Johnson, Spieth in midst of very busy stretch

Zach Johnson's whirlwind week continued Tuesday in Silvis, Ill., for a practice round at Deere Run, site of this week's John Deere Classic.

Johnson is in the middle of one of the busiest stretches of his year. Sunday and Monday were spent in Cedar Rapids, where he hosted the Zach Johnson Foundation Classic.

After that, it was straight to the Quad Cities to prepare for the John Deere Classic this week, and as soon as he leaves the course on Sunday, it's off to Scotland for the British Open.

Johnson says he has no regrets about trying to do all of that in the span of only a week.

'There's never a dull moment. There's not much sleep. Truly it's one of those where I'm just busy, busy, busy, busy,” he said. At the same time, I schedule my time off. I do take time off. I do have down time. I know what I'm about to come up to when I come up here. I know what I'm going to get myself into. I wouldn't change one second of it.”

The reception from his home town helps.

'It is remarkable. I've got family, I've got friends that I can go visit and see, grandmas that are still kicking. That's special,” Johnson said. 'Obviously my own foundation's event is right here, right now after the fourth. You celebrate your Independence Day as a nation, then you got the Zach Johnson Foundation Classic and then the John Deere the next week. There's really not much more American than that, as far as I'm concerned.”

Johnson's group, which includes Stewart Cink and David Toms, tees off from the first hole at 12:50 Thursday afternoon. Friday, the three-some starts on No. 10 at 7:40 a.m.

The world's No. 2-ranked golfer, Jordan Spieth, is in the same boat as Johnson, going from Cedar Rapids to the Quad Cities to Scotland.

Spieth will tee off at 1 p.m. on Thursday with defending Deere champ Brian Harman and last week's PGA Tour winner Danny Lee. S

pieth, who is halfway to winning the major grand slam this season, is doing something many of the other top-ranked golfers aren't: Playing at the John Deere this week. But since it's the site of his first ever PGA win two years ago, Spieth says the Deere is too important to skip.

'They gave me an exemption as an amateur which gave me the confidence to be able to know I could play professionally, so I owe a lot to that tournament, and I like going back,” Spieth said on the KCRG 9.2 broadcast of the Zach Johnson Foundation Classic on Monday.

'It's a great golf course. I feel like I can get myself into contention. I can start to see how I perform right now. What's going on in my swing, my putting, whatever it is that I can then work out the knacks overseas where I can hopefully get in contention there as well.”

In other tournament news, John Deere announced it will continue to be the title sponsor of the event through 2023. John Deere took over as the title sponsor in 1998.