Glover wins 10 years after last title
Winning never gets old.
Lucas Glover can attest. The 2009 U.S. Open champion made four birdies in a row on the back nine en route to shooting 7-under-par 64 to win the John Deere Classic by two strokes over Ryan Moore and Kevin Na in Silvis, Illinois.
In doing so, Glover, 41, tasted victory for the first time since the 2011 Wells Fargo Championship, a span of 10 years, 2 months and 3 days. His children – Lucille, 8, and Lucas Jr., 6, – and wife, Krista, witnessed him win for the first time.
“It’s been a difficult 10 years, but I never lost my faith, never lost my drive, never lost the self-belief,” Glover said. “Yeah, it’s a great feeling.”
At no point during the winless drought did Glover’s swing need an overhaul. He’s long been considered one of the Tour’s best ball strikers. As proof, he ranked fourth this week in strokes gained: tee-to-green and third in strokes gained: approach. But putting woes have gnawed at Glover during his winless stretch; he entered the week ranked No. 120 in strokes gained: putting, and he’s tried an assortment of drills to break the spell. Too many, he said.
“If there was something to try, I’m sure I’ve tried it,” said Glover, including putting with his eyes closed.
Glover found his groove in the second round at TPC Deere Run, shooting 63, as his putter behaved. One day later, the putter betrayed him as he missed a couple of short ones to shoot 70 and trailed leader Sebastian Munoz by four strokes.
“Most people pick up putts from the length that he’s missed this week,” CBS analyst Colt Knost noted.
But not on Sunday, when preferred lies were in effect due to heavy rain over the weekend, leaving the course playing soft, long and vulnerable to low scoring. Twenty-one players were within five shots of the lead, setting up a wild trophy chase. As Munoz stumbled early, shanking his second shot at the opening hole, and Adam Schenk surged into the lead with his own string of four birdies in a five-hole stretch, Glover caught fire beginning at No. 12 with four birdies in a row to climb to 18 under. That, combined with a Schenk bogey at 14, gave Glover a two-stroke lead. He tacked on one last birdie at No. 17 to finish at 19-under 265 and become the seventh player to win a PGA Tour event in the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s.
Glover, ranked No. 115 in the world, showed signs he was on the verge of a breakthrough, notching a fourth-place finish at the Valero Texas Open in April that marked his best result on tour since finishing third at the 2016 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. But he still had to prove to himself that he could close out his fourth PGA Tour title and join 40-somethings like Stewart Cink and Brian Gay – not to mention 50-year-old Phil Mickelson – as winners this season.
Glover’s short stick proved to be the difference-maker. He took just 25 putts on Sunday and gained more than 2 1⁄2 strokes against the field on the greens, ranking fifth in the field on the day. Moreover, he holed all of his putts from inside 7 feet, the distance that has most haunted him. That included a 6-foot par putt at 18.
“It was a knee-knocker. I was feeling it a little bit,” he said. “The greens today were just perfect.”
As was that winning feeling again. “I never lost sight of believing that I could do this and win again,” he said. “Probably the most gratifying thing is I proved to myself that I could and I proved a lot of people wrong.”