Spieth, the reigning Australian Open champion, started the John Deere Classic slowly and was eight shots back after the opening round. Spieth closed out the win, his 2nd victory at the John Deere Classic, becoming a local hero.
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Spieth is the first golfer to win four times before The Open since Tiger Woods in 2000 – and he silenced the critics who questioned why he played this tournament instead of heading overseas early to prepare for St. Andrews.
Jordan Spieth, potentially in need of a shave.
His third one landed in the hole.
Hollywood gave its best effort at the John Deere Classic on Sunday, but ultimately Vegas won.
The last few days in Illinois, though, proved among the best stretches of golf in his life, and he entered Sunday’s final round four shots behind Spieth.
Elsewhere, the American trio of Shawn Stefani, Justin Thomas and Johnson Wagner are three shots off the lead on -14 while fellow compatriots Zach Johnson, Daniel Summerhays and Tom Gillis are one shot further back.
The round was suspended for close to three hours because of two weather-related delays.
The Old Course, he said, “has yielded very low scores”.
Lee next travels to the year’s third major, the British Open at St Andrews in Scotland, which starts on Friday.
After finding the water on the second extra hole and losing to Spieth in a playoff, the soon-to-be-47-year-old missed out on a bid to finally earn his first PGA Tour victory.
Spieth prepared for the task by making 21 birdies and three eagles.
A bogey on 16, however placed him back at 20-under, allowing Spieth room to catch up.
“It was a really, really fun day”.
Jordan Spieth is watched by fans as he walks to the 11th hole in the final round of the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run.
“You get to the point where you wonder how much more is there, ” he said. “I thought it was going past the hole”, Spieth said.
Lee is now set to rise to the giddy heights of fourth place in the FedEx Cup rankings, while he is also tipped to crack the top 65 in the Official World Golf Rankings when released tomorrow. “(Instructor) Chris (Como) told me it was the first time I led the field in proximity to the hole with my iron game”. Just keep on trekking.
Though overshadowed by Spieth, Lee put himself in position for some history of his own on Sunday. The New Zealander born in South Korea showed pure poise last week at The Greenbrier, and followed it up with his 3rd place performance this week. After matching pars, Gillis hit his drive into the right trees the second time; with Spieth in the fairway he had no choice but to try to go for the green.
Lee knows he is a heavy underdog.
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Tom Gillis was on fire to start the day, going 5-under on the front nine, pumping the irons like a champ.
