Stricker Makes Move at John Deere Classic

The weather was a bit more cooperative today than yesterday, as the John Deere Classic resumed Saturday with the golfers completing second round action, and a 36 hole Sunday to look forward to.  Darron Stiles and Lee Janzen led the tournament after Thursday’s opening round, but only Stiles still finds himself atop the leaderboard after a lovely 6-under today left him 13-under for the tourney.  But the big story of the day was Steve Stricker, who finds himself three strokes back of Stiles at 10-under after two rounds.  Stricker finds himself all alone in second place thanks to a course record tying 61, the best score of his career.

Steve Stricker tied the course record today at TPC Deere Run. (Image: Zuma Press)

Stricker’s spectacular round came as a surprise to many, including himself.  He confessed that his morning warm up on the driving range was poor, and that he had spent some time the day before working on his putting.  The extra putting must have done the trick, as Stricker seemed to be draining most of his putts on the day.

Thanks to Friday’s rainout, many of the players face the unenviable challenge of playing 36 holes on Sunday, then jetting off to Scotland for next week’s British Open.  Whether the extra golf tomorrow has any effect on the pros remains to be seen.