With many of the world’s best golfers taking Fourth of July weekend off, the 2025 John Deere Classic provides players with a terrific opportunity for a breakthrough win. After Thursday’s first round, two of the bigger names in the field, Max Homa and Rickie Fowler, have positioned themselves to have a chance at their first victory of 2025 and seventh on the PGA Tour.
Fowler shot an opening 6-under 65 to put him three back of Doug Ghim’s 18-hole lead at 9 under. Fowler got off to an eventful start as he went birdie-birdie-double bogey to open his round (starting on the back nine) and went out in even-par 36. However, he tore up the front side at TPC Deere Run with a 6-under 29 to charge up the leaderboard and position himself as a threat to keep an eye on all weekend.
He wasn’t the low round of his group, though, as Homa shot an 8-under 63 to move into T2 going into Friday, finding a little something off the tee and getting hot with his putter to move into contention during what has been a tough year. Homa is without a top 10 finish this season, and he has been visibly frustrated with his swing. That wasn’t the case Thursday, and while there are three more rounds to go on a course that typically concedes lots of low scores, Homa said after the round he’s going to enjoy putting together a complete day of great golf.
“It’s not going to be my lasting thought as I leave here today,” he said after being asked if his opening-round effort felt sustainable. “I played a good round of golf; every day is different. I do feel like we found a little something with the driver, all the long clubs, and it was nice to do that for 18 full holes. I didn’t hit one crazy shot today, so that was cool.”
Homa and Fowler will be paired with Jake Knapp (-3) again on Friday afternoon with the group looking to keep the good vibes going. Asked about playing a course where you know the winning score is going to be 20-something under par, Homa said the challenge is to remain patient and not force things that aren’t there because plenty of opportunities will present themselves later.
“Patience is very important, even when scores are really low,” he said. “Look at a round like Rickie played today. He had a couple blips early and then found his swing again shot a really low number. So as much as it always feels like a track meet in your head, you look at that and it’s important to stay within yourself and stay patient because you can birdie any hole out here.”
Those two will be chasing Ghim, who had an unbelievable ball-striking round to shoot 62. Ghim hit 12 of 14 fairways and 17 of 18 greens in regulation. He make a single bogey all day and did that while losing strokes to the field with the putter. It’s not often you see someone lead without gaining strokes on the green this side of Scottie Scheffler, but that’s how well Ghim played tee-to-green. If he can bottle that swing feeling all week and get anything out of his putter, the Texas product will be a threat to pick up his first win on the PGA Tour.
The leader
1. Doug Ghim (-9): He has more missed cuts than top 25s this season but entered coming off a solid T19 at the Rocket Classic, appearing to be in the best form of the year. His challenge will be carrying that over through the weekend and maintaining a scoring pace that Homa noted will be necessary given the numbers we typically see win at the John Deere. As he noted, he’s not too worried about the putting stats, highlighting some of the ways the data could be skewed and how his ability to score without sinking much of length was a positive.
“Hit it close. Hit a lot of fairways. Didn’t miss many greens. I had to chip it off a green on 17, so probably hurt the stats. Didn’t get it up and down because I had to come over the corner of the bunker,” Ghim said. “Statistically, it will look worse than probably it was. Honestly, hit it so close all day. I probably didn’t gain much any time I tapped in for birdie. I two-putted for birdie a couple times. That’s just the way the stats go sometimes. I hit it really well, holed out a wedge. Any time you can shoot 9 under and not really make a putt, it’s always a good sign.”
Contenders
T2. Max Homa, Austin Eckroat (-8)
T4. David Lipsky, Sam Stevens, Justin Lower, Michael Kim (-6)
T8. Rickie Fowler, Si Woo Kim and seven others (-6)
Everyone in the top 7 on the leaderboard teed off as part of the morning wave as they enjoyed some soft, calm conditions before things firmed up a bit in the afternoon. We’ll find out Friday if there ends up being a significant wave advantage or if the late-early groups will get the same benefit in the morning for the second round, but for now, it looks like those who got an early Thursday tee time have a leg up.
Eckroat joins Homa in T2 at 8 under and is looking for his third career win after picking up two titles in 2024. Kim, meanwhile, lurks in the large group at 6 under along with Fowler, Matt Kuchar and others hoping to pick up their first wins of 2025. Given the scoring possible at TPC Deere Run, the work is far from over for those at the top of the leaderboard. Those a bit further back — like Denny McCarthy at 5 under or SaJake Knapp and Sungjae Im at 3 under — are one great round away from thrusting themselves into contention going into the weekend.
2025 John Deere Classic updated odds, picks
Odds via BetMGM
- Doug Ghim (10-1)
- Max Homa (12-1)
- Austin Eckroat (14-1)
- Kevin Yu (16-1)
- Michael Kim (16-1)
- Sam Stevens (16-1)
- Si Woo Kim (16-1)
- Denny McCarthy (20-1)
- Emiliano Grillo (25-1)
- Rickie Fowler (25-1)
This week is all about who can stack low rounds because this tournament is typically won by a score of more than 20 under par. Of the names on top of the leaderboard, Eckroat has some serious staying power and some value at 14-1. His iron play was second only to Ghim on Thursday, and I don’t expect him to slip too much on Friday. Further down, McCarthy was the pre-tournament favorite and is only four shots off the lead after a respectable 66.Iif there was ever a time to nab some value on a great iron player and putter, it’s now at 20-1.