Ghim holes out from fairway again
at Deere for first 36-hole lead on PGA Tour
[July 05, 2025]
SILVIS, Ill. (AP) — Doug Ghim holed out from the fairway for
eagle for the second straight day, sending him to a 3-under 68 and a
one-shot lead Friday in the John Deere Classic, his first 36-hole
lead in his six years on the PGA Tour.
Defending champion Davis Thompson (63) and Max Homa (68) were among
the five players within one shot of the lead going into the weekend.
The starting times have been moved up Saturday because of rain in
the forecast.
Ghim holed out on the short par-4 sixth in the opening round. This
time it was from 179 yards away on the par-4 15th.
“I guess holing out two days in a row is always nice,” Ghim said.
“It's been a couple years since I holed out from the fairway. To get
two back-to-back days is great.”
Ghim had a two-shot lead until hitting left into the trees and down
a cart path, punching out through the green and chipping to 18 feet,
missing the putt to make his second bogey of the round. He was at
12-under 130.
Mexico Open winner Brian Campbell (66), David Lipsky (67) and
Emiliano Grillo (66) were tied for second
Ghim still feels a long way off from a chance to win for the first
time at a tournament that has produced more first-time winners than
any PGA Tour event since 1970.
“The person that's going to win this tournament will be in the
20-under par area, so last time I checked I'm not there yet,” Ghim
said. “I don't feel like I'm in the lead, and I'm just happy that I
get to be teeing off late tomorrow in contention.”
Homa was tied with Ghim late in the afternoon, when the greens were
getting dry and crusty. But on the 18th hole, he pulled his tee shot
into a bunker, missing the green to the right and wound up missing a
12-foot par putt to fall one back.
He's still in good shape going into the weekend as he tries to get
his game turned around. Putting four rounds together, or even three
rounds, has been the difficulty and Homa did not sound like he was
willing to get too far ahead of himself.
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“I don’t think really much changes. I mean, just
play the golf course,” Homa said. "You’re going to have to shoot
really low. If you went out there and tried to do something
specific, I’m not so sure that is going to work. Somebody can go out
there and shoot 11 under out there and jump everybody. So just go do
what we did today and play another round of golf.
“Just keep waiting until the back nine on Sunday basically.”
Thompson played in the morning and was the first to reach 11-under
131 as he tries to become the first repeat winner of the John Deere
Classic since Steve Stricker won three in a row from 2009 through
2011.
There was high drama late in the day that wound up setting the cut
at 5-under 137.
Rikuya Hoshino and Jesper Svensson each made birdie on their last
hole to move the cut line to 5 under, only for Paul Peterson to take
bogey on his last hole to move it back to 4 under.
But in the final group, Brendan Valdes drilled his tee shot on the
par-4 18th, hit his approach to about 8 feet and holed the birdie
putt for a 66. That moved the cut back to 5 under, eliminating 14
players from the weekend.
Rickie Fowler and Jake Knapp wound up making the cut on the number.
Meanwhile, 12 players were separated by two shots going into the
third round, a group that includes Camilo Villegas, Sam Stevens and
Si Woo Kim. Stevens and Kim are trying to finish high enough to move
up the world ranking that will be used next week to set the
alternate list for the British Open.
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