Playing out of the penultimate twosome and with preferred lies in effect, World No. 322 Scott Brown pieced together a 2-under-par 35-34=69 in the final round of the John Deere Classic for a four-day tally of 16-under 268, dipping one spot to a season-best T4, three adrift of champion Lucas Glover (64).
This was the 38-year-old’s ninth Deere, seventh top 25 and third top 10, first since a prior-best T5 six tries ago in 2014 (67-70-61-68). It’s his 25th career top 10 in 268 events, first of the season in 26 starts, and first since T2 at last season’s Genesis Invitational (pre-pandemic) 36 starts and 17 months ago. For the week, the Augusta, Georgia, native posted laps of 69-67, week-tying-low 63 and 69, totaled 22 birdies versus six bogeys, and ranked 58th in SG: Off-the-Tee (-1.068), 14th in SG: Approach (4.155), 55th in SG: Around (-0.927), 1st in SG: Putting (8.050), and 47th SG: Tee-to-Green (2.161). On Sunday, he began T3, two back, and was chasing a second TOUR win, first since the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open in 2013. Brown managed four circles against two squares on 13 (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation, gaining 1.462 strokes tee to green but lost strokes with the flat stick for the first time this week (-0.589).