From the fourth-to-last pairing, World No. 75 Christiaan Bezuidenhout birdied three of his final five for a bogey-free 5-under 33-33=66 in R4 of the John Deere Classic to reach 18-under 266, up six spots to a career-best T2.
The South African, a first-time member (not a rookie), records rounds of 69-65-66-66 for a second top 10 in 42 events, first since a solo 7th as last season’s Arnold Palmer Invitational as a non-member, in that field via the OWGR Top 50. He was one of 31 first-timers this week at the Deere, shares top honors in that regard with Emiliano Grillo, and came up three swings shy of wire-to-wire winner J.T. Poston (69). The 28-year-old, who is in the published field at this coming week’s Genesis Scottish Open, also earned a spot into the 150th Open in two weeks, where he’ll make his third appearance in the event with a best of T53 last year at Royal St. George’s. For the week, he tallied one eagle and 21 birdies against five bogeys, and ranked 25th SG: Tee-to-Green (4.243) and 3rd SG: Putting (8.424), including a 2.138 SGP on Sunday. See link below to post-round comments.