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After a low-scoring day on day one, the birdies continued to flow on day two of the 2023 John Deere Classic. Jonas Blixt took an overnight lead into day two after one of the best and most surprising rounds of the Swede’s career but an over-par round on Friday saw him slide down the leaderboard. Replacing him at the top of the leaderboard is Cameron Young, who posted an impressive round of 64 in Illinois.
With two rounds in the bank, more than 80 players have missed the cut at the tournament after the line was set at -4, displaying just how low the scoring has been so far. Let’s take a look at how things are set heading into what is sure to be a thrilling weekend.
The John Deere Classic Leaderboard
Contents
Position/Player | Total | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cameron Young (USA) | -13 | 65 | 64 | ||
T2 | Adam Schenk (USA) | -11 | 65 | 66 | ||
T2 | Garrick Higgo (RSA) | -11 | 65 | 66 | ||
T2 | Brendan Todd (USA) | -11 | 66 | 65 | ||
T5 | Ludvig Aberg (SWE) | -10 | 68 | 64 | ||
T5 | William Mouw (USA) | -10 | 66 | 66 | ||
T5 | Denny McCarthy (USA) | -10 | 68 | 64 | ||
T5 | Kevin Roy (USA) | -10 | 69 | 63 | ||
9 | Mark Hubbard (USA) | -9 | 67 | 66 | ||
T10 | Grayson Murray (USA) | -8 | 64 | 70 | ||
T10 | Lucas Glover (USA) | -8 | 69 | 65 |
Round two highlights
Cameron Young moves into the lead
Going into the event, Cameron Young was many people’s predicted winner due to the fact he was the highest-ranked player taking part. At 19th in the world, Young was considered a big fish in what is a small pond in Illinois and to be fair to the 26-year-old he has dealt well with the expectation.
On day one, Young carded an excellent 65 and he bettered that effort by one shot on Friday to move ahead of the rest of the field. He has been the most consistent player over the opening two days of action and if he can continue this form over the weekend then he will be collecting his first PGA Tour trophy on Sunday evening.
63 yards away from a bunker.
Cameron Young gets creative with a 9-iron @JDClassic 😲 pic.twitter.com/bzGEin1YoV
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 7, 2023
Denny moves into contention
Denny McCarthy was another player who was well-fancied at the start of the week, thanks in large to his recent form on the PGA Tour. McCarthy came second in the Memorial Tournament at the start of June, secured a top-20 finish at the US Open in mid-June, and then broke the 36-hole record at TPC River Highlands at the Travelers Championship at the end of the month.
He started off quite slowly this week but kicked into gear on day two to move into a tie for fifth at the top end of the leaderboard. His round of 64 could have been even better, too, had he not gone three-over-par across holes nine and ten but he will be relatively happy with where he is placed going into the weekend.
Aberg continues his impressive start as a pro
One player to keep an eye on, not only over the weekend at the John Deere Classic but also in golf in general, is Ludvig Aberg. The 23-year-old, who was the amateur world number one last year, only turned professional a couple of months ago but is yet to miss the cut line in any of his three PGA Tour appearances to date.
Aberg saw his experienced compatriot, Jonas Blixt, take an early lead at the event on Thursday but it was the youngster’s turn to shine on Friday. A brilliant round of 64, which contained only one dropped shot, saw the Swede fly up 18 places in the leaderboard to give him an opportunity to challenge for his first title as a Professional.
Cut misery for Canadian pair
As the field this week was one of the weakest of the season in terms of rankings, there were plenty of players who would have fancied their chances. Among those would have been Canadian duo Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor.
Both men are already winners on the PGA Tour and have both enjoyed good seasons. It was only last week that Hadwin lost out to Rickie Fowler in a playoff for the Rocket Mortgage Classic while Taylor won the Canadian Open last month.
Unfortunately for the pair of them, they haven’t played well enough at all this week and won’t be making the cut with Hadwin stranded on a score of +1 for the week and Taylor three shots further back on +4.
John Deere Classic updated odds
- Cameron Young – 2/1
- Adam Schenk – 7/1
- Denny McCarthy – 8/1
- Brendan Todd – 10/1
- Ludvig Aberg – 10/1
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