Golfing J's on PGA Tour: John Deere Classic (and Olympics for Kooch) Aug 11-14

[GTJT622]

The Tour moves westward to Western Illinois, just across the border from Davenport, Iowa, for this week's John Deere Classic. I know. I know. You are just as surprised as I am that this isn't a Clemson Alumni Club Captain's Choice tournament with the name John Deere Classic and all.

This week will feature 3 GJ's playing...

• Stewart Cink
• Chesson Hadley
• Troy Matteson

Roberto Castro, Bryce Molder, and Cameron Tringale are taking the week off. Good to see Matteson back in a Tour event. All 3 of the GJ's participating this week need to win to secure their cards for next year.

CBS will have live weekend network coverage. The weather for Thursday and the final 2 rounds looks marvelous. Friday will be dancing around t'storms all day.

Matt Kuchar will of course be participating in the Olympics in Brazil. The Golf Channel will have coverage Thursday thru Sunday. The event is stroke play...low score wins gold. Golf is returning to the Olympics for the first time since 1904. Here's more info from wiki... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf_at_the_2016_Summer_Olympics

Will post tee times when I get them.

On deck:
Aug. 15-21 - U.S. Amateur Championships (Tech's Luke Schniederjans and James Clark will compete)
Aug. 18-21 - PGA Tour at Greensboro, NC (Wyndham Championship)

The Wyndham is the final event of the regular portion of the PGA Tour for the '15-'16 season. The top 125 in the FedEx Standings will continue on Aug. 25-28 at the first of four FedEx events at The Barclays. Currently, the following GJ's are safely inside the 125 leather...

• Matt Kuchar (16)
• Roberto Castro (55)
• Bryce Molder (74)
• Cameron Tringale (98)

The next closest is Chesson Hadley at #155.

 

[GTJT622]

Kooch tee times at the Olympics...

Thu: 8:03amET
Fri: 9:58amET

Paired with Danny Willett (England) and Haotong Li (China)

Bubbles the Cesspoolian will be in the group behind him. Hopefully Kooch can stay upwind of him for most of the two days.

 

[GTJT622]

pgatour.com has Kooch listed as #6 in this week's Olympics version of their Power Rankings... http://www.pgatour.com/power-rankings/2016/08/09/olympicmensgolfcompetition.html

6 Matt Kuchar
Rio Olympics GC isn’t the kind of thread-the-needle fare that he prefers, but he can’t lament over a late spring and summer that has yielded six top 10s and another top 20.

 

[GTJT622]

Olympics Leaderboard link: http://results.nbcolympics.com//golf/event/men/phase=gom001101/index.html?v=20160808144155&intcmp=[#]-schline-result

John Deere Classic leaderboard link: http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/john-deere-classic/leaderboard.html

Matteson off first at the JDC this morning at 8:50amET. Hadley and Cink off just after 2pmET this afternoon.

 

[GTJT622]

Kooch shoots a 2-under 69 and is tied for 9th. But, Australia's Marcus Fraser shoots a 63 (-8). Wow.

 

[GTJT622]

Stewart Cink is -3 thru his first 8 holes. Teeing off pretty late due to weather delays today. He started off the back nine today. Very encouraging. Pretty sure with everything his wife and he have been through this year, the gallery is rooting for him.

Would love to see him in contention on Saturday. Go Stewart!!

 

[GTJT622]

Kooch shot a 1-under 70 today to get to -3 for the tournament. He is currently tied for 14th and 7 shots behind the leader. He is the top American so far...1 stroke ahead of Bubbles and 2 strokes ahead of Patrick Reed. Ricky Fowler is in 50th place at +4.


edit note: Kooch is scheduled to tee off at 9:14amET in Rd. 3 Saturday

 

[BornAJacket]

thanks for the updates

 

[GTJT622]

In the rain-delayed John Deere Classic, Hadley and Matteson have been cut. Cink at -4 is the lone GJ left. He tees off at 2:40pmET today starting tied for 44th and 8 strokes back of the lead. GO STEWART!

 

[GTJT622]

Kooch finished with a -2 (69) for the day and is -5 for the first 3 rounds. He is tied for 8th...7 strokes back of Gold...6 strokes back of Silver and 4 strokes back of Bronze heading into tomorrow's final round.

 

[GTJT622]

The Gold and Silver are out of reach, but Kooch is now only 1 shot back of Bronze. GO KOOCH!!

 

[Texwood]

He's got an eagle putt coming up to pull within three of the lead.

 

[Texwood]

Kooch is on a furious charge going 6 under on the last six holes after sinking his eagle putt. Go Kooch!!!

 

[GTJT622]

Hopefully I won't jinx him like I normally do, but he is in great shape to get the bronze. Woohoo!!

 

[Texwood]

He sure is!! Survived the toughest stretch of holes without a bogey and now has four birdie holes in a row with nobody nipping on his heels. Probably only needs to par out to bring home the bronze. Would be more fun to see him go on a run here and put some pressure on Stenson and Rose!!

 

[Texwood]

Boom! Birdied the first of four. Go for all of it Kooch!!

 

[Texwood]

Driver to the green on the par 4 16th. He's not laying up.

 

[GTJT622]

If he can get into the house at -14, he's got a chance at gold.

 

[GTJT622]

I don't want it lost as to how proud I am of Stewart Cink this week in what has been a tough year for him (and obviously his wife and family). Stewart played his best golf of the season by going -8 and finishing in the top 50 most likely.

Way to go, Stewart!!!

 

[GTJT622]

Kooch misses the birdie putt on 16 but then drops his tee shot on the par-3 17th about a foot from the pin. Should get him to -13 with the par-5 birdie opportunity on the final hole left. Meanwhile, Stenson and Rose are choking a bit at the moment ahead of him. Could Kooch actually do this????

Fun stuff.

 

[Texwood]

Great t-shot on 18 gives Kooch a shot at the green in two!! No reason to hold back. Go for it Kooch!!!

 

[GTJT622]

Finished at -13. He has the bronze wrapped up. Would need one of the two ahead of him to fall apart on last holes to get a silver or gold. Still though, that's great for Kooch - especially considering where he was starting today - and yet another medal for Team USA. Woohoo!

(note: low American...added "only" because others were concerned about Zika)

 

[GTJT622]

CONGRATS TO MATT KUCHAR...

...BRONZE MEDAL OLYMPIAN!!!

WOOHOO!!

 

[Texwood]

So awesome to see Kooch up on that podium! He looked like a kid winning his first ever prize the way he was checking out that medal after they draped it around his neck.

Little did I know I was watching the gold and bronze medalists when following Kooch and Rose around the course in match play here in Austin earlier this spring.

 

[GTJT622]

Kooch is currently in 11th place in the Ryder Cup Standings. He could move up into the top 8 and be an auto qualifier if he does well at The Barclays (Aug 25-28). He is skipping next week's Wyndham Championship in Greensboro which makes sense.

If he's not one of the top 8 after the Barclays, USA Captain Davis Love III will select 3 of his 4 captain's choices after the BMW Championship which ends Sep. 11. I'm hopeful this bronze along with Kooch's solid play this year and his experience in the Ryder's and President's Cups will sway Love to select him if he doesn't auto qualify.