the second-lowest amateur to Neal Shipley at Pinehurst in the U.S. Open and kept the momentum going in Detroit with a 14-under total score. His driver was his best club, as he was No. 2 in strokes gained off the tee at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Clanton is a rising junior at Florida State University and helped the Seminoles get to the national title match against Auburn. He fell 2 & 1 in his final match to J.M. Butler.

However, the 20-year-old had one of the most impressive spring runs. He won three consecutive events, was runner-up in the NCAA Individual tournament, recorded 10 top 1s in 14 starts, and finished with the lowest single-season average in FSU history at 69.33.

He likes to keep it simple on the golf course. Regardless of what he has won in his young career, it is all about golf.

“I’m out here to play the best I can. Simple as that,” he said. “If I put four days together and it gets me more accelerated points, awesome. Number one goal is to play as good as I can.”

Even though he could have won over six figures last week, the youngster is determined to finish school. Clanton knows that professional golf will be there when he accomplishes the goals he set for himself in college.

“I would say I’m probably pretty close to where I wanted to be,” Clanton said. “I would say I think I had pretty big goals growing up, a lot of expectations for what I wanted to do. There is one thing I want. I think that’s pretty obvious of course. I think we’re just going to see what happens in the next couple of weeks.”

That goal is not a PGA Tour victory but an individual and team national championship with Florida State.

For the first two rounds of the John Deere Classic, Clanton is paired with Pierceson Coody and Joe Highsmith. They tee off at 2:44 p.m. ET on Thursday and at 9:24 a.m. ET on Friday.

The youngster’s next tournament will be the ISCO Championship in Nicholasville, Kentucky, from July 11 to 14. Clanton received a sponsor’s exemption. It is the opposite field event to the Genesis Scottish Open. He will also play in the 3M Open on an exemption at the end of July.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

PGA Tour: Can Jordan Spieth win John Deere Classic again? pga,tour,can,jordan,spieth,win,john,deere,classic,again,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

PGA Tour Can Jordan Spieth win John Deere Classic again


Jordan Spieth arrives at the John Deere Classic as one of the betting favorites, according to DraftKings. But the three-time major winner has hardly played like a tournament favorite throughout the 2024 season.

He has had a frustrating campaign, especially after missing the cut at Augusta National. Since then, Spieth has made eight starts. He missed the cut twice and did not post a finish better than T-29. That somewhat respectable result came at the Wells Fargo Championship, where he shot only one round in the 60s: an opening round 2-under 69.

But these last few months have served as a microcosm of Spieth’s career over the past seven years—a stretch filled with disappointment and agony, considering his stature and accomplishments. He has won only two tournaments since his Open Championship triumph at Royal Birkdale in 2017: the 2021 Valero Texas Open and the 2022 RBC Heritage.

Since then, he has had a few calls, finishing runner-up to K.H. Lee at the 2022 AT&T Byron Nelson and losing to Matt Fitzpatrick in a playoff at the 2023 RBC Heritage. He has 13 top 10s dating back to April 2022 but has missed 11 cuts since that juncture, too.

And yet, despite those ups and downs, Spieth, now 30 years old, has a tremendous perspective on where he is at this point in his career.

“Once I know what I’m capable of, I want to obviously stay there. If you fall from that even a little bit, it frustrates you, and then if you fall quite a bit from that, you can be wondering what in the world is going on,” Spieth said ahead of this year’s Charles Schwab Challenge in mid-May.

Jordan Spieth during a practice round ahead of the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge.
Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images

“It can overtake you, and it did for me for a little while. I think I have a better perspective now, but at the same time, the drive to get to where I know my ceiling has never been higher. So, every day I’m not there, I still walk away feeling like I progressed towards it; I walk away really pleased with my day. But some days, I feel like I didn’t, and instead of being okay with that, I lose a little patience because I know what I am capable of, and not sustaining that every year is something that I’m not okay with personally.

“I think it’s something I wouldn’t change anything that’s ever happened to me. I’ve accomplished pretty much all the goals that I had in golf, albeit, you know, in a short period of time, but the nature of sustaining that is something that I would like to have another opportunity at, and I’ll continue to work towards.”

Spieth went on to tie for 37th that week at Colonial, the course not far from his hometown of Dallas, Texas. He then missed the cut at the Memorial, tied for 41st at the U.S. Open, and most recently struggled at the Travelers Championship, finishing T-63—almost dead last.

But now, after a week off, Spieth arrives in the Quad Cities hoping to establish some momentum before the season’s final major. He has won the John Deere Classic twice, in 2013 and 2015, but nothing says he cannot make it a third time this year—especially since the best player in the field, Patrick Cantlay, withdrew.

Jordan Spieth, PGA Tour, John Deere Classic

Jordan Spieth won the 2013 John Deere Classic in a five-hole playoff. He was only 19 years old then.
Photo by Michael Cohen/Getty Images

And yet, the question is, how?

For starters, Spieth has to gain some confidence in his short game again, an attribute that has been very un-Spieth-like this season. He ranks 78th on tour in strokes gained around the green and 80th in putting—a surprising figure given how good he was with his flat stick when he was at the height of his powers.

Spieth also has to improve his ball striking. He is 110th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: approaching the green, 70th in greens in regulation percentage, and 86th in proximity to the hole. He has especially struggled with his wedges, ranking 130th in approaches from inside 100 yards, another jarring statistic that is very un-Spieth-like.

So this week, at TPC Deere Run, a course that yields plenty of birdies, Spieth should play to the middle of the greens and look to avoid the big numbers. He already makes tons of par breakers, making more than four per round, but the problem is that Spieth drops too many shots. He makes bogey nearly 17% of the time this season, ranking 139th on tour in bogey avoidance—a reality that will not win you many golf tournaments.

Thus, Spieth must play conservatively and not press too much on a golf course that gives the player a green light in more ways than one. And if he can do that, Spieth will have a good chance of doing a victory lap in one of those famous green John Deere tractors on Sunday night.

That would undoubtedly shake off his frustrations.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

PGA Tour: Patrick Cantlay pulls out of John Deere Classic pga,tour,patrick,cantlay,pulls,out,of,john,deere,classic,sbnation,com,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news


The John Deere Classic does not have the strongest field in golf year in and year out, but the event typically features a handful of stars.

Jordan Spieth will tee it up this year. As will defending champion and Ryder Cup star Sepp Straka. This year’s event also includes International stars Sungjae Im and Jason Day, 2023 American Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson, and 2009 Champion Golfer of the Year Stewart Cink.

But Patrick Cantlay, who the tour had listed in the original John Deere Classic field, decided to withdraw on Monday. Scotsman Russell Knox will replace him in the field.

The tour did not specify why Cantlay withdrew.

Yet, if Cantlay had remained in the field, it would have marked his first appearance at the John Deere Classic. TPC Deere Run has hosted this event since 2000.

Another notable withdrawal is Cameron Davis, who won the Rocket Mortgage Classic this past week for the second time in his career. His win in Detroit also vaulted him up the FedEx Cup rankings and gave him exemptions into next year’s Masters, The Players, and all eight Signature Events. As such, Davis felt obligated to take the week off and soak in his victory, which certainly did not come easy both on and off the golf course. Had Akshay Bhatia not three-putted, Davis would have likely faced Bhatia in a sudden-death playoff, and who knows how that would have shaken out. But Davis was the lone man to finish at 18-under as he happily stood atop the leaderboard after 72 holes.

As for Cantlay, his last appearance came at the Travelers Championship, where he tied for fifth. The week before, the former UCLA Bruin turned in the best major performance of his career, tying for third at Pinehurst No. 2. It seems he has found something as of late, an impressive development given that Cantlay has had a sporadic season. Before the U.S. Open, his best two finishes came at Riviera and Hilton Head, tying for third and fourth, respectively. But he also struggled at the Players, the PGA Championship, and the Memorial. He did not have his best stuff at the Masters, either.

Cantlay is also not listed among the entrants for next week’s Genesis Scottish Open, the final tune-up for The Open Championship at Royal Troon. As such, all signs point to golf fans seeing Cantlay next at golf’s oldest major championship in two weeks’ time.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.