Christmas 5—SILVIS, Ill. — Placing well in a PGA Tour event usually requires low scores, but that will be especially true this week as Fairmont native William McGirt plays in the John Deere Classic.
McGirt and the other 155 players in the field will be looking to go low as the event begins Thursday. McGirt tees off at 1:10 pm ET on the 10th hole, paired with DA Points and Dylan Wu, and the trio will start their second round Friday at 7:45 am ET on hole No. 1.
The winning score at the John Deere Classic has been 18 under par or lower in each of the last 13 times it has been played, including 10 times at 20 under or lower and a tournament-record 27-under-par total in 2018.
McGirt has missed the cut in his last two appearances in the event, in 2018 and 2022. In eight total John Deere starts, he has made the cut four times, with a high finish of tied for 23rd in 2014.
He has a career scoring average of 69.96 at the par-71 TPC Deere Run layout. The event is played in Silvis in the Quad Cities region of Illinois.
McGirt has missed the cut in five of his last six PGA Tour starts, dating back to late March, with the lone made cut coming on Mother’s Day weekend at the AT&T Byron Nelson. His last start came four weeks ago at the RBC Canadian Open.
In a weak field by PGA Tour standards, Denny McCarthy, Russell Henley and Cameron Young, the highest-ranked player in the field, are the betting favorites. Hickory native JT Poston, the defending champion, is also in the field.