Holiday fireworks set up star-spangled shootout at John Deere Classic

SILVIS, Ill. — On America’s 250th birthday, red, white and blue waved high on the John Deere Classic leaderboard.

At 16-under par 197, Lucas Glover and Lee Hodges finished the third round at the front of a packed leaderboard that includes another 16 players within five shots, all but one of those American-bred.

That portends a final-round Sunday shootout to follow Saturday night’s Fourth of July fireworks, something 2021 John Deere champion Glover said he could have predicted leaving the golf course a year ago.

“It's always a shootout here,” said Glover, who has held or shared the lead since Thursday. “That's the way it should be. It's fun. It's exciting. I told you guys when I finished Thursday, I was going to need three more low ones, so yeah.”

Perhaps less predictable was all the red, white and blue flags beside the names of most of the top guns on the leaderboard. A total of 43 international competitors from 21 nations were among the 144 men who entered the week yearning to earn the $1.58 million and 500 FedExCup points that will be awarded to the champion.

Yet, only one of the 43 — Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune— ranked inside the top 19 final-round contenders by the time Carrie Underwood hit the first note of her post-round concert here in America’s Heartland.

After an hour-plus delay, Glover and Hodges finished the day a shot in front of the third-place trio of Jackson Suber, Ben Kohles and Zac Blair. Doug Ghim came in another shot behind, and ageless TPC Deere Run magician Zach Johnson trailed by only three.

Behind them is a four-back quartet, while seven more players will start Sunday within five of the lead.

All of them American, save Hisatsune, with more than handful of well-known stars spangling among them.

Those include two-time major champion Johnson, who will bid to become the ninth over-50 winner in TOUR history, and reigning NCAA champion and top-ranked amateur Preston Stout, who will look to become the ninth amateur ever to notch a TOUR victory.

A Texan and rising senior at Oklahoma State, Stout fired his way into the fray with a 5-under 66, and perhaps showed his youthful enthusiasm with his announced plan to stick around to watch Underwood perform in celebration of the Fourth.

“It's awesome,” he said of the buzz around the grounds. “You know, it's my favorite holiday. My birthday is on Monday. There’s been a good crowd out here, too, supporting everybody, which has been great. Yeah, the Fourth of July is awesome. Our country is the best. So, yeah, I thought I had to rep them a little today.”

With Stout in the group tied for eighth at 12-under are six-time TOUR winners Max Homa and Rickie Fowler.

The 11-under group, meanwhile, includes four-time winner Chris Gotterup, the top-ranked player in the field at No. 14 in the OWGR, and Blades Brown. The latter is a 19-year-old who turned professional out of high school, earned special temporary membership with a pair of top-10 finishes, and will be looking to become the sixth teen to win on TOUR, and the first since Jordan Spieth broke through at the 2013 John Deere.

All of which is to say Sunday’s shootout will feature an impressive collection of talents and any number of potentially epic stories.

Even Hisatsune brings international star cred. With four top-10 finishes in 2026, including a share of second at the Farmers Insurance Open, he will be looking to enhance his No. 43 standing in the FedExCup race.

At Nos. 119 and 123, respectively, Glover and Hodges will be looking to make sizable jumps in the playoff chase. But unlike their four closest pursuers, each has experience winning on TOUR. Glover, 46, will be looking to add a seventh TOUR win to a career total that includes the 2009 U.S. Open in addition to that 2021 John Deere win. Hodges, a 31-year-old Alabama native, won the 2023 3M Open.

Both know experience helps but won’t get the ball in the hole or the leaping deer trophy in their hands on Sunday.

“It will be different tomorrow,” Hodges said. “At 3M, I think I took a five-shot lead into Sunday. You hate to say 'holding on,' but I was kind of holding on. Tomorrow will be a little more fun. I get to go attack and just beat people. I'm just going to keep my pedal down and just shoot lower than anybody tomorrow.”

Glover agreed: Pedal to the metal is the only way to go.

“You've got to go low or you're not going to win,” Glover said. “Everybody is going to have to be aggressive.”

Fireworks await.