THE KEMPER CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP still has a few spots remaining for the 3 day event that runs Sept. 26-28. Two-man teams will play the Glen Club, Royal Melbourne and Hawthorn Woods Country Club, all are courses that have hosted the Illinois Open Championship. Total cost is only $1,850 per team. So call right now to sign up you and your partner for a great three days of golf in the beautiful fall season (847)-832-6401.     ______________________________________________________________________

   THE JOHN DEERE CLASSIC IS moving along through the raindrops, with Round 1 now complete, and Round 2 underway. 2012 Champion Zach Johnson is among the leaders, for tickets and more please visit John Deere Classic.com. Hear the Deere.        _____________________________________________________________________

John Deere Classic board member Zach Johnson at Wrigley Field with all the trophies.

Round 1 is now in the books at the 2016 John Deere Classic, Round 2 is underway, even though it will not get finished today.

Better news is that enough golf should get played on Friday, that any catch up will be able to be done on Saturday in addition to the regularly scheduled Round 3.

Andrew Loupe and Tom Gillis were the Round 2 leaders at 7 under par, but had about only 1 hour to enjoy ti before they were back on the tee box playing Round 2.

Wesley Bryant who just got promoted from the Web.com Tour for getting his third win, is the leader so far at 12 under par. Bryant completed Round 2, and so did Steve Marino who is one shot back and Tom Gillis one back of Marino. Gillis lost in the playoff to Jordan Spieth last year in the JDC. But plenty of players still need to complete Round 2 or even tee off to start the round.

The golf course is holding up very well according to Tournament Director Clair Peterson, who says that between yesterdays rain delay, the overnight rains, and what has fallen today, that the golf course has taken over 3 inches of rain. Some caddies reported that while finishing up Round 1, players were not getting “mud balls”. However the PGA Tour elected to with “lift clean and place” for Round 2. Or as some media call it, “lift clean and cheat”.

For Loupe he started the day with a two shot lead, but ended up tied with Gillis after he played the final four holes in Round 1, Loupe had a testy 8 foot par putt on 15 for his first stroke of the day, but calmly drained that to stay at 8 under par.

THE PGA TOUR let the players players play until 7:53 PM and but at 7:45 PM an unexpected downpour hit TPC Deere Run, so the final few minutes were played in a downpour.

Steve Stricker, Zach Johnson and Brian Harman who have 5 JDC Titles between them, were on the first tee waiting to hit their first shot of the day when the rain came. They all stalled to not tee off in the rain knowing the horn was about to sound anyway.

The Soggy weather might have had an effect on JDC Sponsors Exemption player and recent Illinois graduate Charlie Danielson. Danielson was playing great golf and had made it to 4th place at 8 under par, but finished bogey and double bogey on holes 7 & 8 which were holes 16-17 for him. It would have been nice to speak with him at the end of his round, but Danielson who told several media members he would meet them at the clubhouse, ran for his car and blew off the media. He will have one hole to complete in the morning when Round 2 play resumes.