SILVIS, IL. – Finally, after two days of stormy weather that resulted in over three inches of rain pelting the TPC Deere Run course, the John Deere Classic is back on track and — conditions being what they are now – today’s final round is going to be a birdie-filled shootout.

The JDC has always been one of the lowest-scoring events on the PGA Tour and Saturday’s dawn to dusk session showed just how vulnerable TPC Deere Run can be under mild conditions. Saturday produced a race to finish. None of the players wanted to return early today to finish Round 3.

Ryan Moore, who lipped out his birdie putt on the final green at 8:25 p.m. in near darkness, posted his third straight 65. He’s 18 under par for the 54 holes, but that great scoring is good for only a one-stroke lead over Ben Martin and Morgan Hoffmann. They both shot 62 in Saturday’s third round.

The lift, clean and place rule was in effect on the fairways on Saturday, and the 73 players who made the cut after the second round ended at mid-day took full advantage once the third round began in the afternoon. Martin made birdie on the first five holes and on four of his last five. Hoffman strung six birds in his back nine blitz.

Moore, though, wasn’t fazed.

“That’s just how I play golf,’’ he said. “I’m a position guy – just put it out there and keep giving myself opportunities. My putting has felt better than it’s felt in a while, which is very encouraging.’’

The spectacular play wasn’t just by the front-runners on Saturday. Aaron Wise, the NCAA champion from Oregon, shot 63 and Charlie Danielson – like Wise in the field on a sponsor’s exemption – had the shot of the day. The former University of Illinois star holed out from 146 yards for eagle at No. 18.

Today’s cast of finalists includes the tourney’s two most popular stars, Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker, but neither took advantage of the good scoring conditions and are far back in the standings. In fact, a changing of the guard looms for today’s final round as the champions from the last seven years are either far off the pace or — in the case of two-time winner Jordan Spieth — not here.

Concerns over the Zika virus led to Spieth dropping out of the Olympics’ golf competition, and he decided to take the week off altogether rather than defend his title here.

Johnson, Stricker and 2014 JDC champion Brian Harman formed the featured threesome in the first two rounds, both of which were spread over 2 ½ days and played in less than desirable weather. They had to play their entire second round on Saturday morning and Johnson and Stricker returned for another 18 holes in the afternoon.

Harman didn’t survive the 36-hole cut, made after the second round was completed on Saturday morning. Johnson, the 2012 champion and perennial contender, saw his string of 29 straight rounds in the 60s at TPC Deere Run come to an end with a par-71 showing in Round 2 and he shot the same score in the afternoon. Stricker, who won the title three straight times from 2009-11, needed two late birdies just to survive the cut. He shot 68 in both his Saturday rounds and is tied for 37th place. Johnson is tied for 50th.

“I’m happy to be around,’’ said Stricker. “The course is wet. It’s tough to control your ball out of the fairway and if you hit it in the rough, it’s thick and lush. We’re lucky to be playing. The course took a lot of rain. It’s still in great shape, but it’s tough.’’

“Today is the hardest I’ve seen this course since the time we played in September (in 2003), said Johnson. “The course is significantly different. It was one of those gusty days where you’re in between clubs a lot.’’

Obviously, many of their rivals didn’t agree.

Hot streaks also were provided by Argentina’s Miguel Angel Carballo, who posted four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the front nine, and South Korea’s Wee Kim, who birdied his last five holes to climb into a tie for fifth, one shot behind fourth place Johnson Wagner.

SILVIS, IL. – This 46th playing of the John Deere Classic has lots of golf remaining. Because three inches of rain fell on the TPC Deere Run course over the last two days, the second round is barely half over and will have to be completed Saturday morning before the third round can begin.

That aside, the tourney already has a heart-tugging story line. Tom Gillis is in the hunt again. One of the lucky ones to complete his second round on Friday, Gillis’ 64-68 start put him two strokes behind clubhouse leader Wesley Bryan and one behind Steve Marino after 36 holes.

Gillis was a tragic figure after the 2015 JDC. A 48-year old veteran of 171 PGA tour events, he was in position for his first victory on golf’s premier circuit. He let a lead slip away late in the final round, however, and ended up losing a two-hole playoff to 21-year old phenom Jordan Spieth who is not defending his title this week.

Spieth, who came from four strokes down with six to play to force the playoff, was the golden boy of 2015, having previously won the Masters and U.S. Open. Gillis was a journeyman player who accepted the defeat with dignity – at least on the day of his collapse.

“I never really watched the watched the video that day and when I did watch it I wished I hadn’t,’’ Gillis said. “It showed that I was in command all day. That bothered me all year. It will always bother me. I haven’t shown any form since then.’’

Gillis is in his 26th year as a touring pro and he’s played tournaments in 28 countries. Last year’s JDC is a classic example of what might have been.

“It could have really been special,’’ said Gillis. “What stung is that I realized that to win a lot has to happen right.’’

It didn’t that day 13 months ago, but it could this week. Last year he finished the tournament with a 7-under-par 64 to at least briefly pass Spieth, who started with the day with a two-stroke lead. This year he started with a 64, in a round that was spread over Thursday and Friday, and followed with another solid round in a long day on the course Friday.

Rain hampered the tournament again. Play was scheduled to start at 7 a.m. but the first round couldn’t resume until noon thanks to more bad weather. Those who finished their first rounds on Thursday couldn’t start their second rounds until nearly 6 p.m. Among those who have lots of golf to play today are Zach Johnson, the 2012 champion who was one of three golfers to post 65 on Thursday before severe weather curtailed play.

Bryan, off to a 66-64 start after playing 25 holes on Friday, earned his place on the PGA Tour off a strong showing on the Web.com Tour this year. Marino had a similarly long day on Friday. He arrived at the course at 5 a.m., anticipating a resumption of play two hours later.

“I had eaten breakfast, then went back to the hotel and ate breakfast again,’’ said Marino. “There was never a negative thought about what was going on.’’

Still, the weather has impacted every player at one time or another. Johnson and three-time JDC winner Steve Stricker were scheduled to start their second rounds at 7:40 p.m. They, along with playing partner Brian Harman, the 2014 winner, were standing on the No. 1 tee when another storm hit.

Play was suspended for the day at 7:52 and is scheduled to resume at 7 a.m. today. An improved weather forecast suggests the third round will at least begin on Saturday afternoon after the second is completed and the cut to the low 70 and ties is made.

SILVIS, IL. – The John Deere Classic doesn’t draw one of the best fields on the PGA Tour, and this week’s 46th playing of the tournament has to contend with the first Olympic Games golf competition since 1904.

The JDC does have Steve Stricker, however – and that counts for a lot.

Stricker has won the tournament at TPC Deere Run three times and shot 60 in one memorable round there. He’ll in the featured pairing off the No. 10 tee, along with past champions Zach Johnson and Brian Harman, at 8:20 a.m. today. Play begins off both Nos. 1 and 10 at 7:20.

“It’s always special coming back here. It’s a special place for me and my family,’’ said Stricker, one of five former University of Illinois golfers in the 156-man field. “There’s a great hometown feel here. This is the way the PGA Tour used to be week in and week out, and we don’t get this feel very often anymore.’’

At 49, Stricker is embroiled in an unusual season as his PGA Tour career is winding down. It all started with a second-place finish at Memphis.

“That got me thinking about getting in majors,’’ he said. “I had tried qualifying for the U.S. Open but missed out on a playoff by a shot. I was trying to gain some Ryder Cup points and some FedEx Cup points and Memphis got me into the British Open.’’

Not only did Stricker get into the Open, he finished a strong fourth after going to Europe a week early to play in the Scottish Open the week before.

“I played well a couple times and that got me into a tournament or two that I wasn’t expecting to get into,’’ he said. “It’s been fun getting back into the swing of things.’’

Stricker is feeling so good about his game that he even envisions making the Ryder Cup team again. How he plays this week will have an impact on his chances, but Stricker will be at the team competition against the Europeans regardless. U.S. captain Davis Love III already named him as one of his assistant captains.

“I’m trying to play my way on,’’ he said. “I don’t know if I can make it on points, but I can get the attention of Davis and the other (assistant captains). I’ve got to play a couple good tournaments to show that I’m worthy.’’

One big thing that he’ll have going this week is his familiarity with TPC Deere Run. He’s making his 15th appearance in the tournament and has found the course better than ever.

“It’s the best I’ve ever seen it. The course is in unbelievable shape,’’ said Stricker. “It’s going to be a great week for everybody here.’’

SILVIS, IL. – Organizers of what is now established as the John Deere Classic have coped with a variety of challenges for 45 years as a small market tournament on the PGA Tour – but never was the challenge anything like this one.

Golf will be contested at the Olympic Games for the first time since 1904 beginning on Thursday. That’s also the same day the John Deere Classic tees off at TPC Deere Run in this small town the outskirts of Moline, IL., and Davenport, IA.

Normally the JDC is held in July, the week before the British Open. That’s been a good date for the event, especially after tournament director Clair Peterson hired a jet to take any interested players directly to The Open as soon as the last putt dropped in the JDC. That was an amenity widely appreciated by the players.

Going head to head with the Olympics is different, though the Games didn’t get the respect anticipated from the golf’s top players. Six of the top 10 in the world rankings decided against going to Brazil, many citing concerns over the Zika virus. They included Jordan Spieth, who would be defending this JDC title this week if he hadn’t decided to take the week off altogether.

Of the four American players competing in Rio three didn’tt arrived until late Monday. Bubba Watson, Matt Kuchar and Patrick Reed all played in the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship in Hartford, Ct., which ended on Sunday. Only Rickie Fowler was in Rio for the Opening Ceremonies.

So where did that leave the JDC? At least long-time favorites Steve Stricker and Zach Johnson are in the field. Both are making their 15th straight appearance at TPC Deere Run.

“It’s a special place for me,’’ said Stricker, who won the tournament three times. “The fans really get behind me and Zach. The course is in unbelievable shape – the best I’ve ever seen it. It’s going to be a great week for everybody here.’’

Johnson felt the same way, though he called the scheduling of the tournament opposite the Olympics “unfortunate.’’

“The Olympics has put a wedge in our schedule. It’s affected every tournament post-U.S. Open,’’ said Johnson, a JDC board member. “I don’t know if there’s a positive for anybody. There may not be many negatives either. It’s just different.’’

Olympics or not, the JDC is meaningful a lots players – whether they’re here or not.

“You can look at it a number of ways,’’ said Johnson, a former Masters and British champion. “There are only two weeks left before the (FedEx Cup) Playoffs. There are only so many weeks left of Ryder Cup points. There are a lot of things at stake, so guys want to play and get some points here and there. But the Olympics touched the majors, too. It made you think about when to play and when to rest, which is more important this time of year.’’

Johnson has been a major contender the last seven stagings of the JDC. That stretch included a victory (in 2012), a playoff loss, two runner-up finishes and two ties for third.

Last week Johnson was paired the first two rounds with Jim Furyk at the Travelers Championship in Hartford, Ct. Furyk barely survived the 36-hole cut before shocking the golf world with a record 58 on Sunday. TPC Deere Run was the site of Paul Goydos’ 59 in 2010, on the same day that Stricker shot a 60.

“(Low scores) are much more attainable here,’’ said Johnson. “You have three par-5s and a drivable par-4. TPC River Highlands (in Hartford) is harder top to bottom.’’

The JDC has led the PGA Tour events in birdies in four of the last five years, and another low-scoring affair seems likely. Johnson and Stricker head the field, as usual, and the rest of the competitors include more than the usual number of college stars who have just entered the professional ranks. They include Aaron Wise, of Oregon; Charlie Danielson, Illinois; Jordan Niebrugge, Oklahoma State; Jon Rahm, Arizona State; and Lee McCoy, Georgia.

First-time winners are not unusual at the JDC. Twenty players have notched their first PGA Tour title at the JDC, the last being Brian Harman in 2014.

The 156 starters will be playing for an $4.8 million purse with Sunday’s champion receiving $864,000. The starters also include former major championship winners Angel Cabrera, Trevor Immelman, Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink and David Toms plus former JDC champions John Senden and Jonathan Byrd.

Dylan Meyer wasn’t one of the high-profile players on the University of Illinois’ powerhouse golf teams the last couple seasons. New pros Charlie Danielson and Thomas Detry filled that role.

When school resumes later this month, though, it figures to be Meyer’s turn – and on Saturday he proved ready for the challenge.

About to enter his junior season for the Illini, Meyer captured the 114th Western Amateur title at the Knollwood Club, in Lake Forest, with a 3 and 1 victory over Sam Horsfield, who dominated the tournament until the title match.

Horsfield, a University of Florida sophomore from Manchester, England, was the tourney medalist by nine strokes and survived his first three matches after that. He was even 2-up on Meyer five holes into the title match before the momentum changed.

Meyer won Nos. 6 and 7 to get the match to all square and took the lead for good with his first birdie at the 601-yard par-5 tenth. Horsfield lipped out a putt from 10 feet that would have halved that hole, and he had lipouts three more times before conceding the par-3 17th hole and the match to Meyer.

“There wasn’t a point that I had total control. Sam’s a great player, and I expected him to do everything,’’ said Meyer. “When I was 2-down my mind was re-setting. My caddie and I had a plan – to be relentless.’’

It eventually paid off, as Meyer now joins a select group that includes Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods as Western Amateur champions.

“I didn’t play bad at all. Dylan played great,’’ said Horsfield, who is No. 1 in the Scratch Players World Amateur Rankings (compared to No. 15 for Meyer). “It’s been a great week. I’m proud of how I played and excited where my game’s at.’’

There’s still one big event before school starts – the U.S. Amateur at Michigan’s Oakland Hills course. It begins on Aug. 15 and all the Western Amateur stars will be there, including Meyer and Nick Hardy, his Illini teammate from Northbrook who won the Illinois State Amateur by a shocking 10 strokes three weeks ago. Meyer stayed with Hardy’s family during the Western Am.

Meyer, from Evansville, Ind., needed to survive a sudden death playoff on Thursday to make the Sweet 16 match play qualifiers. He switched drivers in the middle of the tournament, which improved his game but didn’t enabled him to approach Horsfield’s prodigious blasts off the tee. Most impressive of those came at the 426-yard fifth hole, where Horsfield’s tee shot came up just 50 yards short of the green.

That was the pattern throughout the match, but Meyer – a slender 140 pounds – wasn’t distracted.

“I know my place. I know my game. I know my stature,’’ said Meyer. “I just accept it. I’m not going to be Jason Day or Dustin Johnson. I’d be a Zach Johnson. I’d short-game a golf course to death.’’

That’s pretty much how he won this tournament. He reached the final four by whipping Doug Ghim, a University of Texas player from Arlington Heights, in Thursday’s quarterfinals and then baffled Will Gordon, of Davidson, N.C., in Saturday’s semifinals, going 3-up on the front nine before winning 4 and 2.

Horsfield had a more difficult semifinal. His opponent, Davis Riley of Hattiesburg, MS., shot a 6-under-par 30 on the front nine and birdied the 10th to go 4-up. Horsfield then won the next six holes and the match to put himself in position to be the first medalist to win the title since Chris Williams in 2012. Meyer, however, spoiled that dream.

Friday was not a good day for the local players who made it to match play in the 114th Western Amateur at Knollwood Club in Lake Forest.

Northbrook’s Nick Hardy lost in the Round of 16 to Davis Riley, of Hattiesburg, Miss., 4 and 2 and Doug Ghim of Arlington Heights, survived his first match in 19 holes but was walloped by Hardy’s University of Illinois teammate Dylan Meyer 5 and 4 in the quarterfinals.

Friday’s matches whittled the field in the prestigious championship to four players. Tourney medalist Sam Horsfield, a University of Florida sophomore from Manchester, England, will face Riley, a sophomore at Alabama, in the first semifinal at 8 a.m. and Meyer will take on Will Gordon, a sophomore at Vanderbilt from Davidson, N.C., at 8:15.

Meyer, from Evansville, Ind., needed to survive a playoff on Thursday to make it into the Sweet 16 for the match play portion of the tournament. He was sorry to see Hardy eliminated.

“We root for each other, and I we really wanted to play each other in the finals,’’ said Meyer, “but we’ll meet up again at the U.S. Amateur.’’

That’ll be the last big summer event before the collegiate stars return to their school teams. The U.S. Amateur will be played at Oakland Hills, in Michigan, starting on Aug. 15. Ghim will be there, too.

“It’s been fun testing my game against such a difficult golf course,’’ said Ghim, soon to be a junior at Texas. “I still consider this a good week, though I didn’t have my best game. I tried to be patient, but I kept burning the edges. It didn’t happen this week, but there’ll be more matches in the future.’’

Hardy started slowly against Riley and never recovered. He missed five putts inside of 10 feet on the front nine. The Meyer-Ghim match was similar, in that Meyer built a 3-up lead in the first eight holes and remained in control the rest of the way.

Horsfield, who was nine shots better than the rest of the field in the 72-hole stroke play portion of the tournament, needs to win both his matches today to become the first medalist to win the overall title since Chris Williams did it at Exmoor, in Highland Park, in 2012.

Just qualifying for the Sweet 16 at the Western Amateur is a great accomplishment, and Northbrook’s Nick Hardy and Arlington Heights’ Doug Ghim both did that on Thursday at Knollwood Club in Lake Forest.

They were only bit players in the third and fourth round of the stroke play portion in the 114th playing of this championship, however. Sam Horsfield, a University of Florida sophomore from Manchester, England, dominated the 72-hole portion that determined the 16 who advance to match play on Friday.

Horsfield opened with a course record 9-under-par 63 on Tuesday, stumbled to a 75 on Wednesday and then cruised in with a 67-64 finish on Thursday to posted a 15-under-par 269 total for the 72 holes. That at least approached the records for the prestigious tournament. The record books are sketchy with the tourney’s Sweet 16 era going back “only’’ to 1956.

Using that as guideline, Horsfield had the fourth-best stroke play score in the history of the tournament, the best being a 265 by Aron Price at long-time host site Point O’Woods, in Benton Harbor, Mich., in 2004.

Danny Lee, the last medalist to go on to win the overall title in 2008, shot 268 at Point O’Woods and Chris Williams also posted that number at North Shore in Glenview in 2011. Their scores in relation to par and margin of victory were not available.

Horsfield, who won his qualifying medal by nine strokes over runner-up Michael DeMorat of Merritt Island, FL., was concerned with only one record.

“I knew the course record was 63 and I tried to make my birdie putt on the last hole for 62,’’ he said. That putt didn’t drop and Horsfield missed his comeback putt as well.

“Finishing bogey-bogey somewhat sucks, but I achieved my goal of making it to match play,’’ he said. “It was a special day. I had all things clicking.’’

At least that was the case most of the time. He needed a tuneup on the range between rounds on Thursday to work out a minor kink in his swing. After that it was clear sailing.

“In the afternoon I was in control of my game’’ he said. “Once I got to 3-under after nine I had nothing to worry about. My caddie and I decided to look at the rest of the round like it was a practice round.’’

Horsfield reached 17-under and led by 11 at one point on the final nine but that was incidental.

“If somebody told me I’d get to 17-under before the round I wouldn’t have believed it,’’ he said. “I told my girlfriend I wanted to get to 15-under, and once I was there I kind of just hit it around.’’

Earning medalist honors in no way guarantees that match play will be a similar walk in the park.

“Match play is a different animal,’’ said Horsfield, who was also a Sweet 16 qualifier last year. “You’re not playing the golf course, you’re playing your opponent. A lot of great names have won the medal. It’s a pretty neat accomplishment, but it’s over. I came here to win the tournament.’’

Hardy, the reigning Illinois State Amateur champion, finished 71-69 and tied for fourth. Ghim went 73-70 on Thursday and ended in a tie for sixth. They’ll be in the first round of match play, which starts at 8 a.m. on Friday. Winners will play in the afternoon quarterfinals, and the four survivors will decide the title on Saturday with semifinals in the morning and the title match in the afternoon.

Hardy will host Davis Riley, of Hattiesburg, MS., in the Round of 16 while Ghim will take on Max McGreevy, of Edmond, Okla. Horsfield’s opponent is Joaquin Niemann of Chile, who survived a six-man playoff for the final five spots in match play.

Among the other playoff survivors was University of Illinois golfer Dylan Meyer, who will face DeMorat. Four members of the Sweet 16 are foreigners.

Doug Ghim lives in Arlington Heights but the Chicago area rarely gets a chance to see how good he is. Wednesday, though, was one of those days.

Ghim started fast and finished strong to climb into a tie for second place after two rounds of the stroke play competition at the 114th Western Amateur at Knollwood Club in Lake Forest. Posting scores of 69 and 71, he trails England’s Sam Horsfield by one stroke entering Thursday’s 36-hole session, which will decide the 16 qualifiers for the match play portion of the competition on Friday and Saturday.

The field was cut from Tuesday’s 156 starters to the low 44 and ties for Thursday’s double round. Ghim is tied with four others, among them Todd Mitchell — the 38-year old veteran from Bloomington – at the 36-hole mark. Northbrook’s Nick Hardy is also in the mix, two strokes behind Ghim.

Ghim has taken an unusual path to success. He skipped high school competition at Buffalo Grove after his freshman year, preferring instead to play in national junior tournaments. Then, rather than attend college close to home, he opted for the perennial powerhouse program at Texas.

Both Ghim and Hardy are entering their junior seasons. Hardy is at Illinois, and he has enjoyed a great summer. He won the Illinois State Amateur by 10 strokes and finished as low amateur at the Illinois Open in the last three weeks. Ghim didn’t play in either one.

“I wanted to play the State Am but was late for registration,’’ he said, “and I didn’t have time to qualify for the Illinois Open, which was a bummer. I wanted to play. I wish I could have given Nick a run for his money but I just totally forgot that I wasn’t exempt for those events. It didn’t even cross my mind that I’d have to qualify.’’

The No. 9-ranked amateur in the world, Ghim has a loftier status than Hardy, who is No. 24. They could meet in the Western Am, but both have to survive Thursday’s 36-hole session to qualify for the Sweet 16 first.

“It might seem like I’m not trying to play locally, but I love playing around here, where I can sleep in my own bed,’’ said Ghim. “It’s nice to have this big tournament, with the best players in the world, in my hometown.’’

Ghim is used to big tournaments. He played for Team USA in the Palmer Cup in England this summer and also competed in tournaments in Pittsburgh and San Francisco.

Very little golf will be played at Knollwood after the Western Am ends on Saturday. After a members event on Sunday and an outing on Monday the course will be closes to enable a re-grassing of the greens. Those surfaces are a big challenge for the field in the Western Am.

“I’ve been drawing off my experience of two years ago (when he was the Western Am medalist at Beverly Country Club in Chicago),’’ said Ghim. “The courses are similar, and the greens may be firmer than those at Beverly.’’

“They’re a lot like Beverly’s, maybe even faster,’’ chimed in Hardy. “They’re not hard to read, just hard to putt. I love how they have Knollwood in this condition and, if I can win, it’d be my biggest win ever. But we’ve still got to get to match play. Then it’s anyone’s tournament.’’

Golf has been played in the Chicago area for 124 years, and – as far as local players go — there’s never been a two-week stretch quite like the one that ended with a rousing Illinois Open victory by Elgin’s Carlos Sainz Jr. on Wednesday.

Those two weeks — in tournaments played on three courses in St. Charles that are only a few miles apart – produced record victories in both the Illinois State Amateur and Illinois Open. Those events are the biggest events annually for local players.

The epic two weeks started with Nick Hardy, a University of Illinois junior-to-be from Northbrook, devouring the field in the Illinois State Amateur with a 28-under-par performance over 72 holes at St. Charles Country Club. The State Am has been played for 86 years and Hardy’s 260 score for 72 holes erased a record that had stood for 46 years and his relation to par score eliminated a record that had been standing for 32 years.

Hardy was only part of the supporting cast on Wednesday, however. He hung on for low amateur status in the Illinois Open, edging playing partner Branden Mounce of El Paso and Kevin Flack of Belvidere by one stroke. The Open was played on two St. Charles courses, Royal Fox and Royal Hawk, and Hardy was fourth overall.

Sainz shot shot 67-65-65, with the last two rounds one off the course record in the eight Illinois Opens played at Royal Fox. Flack and Wheaton’s Tee-K Kelly, runner-up in last week’s Illinois State Amateur, also posted 65s on Wednesday but Sainz was clearly the star of this show.

He played like a PGA Tour player — which he was last year and hopes to be again – against the best professionals and amateurs who also reside in Illinois. The tourney had 638 entries and the 156 in the finals were determined after seven state-wide qualifying tournaments.

The Illinois Open, which has been played for 67 years, is contested over 54 holes. Sainz was a five-stroke winner over long-hitting Christian Heavens, a mini-tour pro from Fairview Heights near St. Louis. Like Hardy the week before, Sainz rewrote the tournament record books with his 17-under-par 197 performance. The records he erased weren’t as longstanding as those made irrelevant by Hardy. Bolingbrook’s David Cooke set the old records – 15-under 199 for 54 holes over the Royal Melbourne and Hawthorn Woods courses just last year.

“This was big – something I’ve wanted to win as a pro the last four-five years and almost did the last time I played it,’’ said Sainz, who was also low amateur in the tournament before turning pro.

Sainz was on a role in 2013. He won for the first time on the Canadian PGA Tour, flew to Chicago that night and three days later made it into a playoff in the Illinois Open that was eventually won by Antioch’s Joe Kinney. Sainz was exhausted after seven straight days of pressure-packed tournament golf but returned a few weeks later to win the now defunct Chicago Open.

The momentum gained from those tournaments helped Sainz get playing privileges on the PGA Tour in 2015 but he didn’t earn enough money to keep his tour card. He hopes to get it back, and Wednesday’s win was a step in the right direction. He’ll rejoin the Canadian circuit – now called the Mackenzie Tour – next week in preparation to another crack at the PGA’s fall qualifying school.

“When you’re playing well you’ve got to feel you’re going to win the tournament. That’s how I feel at the Illinois Open,’’ said Sainz. “Now I’ve got to learn to do it at the national level, and on bigger stages.’’

He has shown signs of doing that. He was 20-something under par in a similarly handy win in South Florida last winter.

“But that was a long time ago,’’ said Sainz. “It’s nice to have a solid week again.’’

He had this Illinois Open in hand from the get-go after owning a four-shot lead to start the final round. That lead grew to as many as six strokes as he made birdies on four of the first six holes and then coasted in. The highlight of his final round were 25-foot birdie putts at the third and 16th holes.

“I felt great all day and controlled my emotions well,’’ said Sainz, who picked up $17,500 for his victory.

Usually a golfer makes his mark in the Illinois Open and uses it as a springboard to earn a regular spot on the PGA Tour. For Carlos Sainz, though, it’s been the other way around – at least for now.

Sainz had a strong showing in the 2013 Illinois Open, losing the title to Joe Kinney in a three-way playoff, and then earned his PGA Tour card at qualifying school. Last season Sainz was a regular on the big circuit but didn’t earn enough money to keep his card, so now he’s starting the process all over again. On Tuesday he showed lots of progress.

A 65 over the Royal Fox course in St. Charles propelled the Elgin resident to a four-stroke lead in the 67th playing of the biggest championship for state residents. He’ll go for the title in the final 18 of the 54-hole test on Wednesday.

Sainz owns a four-shot lead on 2014 champion Brad Hopfinger and Christian Heavens, who could become the event’s first African American champion if he gets hot in the last round. The top two amateurs — Branden Mounce of El Paso and Nick Hardy of Northbrook — are five strokes back along with Andy Mickelson, director of golf at Mistwood in Romeoville.. Another amateur, 16-year old high schooler Tommy Kuhl of Morton, is another shot back.

If Hardy rallies to win he’d be the second player to win the Illinois Amateur and Open titles in the same year. David Ogrin accomplished that feat in 1980.

Given the size of his lead, though, the tournament is Sainz to lose. After rounds of 67 and 65 he’s at 11-under-par and showing the form that got him to the PGA Tour in the first place. This year he’s splitting time between the Web.com and Canadian circuits while shaking off the disappointment of his rookie PGA Tour season.

“It was frustrating,’’ admitted Sainz, “but it was a great learning experience. It’s the same game out there, but those players are really good. The PGA Tour is really competitive. You know that coming out but don’t really know it until you’re there.’’

Sainz earned most of his $124,115 PGA Tour winnings in one tournament – a top-10 finish in the Sanderson Farms Classic in Mississippi. He went to college at Mississippi State and is now training at the school’s new practice facility at Mossy Oak Golf Club.

“Playing on the PGA Tour only made me better,’’ said Sainz. “It gave me a taste of it, and I really want to get back there. I feel I have the game to do it.’’

His top challengers on Wednesday have never made it to the big time. Hopfinger spent this season between the Web.com and PGA Latinoamerica circuits. Heavens turned pro after being a First Tee graduate of Georgetown College in Kentucky in 2011. He’s tested his game playing “pretty much all over the play, wherever I can find an affordable tour.’’

Hopfinger is the last of seven players to win both the Illinois Amateur (2011) and Open. Mounce spent his freshman year at Illinois State and is transferring to Bradley. Hardy, a sparking 28 under par in winning the Illinois State Amateur last week at St. Charles Country Club, is headed for his junior season at Illinois. Mickelson is the reigning PGA Assistants champion.

The pros will have a bit more incentive in the final round than they’ve had in recent years. Carrie Williams, in her first year as Illinois PGA executive director, announced that the purse will hit the $100,00 level for the first time since 2003. That’s in large part because the entries were up from 537 last year to 638.