World No. 348 Sam Saunders tossed up a season-tying-low, 6-under-par 30-35=65 in the final round of the John Deere Classic to conclude on 15-under 269, up 17 places to T8 with play still in progress. UPDATE: With play completed, Saunders finished T10.
This was the 31-year-old’s fifth Deere and second top 25 (T25/2017). He improves to 12-for-23 on the season with two top 25s, supplanting a previous-best T23 at last week’s 3M Open, where he was T3 at the midpoint (65-67-72-67). After opening with 68-69-67, the Floridian began T25 on 9-under, four shy of the overnight top 10. He hit six (of 14) fairways and 12 greens in regulation, gaining 1.990 strokes approaching and 1.539 around-the-green. The Clemson product squared a lone bogey-5 at 13, outpaced by seven circles at 1, 4-6, 9, 10 and 17. He posted 1.667 putts per GIR and -0.332 SG: Putting, wrapping the week with one eagle and 23 birdies against eight bogeys and one double.