The name Davis Thompson is not unfamiliar for those who follow the PGA Tour.
He has been trending in recent weeks, with two runner-up finishes in his past six starts, including last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. His worst finish in that stretch, outside of a missed cut at the Canadian Open, was T-27.
And now, Thompson is a PGA Tour winner. He captured the 2024 John Deere Classic on Sunday for his first Tour victory. Thompson blitzed TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois, setting a tournament scoring record of 28-under 256, besting Michael Kim’s 2017 record of 27 under. He won by four shots in his 63rd career start over a group of players at 24 under, including amateur Luke Clanton.
“I got off to a great start today and was able to just kind of cruise on the back nine,” Thompson said. “Yeah, getting off to a good start was crucial, and I was just able to ride the momentum coming in.”
With the win, Thompson also punched his ticket to the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon next week. He finished T-9 at the U.S. Open last month.
John Deere: Leaderboard | Photos
Thompson earned $1.44 million with the win in addition to 500 FedEx Cup points.
Also in a weird twist, for the third straight year at the John Deere Classic, the winner has stayed at the same house. In 2022, J.T. Poston took home the title while staying at the property. Last year, Sepp Straka was in a group of golfers who rented the house, and he won.
This year, Thompson was in the group who rented the house. And lo and behold, he’s the winner. He even stayed in the same room that Straka did.
“I think I have to pay for the whole house now, which is unfortunate, but I’ll gladly write the check for that,” Thompson said.
Thompson is also the 24th golfer to earn his first career win at the John Deere Classic, which is the most of any event in PGA Tour history.
Clanton, a 20-year-old junior at Florida State, became the first amateur since Billy Joe Patton in the 1950s to finish in the top 10 in back-to-back PGA Tour starts. He birdied his last hole to shoot 8-under 63 on Sunday and finish T-2 alongside C.T. Pan and Michael Thorbjornsen, who was making his third start as a PGA Tour member after earning his card via PGA Tour University.
Patton did it in the 1957 U.S. Open and 1958 Masters. Clanton did it in consecutive weeks, and he’s in the field next week at the ISCO Championship, as well.
For Pan, his finish earned him the second spot up for grabs this week at the 2024 Open Championship.
“It’s going to be a great trip,” Pan said. “Honestly going to be hectic to arrange all the travel details last minute, but it will be a good problem to have and my wife and I will be looking forward to our trip there.”
