A strong field will tee off next week near the Quad Cities for the P.G.A. Tour’s John Deere Classic. The latest P.G.A. veteran to announce he will take part is former P.G.A. champion Davis Love III. The field will include reigning British Open champ Louis Oosthuizen and 2009 British Open champ Stewart Cink.
Tournament director Clair Peterson says they have had a great run and with the shuttle to the British Open they have eliminated one of the hurdles to having the best players take part.
The John Deere Classic has always been known as a tournament that features younger members of the P.G.A. Tour, Tiger Woods played it early in his career, but Peterson says it is also a plus to have the big names take part. He says they also love having the developing players come on board and many have started here and gone on to big things.
Peterson says there is a large crop of good young golfers on the tour and he says that might be part of Woods’ legacy as some of the great athletes decided golf was cool. Steve Stricker will be out to win his third straight JDC title. The first round is next Thursday.