SILVIS, IL. – Doug Ghim’s chances of becoming the 25th first-time PGA Tour winner at the John Deere Classic looked good after he held the solo lead after the first and second rounds.
“Any win on the PGA Tour is amazing,’’ said Ghim, a long-time resident of Arlington Heights. “To do it here would be awesome.’’
Well, it would have been. The John Deere Classic, which has more first-time winners since 1970 than any tournament on the circuit, could well have another in today’s final round at TPC Deere Run — but it most likely won’t be Ghim. The rest of the field came at him in droves in Saturday’s third round and Ghim couldn’t keep up.
He was even par after playing four holes and had fallen into a tie for fourth. Then the challengers kept coming in droves. That was the most amazing part of Saturday’s round.
Twelve players were co-leaders during the round and nine were tied for the lead midway through the back side. When play was over defending champion Davis Thompson held a one-stroke lead on University of Illinois alum Brian Campbell, Northwestern alum David Lipsky, Max Homa and Emilio Grillo.
Thompson shot a 67 to hit the 54-hole stop at 15-under-par 198 and the four immediately trailing him had 68s on Saturday. Ghim shot 74 and tumbled into a tie for 21st, six shots behind leader Thompson.
That shifted the best possibility for a 25th first-time champion at the JDC to Lipsky, an All-American in his days at NU. Lipsky, 36, won three professional events on foreign sale but has just one runner-up finish since joining the PGA Tour in 2022.
Thompson, meanwhile, set the JDC scoring record last year at 28-under 256. He could become the tourney’s first repeat champion since Steve Stricker won three in a row from 2009-2011.
The defender wasn’t at his best starting out on Saturday, a round pushed up to an 8 a.m. start with play in threesomes due to weather concerns that never materialized.
“I was hitting it solid, just didn’t really score great on the front,’’ he said. “My caddie gave me a pep talk on 10 tee and I was able to finish strong. It’s nice to have some momentum going into tomorrow.’’
Last year he won by four strokes after playing the weekend rounds in 62-64.
“Last year gave me confidence,’’ Thompson said, “but I can’t really focus on last year. That’s in the past. I’ve got to focus on the present. I’m really excited to go and compete.’’
Campbell, who got his first win in Mexico this year, had the most spectacular finish on Saturday, sinking a 36-foot putt to climb into a share of the lead. He birdied the first two holes, but gained more momentum when the long putt dropped at the finish.
“You love to see a putt go in on 18,’’ he said. “My caddie said I’m due for a long one, and sure enough, it went in. That was awesome. Hopefully I’m going to have one of those tomorrow for something bigger.’’
The main contenders were in the last two groups Saturday, and that created some fireworks on the 18th green. Grillo got to 14-under par first, then Lipsky, then Homa and then Campbell. That set the stage for Thompson to get sole possession of the top spot for Sunday, when play will be in twosomes.
Homa has played in the JDC only twice – in 2015 and 2017 – but he did win an important tournament in Illinois. In 2016 he came from seven shots back in the final round to win the Rust-Oleum Championship, a Web.com Tour event at Ivanhoe. That helped him regain his PGA Tour card for the 2016-17 season and he went on to win six times on the PGA circuit.
