World No. 842 Jonas Blixt fires 62 to lead John Deere Classic
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[July 07, 2023]
Jonas Blixt, ranked 842nd in the world, tied the lowest
18-hole score of his career with a 9-under 62 on Thursday to build a
two-shot lead after the first round of the John Deere Classic in
Silvis, Ill.
Blixt, 39, missed the cut on the Korn Ferry Tour last week, but the
Swede got off to a quick start at TPC Deere Run with an eagle on his
second hole. After making the turn in 2-under 33, Blixt added a pair
of birdies before draining a 43-foot eagle putt on the par-4 14th
hole.
That propelled Blixt to three more birdies over his final four
holes, capping his 660th official round on the PGA Tour by carding a
29 on his back nine. Blixt hit only six of 14 fairways, but missed
only two greens.
"Sixty-two doesn't happen very often on the PGA Tour, at least not
for me," Blixt said. "I'm very happy about it. Extremely happy about
it."
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Several players made late runs at Blixt's score from the morning,
but multiple chasers faltered late. That included Grayson Murray,
who started on the back nine and reached 8 under through 13 holes
before settling for a 7-under 64 following a bogey on his final
hole.
"I saw Jonas shot 62," Murray said. "There's always a low one out
there. When you are in the afternoon wave, there's someone that's
going to go low. ... You can't control it. So I know that it gives
you confidence that there is a low one out there."
Cameron Young, the top-ranked player in the field at No. 19 -- 823
spots higher than Blixt -- birdied the 17th hole to get to pull even
with Murray. However, he found the rough off the tee on 18, narrowly
avoided the water with his third shot and salvaged bogey to settle
for a tie for third at 6 under.
Greyson Sigg, Adam Schenk, Nate Lashley, Richy Werenski and South
Africa's Garrick Higgo also shot 6-under 65.
Blixt is a three-time winner on tour, the most recent victory coming
at the 2017 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where he partnered with
Australian star Cameron Smith to win the team event.
His last individual victory was at the Greenbrier Classic in 2013.
The following year, he reached a career-high world ranking of No. 33
after tying for second at the Masters.
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Thursday's round tied Blixt's 62 shot during the
third round of the 2015 Wyndham Championship. It also came after
Blixt missed the cut by three shots at last week's Memorial Health
Championship on the KFT -- the third consecutive event at which he
had failed to make the weekend.
"I think I found something this week after playing
the Korn Ferry last week," he said. "At this point, when you don't
have that much confidence in your game and you find something, you
just kind of go out and swing at it. That's what happened."
This is Blixt's ninth start on the PGA Tour this year, with his best
finish to date a T20 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He has
struggled to get into PGA events and worked heavily with his swing
coach during a recent six-week break.
"I kind of came to the point in my season where it's so late that I
don't feel any pressure anymore, really," he said. "Golf is weird.
Tomorrow I can shoot 100, I feel like, but today was a great day."
Peter Kuest, who is coming off a T4 as a Monday qualifier in Detroit
last week, shot a 4-under 67. Defending champion J.T. Poston carded
a 68, joining a large group at 3 under that includes one of the
pre-tournament favorites in Denny McCarthy and heralded rookie
Ludvig Aberg of Sweden.
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson, who is attempting to make the
cut at the John Deere for the 15th consecutive time, struggled to a
1-over 72.
"I need to regroup mentally and figure out what the positives may
be," Johnson said. "... I didn't score. I didn't hit it close
enough. I didn't putt well. That's probably the summary."
--Field Level Media
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