It had been ten years since the 2009 U.S. Open champion had won a PGA Tour event, but a closing seven-under-par round of 64 vaulted Lucas Glover to victory in the 50th John Deere Classic, defeating Ryan Moore and Kevin Na by two shots. His last win had come in the 2011 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, and it had been a frustrating decade for Glover as he repeatedly struggled to retain his PGA Tour privileges once his five-year exemption for winning the U.S. Open expired.
Glover opened the tournament as a +5000 longshot.
Big Week for Glover
The win earned Glover $1,116,000, 500 FedEx Cup points, PGA Tour exempt status through the 2022-2023 season, and entry into the Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, and the Tournament of Champions in 2022. The 41-year-old out of Clemson was able to secure his fourth PGA Tour title by birdieing five of his final seven holes and getting up and down from a greenside bunker on his 72nd hole.
He had already qualified for the Open Championship, but the ability to play in the other majors will give him the opportunity to kick start his career, which had already seen some improvement with two top-ten finishes in his last nine starts. With the win, he vaulted 50 spots in the FedEx Cup standings, moving from 82nd to 32nd and ensuring his entry into at least the first event of the playoffs, if not two.
Betting Odds Results at the John Deere
Glover opened the tournament as a +5000 longshot, with a $100 wager on him returning $5100, a nice payday for anyone that was willing to take the chance. The pre tournament favorite was Daniel Berger at +1000, but he wasn’t able to really go low all week and ended up finishing in a tie for 34th at ten under par 274.
Three-time John Deere Classic winner Steve Stricker, at +4000 odds, skipped the U.S. Senior Open to playing in the John Deere, finishing tied for 41st at nine-under-par 275 after closing with a 71. Zach Johnson, another former winner, finished a shot ahead of Stricker and had the same +4000 odds.
Sebastian Munoz held the 54 hole lead by a shot, but he bogeyed two of his first three holes of the final round and ended up shooting an even-par 71 to finish in a tie for fourth place. By finishing in tied for second with Kevin Na after both shot closing round 68’s, Ryan Moore grabbed the last qualifying spot for this week’s Open Championship with his top-five performance.
Ryan Moore and The Open Championship
However, it was unclear whether Moore would accept the invitation that came on short notice, with a combination of a personal commitment and a sporadic back entering into the decision on making the trip to Royal St. George’s for the season’s final major championship. His absence would be the latest of several players to withdraw from the Open Championship, primarily due to a variety of Covid related issues, including Kevin Na, Bubba Watson, Matthew Wolff, and Hideki Matsuyama, among others.
