Led by record-smashing Stricker, oldies are golden at John Deere Classic golf

SILVIS, Ill. - News apparently travels slowly down the Mississippi River.

This supposedly is the year of the young guns on the PGA Tour. In May alone, Rory McIlroy won the Quail Hollow Championship and Jason Day captured the Byron Nelson Classic. McIlroy is 21, Day 22.

Rickie Fowler, 21, has two second-place finishes and six Top Tens in his first half-year on the Tour.

But this weekend's John Deere Classic is no tourney for young men.

Leader and defending Deere champion Steve Stricker, has birdied exactly half of his holes played to date in this tourney and is 25-under-par. That broke the Tour record for 54 holes. Stricker is 43.

By the way, the Tour mark for 72 holes is 33-under, set at the 2009 Bob Hope Classic. That was by Stricker, then a mere 42.

Tied for second-place at 19-under are 46-year-old Paul Goydos and 45-year-old Jeff Maggert. Goydos had the fourth score of 59 in Tour history on Thursday. Maggert had an 8-under-par 63 on Saturday.

Rocco Mediate, 47, missed a double-eagle by a hair on the second hole and had a hole-in-one on the 219-yard No. 7. He shot a 64, and is tied for 10th.

Kenny Perry and Tom Pernice Jr., each shot 65 on Saturday. They are tied for 16th. Perry is a month shy of 50. Pernice turned 50 last September.

JDC officials say they've moved up Sunday's tee times to beat a forecasted late-afternoon storm, but it may be just so the leaders can make it to early-bird dinner specials.

Thanks partly to heavy rain in the 24 hours before the tourney began, Deere Run is playing soft. Maybe that's why the soft-bellies are dominating.

Stricker, Goydos, Maggert, Mediate, Perry and Pernice were a combined 40-under-par Saturday and are a combined 94-under through three rounds.

Why? The Tour seemingly has always had successful players in their 40s, but for this many to play so well at the same time?

“I think guys take better care of themselves than they did years ago,” Stricker said.

“The technology has helped the older player, I think, a lot. The older guy still loses a little bit of distance, but with the new drivers the way they are, you can still whack it out there and compete.”

Matt Jones is in fourth-place here. At 30, he's a child who is trying not to get schooled by more-seasoned peers.

“Everyone's good out here,” Jones said. “You wouldn't be on the PGA Tour if you weren't. And I've got 10 more years, so hopefully I can still do what they're doing at 40.”

Maybe Jones can one day be encouraged by the man who has made Jones' 16-under virtually irrelevant when it comes to contending for this tourney's title.

“I'm obviously playing better than I did six or seven years ago,” Stricker said. “I think I'm just smarter, you know. I know how to deal with things a little bit better as they come along.

“I think what the older guys have on the younger guys is experience, and I think that adds up to quite a few shots during the course of a tournament.”

This week, anyhow. Young gun Fowler has done a lot of things right in this half-season, piling up over $2 million in Tour earnings.

But he missed the 36-hole cut here and spent his Saturday playing a pressure-free round of golf with fellow pro Bubba Watson elsewhere in the Quad Cities.

Fowler is still in the area because he's waiting to board the JDC's chartered jet that will leave Moline Sunday night to take British Open-bound players to Scotland.

If the lad is wise, he'll sidle up to one of the 40-somethings on the flight and politely ask what it takes to play well at St. Andrews. Or at Deere Run, for that matter.