Jordan Spieth survived the cut on the number Friday at 3 under, closing with three back-nine birdies to keep his John Deere Classic alive. Zac Blair also remained in the hunt as the second round at TPC Deere Run sorted out who would play the weekend and who would pack up early.
The cut line mattered because it landed exactly at 3 under, and that left Spieth, Keegan Bradley and Ben Griffin among the players moving on, while Brian Campbell finished at 1-over 142 and missed it by four shots. With 80 players earning Saturday tee times, the weekend field is set at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill., where the tournament is again separating the contenders from everyone else.
Spieth, a two-time John Deere Classic winner, did the hard part late. After a rough second round, he needed those three back-nine birdies just to stay inside the number. He had put himself in danger early, but the finish was enough to buy another two rounds in a tournament where the margin is never large once Friday turns into the weekend.
Jackson Koivun lived the other side of that line. In his professional debut, he shot a 1-under 70 on Friday, three shots better than his opening round, yet still missed the cut. He will not get a chance to turn that first pro start into a weekend run at TPC Deere Run, even after showing enough improvement to suggest he can handle the stage. Koivun is set to continue next week at the ISCO Championship in Louisville, Kentucky.
There was movement elsewhere on the board. Ben Griffin shot a second-round 65 and jumped 40 spots. Eric Cole, after PXG overnighted him a new set of irons, answered with an 8-under 63 that included a pair of eagles. That kind of charge was the reminder that the course can still yield a low number when a player gets hot enough to take advantage.
The setup itself has helped shape the week. The par-4 fourth hole was lengthened by 50 yards after the Hewitt Tree disease issue, pushing the bunkers about 300 yards away from the tee and making it one of the tougher tests on the property. Through two rounds, it has averaged 4.199 and ranked as the second most challenging hole, a sign that this John Deere Classic is demanding more than the low-scoring finishes that have defined recent years.
That is the friction inside Friday’s cut. Spieth made it by doing just enough when it mattered most. Koivun, despite improving by three shots, still fell short in his first professional test. Saturday now belongs to the players who found the number and survived it, while Koivun’s next chance comes in Louisville.
