John Deere Classic gaining entries with FedEx Playoffs on the line

The John Deere Classic, Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour event, will be held for the 54th time starting Thursday at TPC Deere Run in Silvis.

This staging will be a bit different from those of the past.

Golf’s top stars had tended to take the week off, rather than play in one of the smallest markets on the PGA Tour. That’s changing, thanks to format changes in the big-money FedEx Cup Playoffs. Now in their 19th year, the playoffs are only five weeks away and getting into the field is harder.

In the past, the top 100 on the circuit’s FedEx standings got into the first playoff event. This year only 70 get in. So some big-name stars are in the JDC field in search of elevating their positions in the standings.

Most notable is Rickie Fowler. One of the circuit’s most popular players accepted a sponsor’s exemption into the JDC in 2010 but hasn’t been back since. He’s in this year’s field, as is Wyndham Clark, who won the U.S. Open in 2023, and Max Homa, who had multiple wins in two of the last three seasons. Like Fowler, Clark and Homa have rarely played at TPC Deere Run.

Davis Thompson, who set the JDC scoring record in winning last year, will defend his title while sitting precariously on the FedEx bubble at No. 70.

Thompson was dazzling at last year’s JDC, winning by four strokes after shooting 62-64 in the weekend rounds. His 28-under-par performance was one better than Michael Kim’s then-record 72-hole 257 score in his eight-stroke victory in 2018.

Last year’s win made Thompson the 24th player to win his first PGA Tour event at the JDC. Thompson has only one top-10 finish this year — a tie for 10th at The Players Championship — in 19 starts.

Thompson was the third straight JDC champion who, during tournament week, resided with several other players at a house near the course. J.T. Poston was a “Champions House” resident when he won in 2022 and Sepp Straka stayed there in 2023. If one of the group wins the tournament, he pays the lodging cost.

“It was something I was happy to do,” Thompson said. “I was happy to write the check.”

Poston, Straka and Thompson will stay in the same house this week. Greyson Sigg, Patton Kizzire and perhaps one other player will join them.

“It’s definitely strange that it’s been three in a row,” Thompson said. “Hopefully we can make it four.”

In addition to those roommates, the field includes past champions Lucas Glover, Michael Kim, Dylan Frittelli and Zach Johnson, who will be competing for the 23rd consecutive year.

The tournament field also includes Ben Griffin, Jason Day, Sungae Im, Si Woo Kim, Tom Kim, Jake Knapp, Adam Hadwin and Brandt Snedeker, captain of the U.S. team in the 2026 Presidents Cup matches at Medinah.

Luke Clanton, who tied for second as an amateur last year, is now playing as a professional. Michael Thornbjornsen, a co-runner-up last year, is also back. The sponsor exemptions include NCAA champion Michael LaSasso, Jackson Koivun, Ben James, Brendan Valdes, Preston Summerhays and Gordon Sargeant.

LOCAL FLAVOR: Northbrook’s Nick Hardy and Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim, Chicago’s tour regulars, are in the field again and Hardy may be in the process of making a coaching change.

Sean Forey, a Canadian now living in Florida, announced via Instagram that he and Hardy, who has been struggling with his game, have been working together for several months.

“We’ve devised a blueprint,” said Foley, who previously worked with Tiger Woods and Lydia Ko among other touring pros. “Nick has historically always been a strong ball striker but has struggled with wedges and taking distance off his irons when he is in between (yardage) numbers. This is a very necessary skill on the PGA Tour. We have a long way to go on the blueprint but in the short term thus far we’ve improved play and scoring, and that’s the only goal.”

HISTORICAL: When Lake Forest’s Pierce Grieve won the Chicago District Amateur last week, he became the 12th player to win both the CDGA and Illinois State Amateur titles. The last to do it was Joel Hirsch in 1988.

Grieve, a 21-year-old West Virginia graduate, won the State Amateur in 2024 but won’t defend his title in two weeks when it comes to Stonebridge in Aurora.

“To get both those trophies and put my name on them is super special, and to do it in 11 months is even cooler. It speaks on just where my game is at,” Grieve said. “Professional golf is on the horizon. I’m not sure when that’ll be, but it’s definitely in the near future.”