Away from the sports beat for a while, it was time to get back in the fray with a trip to the Quad Cities for the John Deere Classic golf tournament.
It is the only PGA-sanctioned event in Illinois and well worth the drive to Silvis, technically not one of the quad cities (Davenport, Moline, Rock Island and East Moline). The John Deere does not get the big-name golfers, but for a regular Joe like me, I can’t tell the difference.
To qualify for any PGA tournament, it is still a cutthroat process and multitudes of aspiring golfers never quite make it to the big stage. Just ask some of the talented kids from Ogle County that have tried their hand at it.
There is still an elite field assembled at the TPC Deere Run every year. I remember covering the opening of the course 24 years ago, as a reporter for Sauk Valley Media.
At the time, it was a big deal and as an aficionado of golf, I felt honored to be present. After all, this was the same tournament I had attended off and on for past 50 years.
Thus, there has been some semblance of a love affair for me with professional golf at the Quad Cities, both as a spectator and reporter.
The combination of not having covered it for a few years and a bit of summer ennui prompted me to request a press credential, which was readily approved. Besides, who wouldn’t want to spend a day traipsing on 385 acres of beautiful terrain along the scenic Rock River? Golf courses can be very therapeutic for the soul, provided one isn’t actually playing.
With all of that settled, came the question of how to cover it?
As I drove to Silvis on Interstate 88 from Rochelle, rather than golf, my mind was more on why this stretch of roadway never became highly traveled. Because of influence from Chicago, state officials unwisely decided Interstate 88 needed to be built well before Interstate 39, which is far busier.
Built in the 1970s, the first trip I probably took on Interstate 88 (Interstate 5 back then) was to the Quad Cities golf tournament. Though traffic has increased almost everywhere else, not so much on this lonely stretch.
Enough about transportation, but then again it does affect golf. Just ask the world’s leading golfer Scottie Scheffler, who was arrested a few weeks ago for disregarding traffic restrictions in backed-up conditions at the PGA championship in Louisville. He did get out of jail in time to make his tee time, though.
No such problems here in Silvis, as I parked off site and took a shuttle to the course and began to look for an angle for coverage.
With 156 golfers coming from all over the world, there are truly 156 different stories, with most of these guys scraping by to stay on the Tour. Unless you are an elite, it is a pressure-packed situation keeping one’s PGA card.
One such golfer is Hayden Springer of Texas. He had just gotten his card from qualifying school last fall and had missed the cut in six straight tournaments. But, he made PGA history by scoring a 59 on Thursday’s round at the John Deere, becoming only the 15th golfer to break 60.
Coincidentally, I encountered his mother Jennifer two days later, as we were both walking the 12th hole. She told me how she cried tears of joy after Hayden shot the 59, watching from her home in Fort Worth.
She hadn’t intended making the long trip to Illinois, but after the 59, how could she not. Being the parent of a former high school golfer, I related to her, not in the sense of jaw-dropping scores, but of the joy that comes from seeing a child compete in sports.
Jennifer also told me another story, much more tragic and one I haven’t experienced. And, that was the heart-breaking loss of Hayden’s three-year daughter to a genetic disease.
It came a month before Hayden got his PGA card, definitely a case of extreme lows and highs. But, as grandma told me, she was grateful to get to know her granddaughter Sage for three years.
“It was a faith in God that sustained me and believing that heaven is real and I will see her again,” said Jennifer.
A day after the 59, Hayden ‘struggled’ to an even-par 71 and fell off the lead, eventually finishing a respectable seventh place on Sunday and taking home a check for $252,000, his biggest payday yet.
“There are bigger things in life than golf,” Hayden told me a day earlier. “I don’t want golf to be the sole thing that defines me.”
With so much at stake for professional golfers like Hayden Springer, his story indeed tells us there is a greater purpose than what we do for a living. I only visited with him a short time, but sensed true humility.
“Hayden is so easy to work with, I could do it forever,” said Michael Burns, his caddie and someone who has toted clubs for a wide variety of golfers.
For Burns and Springer, it is on to Nicholasville, Kentucky this week, the next stop on the PGA tour. My brief window with them is over, but look forward to following their journey the rest of the season.
Andy Colbert is a longtime Ogle County resident with years of experience covering sports and more for multiple area publications.
