Reavie leads at John Deere Classic
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2011 John Deere Classic | Day Two | 09 Jul 2011
Chez Reavie has the lead at the John Deere Classic in Silvis in Illinois after his brilliant second round of 62 swept him to a two shot lead over pre tournament favourite Steve Stricker and Steve Marino.
Reavie, from Scottsdale in Arizona, won the 2008 Canadian Open in his first season on the PGA Tour had hardly given any indication in recent weeks that a such a round was possible although six weeks ago he recorded an opening round of 62 at the famed colonial Country Club.
The former Public Links Champion underwent knee surgery in 2010 and has been playing on a Major Medical Exemption in 2010. That ran out two starts ago but gained a start her because of the weaker field this week and is taking full advantage of that to date.
Reavie credits a new found attitude to his improvement. “It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster. I finally kind of figured out how I need to think. At first I was kind of counting my starts and counting how much money, and I was so stressed about thinking about that I wasn’t thinking about golf so much. So after about five or six tournaments at the beginning of the year I just said, to hell with this. I’m just going to go play and wherever I finish up, I finish up, and then I started playing better golf.”
Stricker is chasing his third consecutive victory in this event and today he picked up where he left up yesterday. After two birdies to finish yesterday’s opening round he birdied the first and eagled the second in round two and has opened the door to become the first three time winner of this event.
Marino is chasing his first PGA Tour victory after being runner-up on four occasions and is trying to convince himself he can get across the line. “I think that on any given week if I play well, that I’m going to have a chance to win on Sunday. So yeah, I think that I’m definitely playing well enough to do it, and there’s no reason why I can’t see myself doing it.”
Perhaps surprisingly Nathan Green and Cameron Percy lead the Australians at the halfway mark. They are at 9 under and share 8th position. Both have had ordinary seasons to date although Green has a genuine excuse in that he and wife Michelle had their first child a month ago. Green will be happy to have found a little form ahead of his Open Championship start next week.
With only partial status on the PGA Tour, Percy has been forced to split his focus between events on the PGA and Nationwide Tours but will be delighted with the improvement shown this week.
Aron Price and Steve Bowditch are in 25th position with Jason Day in 36th position at 6 under and 8 behind the leader.
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