Rai shares John Deere lead; Springer slides back one.

Aaron Rai of England made up ground after falling just short in Detroit last week by shooting another flawless 8-under 63 on Friday to share the lead with C.T. Pan. Hayden Springer remains in contention at this week’s John Deere Classic after opening with an impressive score of 59 in round one. Springer posted 12 birdies and two eagles over 29 holes before faltering late, missing a 3-foot par putt and taking double bogey as rain fell at TPC Deere Run. As such, Springer settled for a score of 71 and found himself tied for 6th position outright. “My round was pretty solid today,” Springer stated, although windier conditions made for more challenging play than normal. I ran into some bumps on the back nine, mostly mental errors such as missing short putts. Overall though it wasn’t too difficult. Pan made history when he holed a 100-foot chip for an eagle on the reachable par-4 14th and shot 63 overall, recording 14 birdies without making bogey for 14-under 128 totaling scores, tied for first overall with Rai. Rai shared 54-hole leader Cam Davis last week before falling one shot short.” “This year has been amazing for my playing abilities from tee to green and that trend continues into recent weeks,” Rai reported. “Plus a couple weeks ago my dad gave me some tips.” Last week, Rai began working with John Graham, an expert putting coach based out here in Houston. “Putting all this together has definitely shown on the course. “Rai wasn’t alone in using momentum from last week to build up some steam for this week’s tournaments. Florida State sophomore Luke Clanton continued his incredible summer run with an outstanding round of 67 that put him 12-under 130 overall. To save par on hole 14, Clanton successfully hit an approach shot that reached 15 feet for an eagle putt – driving it 348 yards before driving it on green for 15-foot putt for eagle and leaving only 150 to go for his win! Clanton made history even further impressive with his incredible recovery after suffering a double bogey on par-4 sixth nearing the end of his round, rebounding with two consecutive birdies to end it on an excellent note. “We hadn’t really made mistakes all week; then one tiny mistake turned double,” Clanton noted, but knew everything would turn out alright in the end. Birdie-birdie would always be my goal. After my double, I told myself we wouldn’t finish at 10 under and would probably come in closer to 12. He successfully hit his tee shot from 202-yard seventh hole within 10 feet for birdie on par-4 eighth hole before making another 10-foot putt to confirm it on par-4 eighth hole for another birdie, giving himself another opportunity to prove himself on course. Harry Hall (66) led at 13 under, followed by Eric Cole (68), Davis Thompson (67) and Denny McCarthy (66) all tied at 12 under with Springer and Clanton tallied 12.Also making up 12 under were Michael Thorbjornsen from Massachusetts who played college golf at Stanford where he finished No. Thorbjornsen became No.1 in PGA Tour University rankings to secure his full PGA Tour membership for both this season and 2025. Starting his round with four consecutive birdies en route to an impressive 64 score. Two-time Deere winner Jordan Spieth at least made it through to weekend. At his first tournament since winning it nine years earlier, Spieth struggled initially before rallying with two birdies to edge past the cut line and make a score of 67 and make the cut with just one stroke to spare. But Spieth still trailed eight shots and wasn’t feeling optimistic, particularly after shooting a 69 on Thursday morning under favorable conditions. “Yesterday morning with no wind was our chance — ball in hand — to really take advantage,” Spieth noted. However, his 18 holes of 2 under were no guarantee for victory: even so, “this doesn’t preclude going out tomorrow to try shooting 10 under!”