PGA Tour: Ryan Moore Takes One-Stroke Lead Into Sunday At John Deere Classic

Ryan Moore leads by one heading into the final day of the John Deere Classic as he looks for his first PGA Tour win since 2014.

If you were to ask tournament officials if they thought the John Deere Classic would be back on schedule after Thursday and Friday’s deluge, I don’t think they would have believed you.

Heavy storms delayed large chunks of play on Thursday and Friday, but 13-plus hours of golf later on Saturday and, alas, the event is back on track. Ryan Moore, Wesley Bryan and Steve Marino finished out in near darkness at around 8:20 p.m. CDT and when the dust settled Moore found himself out in front at 18-under in another JDC birdie-fest.

With soft greens and players playing preferred lies from the fairways, players were losing ground to the field if they weren’t firing in the 60s on a gorgeous day in Silvis, Illinois.

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Moore has yet to go to crazy low in any given round, but the world No. 59 was blemish-free on Saturday and has just two bogeys on the week en route to a trio of 65s to give him a one stroke advantage over Morgan Hoffmann and Ben Martin at -17.

Moore has taken a liking to TPC Deere Run in the past four years with two top-10s and two top-25s. The UNLV grad is a combined 54-under in that span with all 16 rounds below par.

Will this become his first win since the 2014 CIMB Classic? Another 65 would put him in a good position, but a few golfers will be breathing down his neck.

The aforementioned Hoffmann and Martin at No. 121 and No. 160 in the FedEx Cup haven’t exactly shown the form to indicate they were destined for a strong finish this week, but they showed that they can go low at TPC Deere Run. Both carded nine-under-par rounds of 62 on Saturday to vault them seven spots up the leaderboard on moving day.

For a time, Martin was on 59 watch (or should we say 58 watch now thanks to Jim Furyk?) as he began his round with five consecutive birdies. The one-time Tour winner cooled off with eight straight pars before finishing the round similarly to how he started with four birdies in his final five holes.

Hoffmann’s path to 62 was even more curious. After a three-under-par front nine, Hoffmann rattled off six consecutive birdies on holes 10-16, but could not capitalize on the preceding par-5 10th nor the following par-5 17th.

Moore, Hoffmann and Martin enter Sunday as the heavy favorites to seal the deal, but another player lurking who has past success at the JDC is veteran Johnson Wagner (-14).

Entering the week as the FedEx Cup bubble boy at No. 125 in the standings, the PGA Tour veteran may have his sights set on more than just ensuring a spot in The Barclays in a couple of weeks.

Wagner has been in the 60s all three days this week and finished two strokes out of a playoff at last year’s event, placing in a tie for fifth.

He also tied for eighth at 2014’s event and is no stranger to the winner’s circle with three PGA Tour wins in his career.

The 36-hole co-leader with Moore, Wesley Bryan, still has an outside chance to replicate Jason Gore’s feat in 2005 by becoming just the second player to win a PGA Tour event after earning a “battlefield promotion” from three wins in one season on the Web.com Tour.

One week removed from winning the Web.com Tour’s Digital Ally Open, Bryan looked primed to take his winning ways to the big circuit right away, but he struggled to keep up the pace with a pedestrian one-under-par 70 in round three. At 13-under for the week, he joins Whee Kim and Kelly Kraft in a tie for fifth.

Zach Johnson was both the crowd and betting favorite entering the tournament, but the world No. 22 (highest-ranked in the field) saw his streak of 29 consecutive rounds in the 60s at the JDC come to a close on Friday and could not rally on Saturday. A second-straight round of 71 leaves him 12 strokes behind Moore and in a tie for 50th.

The other fan favorite, Steve Stricker, has three wins in the past seven years in Silvis but he won’t be adding a fourth this week. The 49-year-old carded a respectable 68 on Saturday but is far off the pace in a tie for 37th at -7.

Regardless of who comes out on top, we’re likely in for a dramatic finish. There have been three playoffs in six events this decade and the winning margin was just either one or two strokes when there wasn’t one.

John Deere Classic – Day 3 Scores and Leaderboard

1 Ryan Moore – 65 (-18)

T2 Ben Martin – 62 (-17)

T2 Morgan Hoffmann – 62 (-17)

4 Johnson Wagner – 67 (-14)

T5 Whee Kim – 64 (-13)

T5 Kelly Kraft – 67 (-13)

T5 Wesley Bryan – 70 (-13)

T8 Bud Cauley – 66 (-12)

T8 Andrew Loupe – 67 (-12)

T8 Steve Marino – 70 (-12)

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Sunday’s final-round action will be televised on CBS from 3 p.m. – 6 p.m.