John Deere Classic: Kevin Kisner among popular names to miss the cut  john,deere,classic,kevin,kisner,among,popular,names,to,miss,the,cut,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour


After two days of low scores, the John Deere Classic has cut its field in half. This week is a birdie marathon to see who can go the lowest.

Plenty of players found success, but many did not. They could not make enough birdies drop to stay in the hunt.

The lead is 14-under through 36 holes as C.T. Pan and Aaron Rai fired off 8-under 63s on Friday to follow up their 65s from Thursday.

Among the most popular names to play this weekend are two-time John Deere Classic winner Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Joel Dahmen, Keith Mitchell and Sungjae Im.

There are 24 players within four shots of Pan and Rai, which means the marathon will continue through the next 36 holes. Who will be able to prevent mistakes and make the most birdies?

Defending champion Sepp Straka made the cut on the number at 5-under. It does not seem like he will win back-to-back titles.

The cut line was 5-under, so anyone with 4-under or higher went home early. It is odd to see a cut that low, but that is how TPC Deere Run is playing this week.

Let’s take a look at the most popular names headed home.

The most popular name to MC at John Deere Classic

— Daniel Berger (-4; 68-70)
— Harry Higgs (-3; 72-67)
— Matt Kuchar: (-3; 69-70)
— Nick Dunlap: (-3; 69-70)
— Kevin Kisner: (-2; 68-72)
— Patton Kizzire: (-1; 71-70)
— Maverick McNealy: (E; 67-75)
— Nick Hardy: (E; 70-72)
— Neal Shipley: (+2; 70-74)

Higgs has been on quite the run on the Korn Ferry Tour and is on track to secure his PGA Tour card again. Most of the time, a 3-under total after 36 holes would see a guy play the weekend, but not this one.

The John Deere Classic has seen 1,352 birdies in two days of play. A 4-under and higher will not get a golfer paid. Many of these guys played well Thursday, but Friday’s wind caused problems for them and ultimately sent them home.

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.

Rockets’ wild trade with Nets is all about trying to get Kevin Durant or Devin Booker rockets,wild,trade,with,nets,is,all,about,trying,to,get,kevin,durant,or,devin,booker,sbnation,com,front-page,nba,nba-trade-rumors,nba-draft,draftkings


The Houston Rockets want Kevin Durant or Devin Booker. In an effort to get one of them, Houston made a fascinating trade with the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night to acquire future draft picks originally belonging to the Phoenix Suns. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke a convoluted trade that returns the Nets their own 2026 pick (originally sent to Houston in the James Harden trade) and extinguishes swap rights Houston had on Brooklyn’s 2025 pick in exchange for a package headlined by the Suns’ 2027 pick, which was originally acquired by the Nets in the Kevin Durant trade.

This trade comes on the heels of the Nets trading Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks in a package headlined by five first round draft picks. It’s all happening the night before the 2024 NBA Draft.

Does all of that make sense? Probably not. Here’s how Woj explained it:

Let’s do our best to sum this up:

Nets get: Brooklyn 2026 first round pick, extinguished swap rights on 2025 Brooklyn first round pick

Rockets get: 2027 Suns first round pick, 2025 Suns first round swap rights, 2029 first round pick from Dallas or Phoenix (more favorable), swap rights on 2029 first round pick with Dallas or Phoenix (less favorable)

The Nets’ motivation for doing this deal is obvious: Brooklyn is going all-in on rebuilding, and now has control of its own picks. The Nets are going to tank hard ahead of a loaded 2025 NBA Draft class, and then they’re going to tank again in 2026. Brooklyn is loaded with draft picks.

What’s the Rockets’ motivation for doing this deal? They want Durant or Booker, according to Woj, and believe they can get Phoenix to bite by returning their own draft picks. The Suns are determined to keep Durant and Booker for now and try to win next season, according to Woj. The Rockets are betting they will move off that position eventually. Here are tweets from Woj:

The Rockets also hold the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. Is Durant getting traded during the draft on Wednesday night? It seems like a distinct possibility.

This scans as an incredibly bold, borderline reckless trade by Houston. The swap rights for the Nets’ 2025 pick and unprotected ownership of their 2026 pick were incredibly valuable assets. Houston gave those up to fade the Suns. The Rockets are going to be aggressive in trying to trade for an established veteran talent — whether it’s Durant or Booker or someone else.

The NBA is on fire, and the Nets are at the center of it all. Brooklyn’s big swing for Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden blew up into an epic disaster, but the team recovered so well by dealing them all (and the returning assets like Bridges) for future draft picks. The Nets are flushed with draft capital in stronger classes the next few years.

Durant, by the way, turns 36 years old before next season. What a way to start the 24 hours before the draft.