Bryson DeChambeau capped a sizzling back nine with birdies on the
final two holes to win the John Deere Classic on Sunday at Silvis,
Ill.
DeChambeau charged up the leaderboard with seven birdies over his
last 11 holes to earn his first career victory, edging third-round
leader Patrick Rodgers by one stroke at TPC Deere Run.
DeChambeau shot a 6-under-par 65, including a 30 on the back nine
that featured six birdies, after starting the day four shots off
the lead. He finished at 18-under 266.
"It feels like it's been a long time coming even though I'm 23
(years old)," an emotional DeChambeau said. "It's pretty special to
win here at the John Deere. Didn't know that Payne Stewart's first
win was here, and that broke me. It was pretty special. ... He's
done some amazing things for the game of golf, and I hope I can do
something similar down the road."
DeChambeau, who earned a spot in the British Open with the victory,
nearly knocked himself out of the tournament with a 1-under 70 on
Saturday. Despite making four birdies between No. 10 and No. 14, he
still trailed Rodgers by two shots with two holes to play.
At the par-5 17th, DeChambeau reached the green in two and cut
Rodgers' deficit in half with a two-putt birdie. DeChambeau earned
a share of the lead when his birdie putt at No. 18 just caught the
right edge of the cup and dropped in, setting off a fist-pump,
double-clutch celebration.
"I knew that I was playing really well and I was fortunate enough
to come out with the win this week, and that kind of helps with the
(FedEx Cup) standings," said DeChambeau, who moved up 80 places to
34th in FedEx points.
Rodgers, who led by two shots after both the second and third
rounds, lost his share of the lead when his short par putt at the
17th lipped out. He drove over the green at 18, and his chip to tie
barely missed the hole.
"Patrick's a great competitor, I played a lot of golf with him in
college," DeChambeau said. "I was kind of shocked to see he bogeyed
17. I thought I was going to be in a playoff making that putt, but
it was enough, fortunately enough, to win here."
Rodgers wound up with a round of 70 to finish a stroke ahead of
Wesley Bryan (64) and Rick Lamb (66), who tied for third place.
Steve Stricker, a three-time winner of this event, was among five
players to finish at 269. Stricker shot 65-64 over the weekend to
earn his eighth top-10 finish in the tournament.
Zach Johnson (67), a local favorite who was born in nearby Iowa
City, joined Stricker, Jonathan Byrd (67), Scott Stallings (70) and
Daniel Berger (70) in the tie for fifth place.
Brian Harman (67) and J.J. Henry (69) shared 10th place at 270.
