In his 63rd begin, Davis Thompson can formally name himself a PGA Tour winner.
He carded a last spherical 7-under 64 to put up a 28-under complete and win the John Deere Traditional by 4 pictures over Michael Thorbjornsen, beginner Luke Clanton and C.T. Pan, who tied for second place at 24-under.
Thompson grew to become the twenty fourth first-time match winner at this occasion. He did it in grand style by setting the John Deere Traditional’s 72-hole scoring file. Michael Kim initially set it at 27-under in 2018.
He stayed stoic all week lengthy, however Thompson let the feelings stream as soon as he noticed his spouse.
“Simply seeing my spouse means rather a lot,” Thompson mentioned to CBS Sports activities analyst Amanda Balionis after his win. “I really like her a lot and so grateful she was in a position to make it. I attempted to remain current all day. When that putt lastly went in, it was an enormous sigh of reduction.”
All through his interview with Balionis, Thompson couldn’t maintain again the tears. He wiped them away a number of instances.
All that tough work lastly paid off for the 25-year-old.
“I’ve been working arduous this yr. It was okay for some time then I received going this final month and performed nicely final week,” he mentioned. “Tried to maintain it rolling this week; was in a position to get the win.”
The previous Georgia Bulldog set the tone from his opening tee shot. He went five-under by way of his first six holes and added his sixth birdie on the ninth to exit in 29 pictures. By 9 holes, Thompson made 120 toes of putts, and by the top of the spherical, he recorded 139 toes of putts.
His first birdie was over 44 toes, and on the par-4 fifth, he made a 29-footer. The flat stick was on fireplace for him, as Thompson couldn’t miss.
The Sea Island resident made an 8-footer on 10 for his seventh birdie. His one hiccup got here on the twelfth when he bogeyed the opening. Nonetheless, that slip-up wouldn’t stick with the teen. Thompson returned to 7-under at 14 when he made his last birdie and got here house with 4 straight pars.
All through 4 days of play, he gained +18.694 in strokes gained complete. He picked up at the very least two strokes on the sphere in all 5 fundamental classes. Thompson led the sphere with 30 birdies.
Briefly, the previous Bulldog placed on a clinic.
He changed the 2023 John Deere Traditional champion Sepp Straka’s place within the Champions Home and have become the third straight participant to win the occasion whereas staying there.
J.T. Poston received whereas staying there in 2022, Straka received final yr and Thompson has now been added to the lore.
“No, undoubtedly not,” Thompson mentioned about not letting the custom go, “I feel I’ve to pay for the entire home now, which is unlucky, however I’ll gladly write the test for that.”
Thompson grew to become the twelfth Georgia golfer coached underneath head coach Chris Haack to win on the PGA Tour. This victory additionally will get him into the Open Championship later this month and subsequent yr’s Masters Match at Augusta Nationwide. It additionally vaulted him from No. 51 to No. 22 within the FedEx Cup standings.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By. For extra golf protection, observe us @_PlayingThrough on all main social platforms. It’s also possible to observe her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
