Jason Day and Jordan Spieth are both making return visits to the John Deere Classic after extended periods away.
Day, in particular, last played it in 2011 but his first time to TPC Deere Run was 18 years ago, or to put it another way, 350 starts ago, which made it his PGA Tour debut.
“Yeah, this was my first start as a professional golfer. I still remember it,” he said Wednesday ahead of the 2024 rendition of the event. “Actually, I think we might have stayed down at the Super 8 hotel somewhere.”
Needless to say, golf’s been good to Day, who has gone on to win 13 times on Tour and along the way he became one of 11 golfers to surpass the $60 million mark in career earnings. Needless to say, his Super 8 days are now a thing of the past, but the memories certainly stick.
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“My caddie at the time, Colin, you walk into his room and it had a heart-shaped bathtub right next to the bed. It was like high rent stuff back then,” Day said.
“I tried to come back a couple years ago and my back didn’t allow me to,” he continued. “It’s nice to be back. I know Clair Peterson [former tournament director] way back in the day, you know, 18 years ago, was nice enough to give me my first start here, and I’ve always enjoyed the people and the golf tournament. John Deere has been a special partner to the PGA Tour for a long time, so it’s nice to go over those stories from 18 years ago.”
John Deere is celebrating its 25th year with the Tour in 2024.
Day confirmed that he is not, in fact, back at the Super 8 but instead staying in his motorcoach with his family.
As for the on-course stuff, Day says this week is the beginning of a serious ramp-up to his season, which has tailed off lately. He has four top-10s in 2024 but three of those were back in January and February.
“I think I need a little bit of a spark to try and get something going here,” he said. “Obviously coming into the heavy part of the season. We’ve only got seven tournaments left for the year. Guys that are looking, on the outside looking in on the FedEx [Playoffs], it’s kind of crunch time for them.
“Me personally, I’m looking to try and find the good play that I had at the start of the year and try and replicate that through my end part of my year. I’ve got a busy schedule after this. Kind of goes week on here at John Deere and week off and then the Open Championship, week off, Olympics, week off, then the Playoffs. So it’s stop and start, but it’s pretty condensed. Feels like it’s been a pretty full on year so far.”