Rai and John Deere share the lead; Springer slips two back.

Aaron Rai, of England, took another big step toward winning on the PGA Tour after coming close in Detroit last week – posting another flawless 8-under 63 round to share first place alongside C.T. Pan. Hayden Springer remains in contention in the John Deere Classic after opening with an impressive score of 59 in round one. Springer had made 12 birdies and two eagles during his first 29 holes before faltering late, missing a 3-foot par putt and incurring double bogey at TPC Deere Run due to light rainfall. As such, Springer settled for a score of 71 out of 72 possible players within two shots of leading. “My round wasn’t too bad,” Springer replied, noting how windier conditions made playing harder today than anticipated. I ran into some bumps on the back nine, mostly caused by mental miscalculations or not making short putts as intended. Pan made history on Sunday by sinking an incredible 100-foot chip for an eagle on the reachable par-4 14th, as he was also free of bogeys to score an outstanding 63 total. Both Pan and Rai finished tied on 14 under 128 for their combined scores; Rai had held onto co-leadership of last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic before finishing just behind Cam Davis by one shot.” “This season I have played well tee-to-green. That trend continued into recent weeks,” Rai noted. “And recently spent quite some time practicing on the green; my dad gave me some tips.” Last week, Rai began training with John Graham – a local putting coach based here – as well. “Working together has definitely translated to on-course success for him. “Rai wasn’t the only player taking advantage of momentum gained last week either. Florida State sophomore Luke Clanton continued his remarkable summer run with an outstanding 67 that put him 12-under 130 and within striking distance for an eagle on hole 14 (348-yard). Perhaps more remarkable was Clanton’s ability to quickly recover from a double bogey on par-4 sixth hole nearing the end of his round with two birdies on subsequent holes. “We hadn’t really made many errors all week; when one tiny mistake led us down this path of double, I knew everything would turn out okay,” Clanton explained. No matter what, I was going to make birdie-birdie no matter what. After I hit that double I said to myself ‘We ain’t finishing at 10 under; we’re finishing at 12.” He fired his tee shot to within 10 feet on the 202-yard seventh hole for birdie and made another 10-foot birdie putt on par-4 eighth to fulfill his belief. Harry Hall (66) led with 13 under overall. Eric Cole (68), Davis Thompson (67) and Denny McCarthy (66) joined Springer and Clanton (12 under). Michael Thorbjornsen of Massachusetts made waves by finishing No. 17 overall in college at Stanford. Thorbjornsen earned top ranking on PGA Tour University rankings to secure full membership for this season and all of 2025, starting his round with four birdies consecutively before eventually carding 64 overall. Spieth managed at least to advance into weekend play. Playing his first tournament since winning it nine years earlier, Spieth made some wild shots that led to bogey and temporarily put him outside of the cut line before recovering with two birdies on subsequent holes and missing an open 4-foot birdie putt on his final hole (though still making the cut by one shot). Spieth ultimately finished with a score of 67 – just barely making the cut with an extra stroke left! Spieth found himself eight shots back after shooting a 69 in ideal conditions on Thursday morning despite having one 18 holes at two under par on Day one – though that shouldn’t stop anyone trying their hardest on Day two and shooting 10 under par! “Yesterday was incredible — with no wind whatsoever and perfect conditions to really capitalize,” Spieth stated. However, playing 18 holes of two under meant there wasn’t much chance of victory; still Spieth went out there hoping to shoot 10-under par or better!