Willis finishes 24th, taking journey to Milwaukee

By Eric Page | Sunday, July 13, 2008

SILVIS, Ill. — The penultimate man in the John Deere Classic field finished far better than that  Sunday.

Garrett Willis, the PGA journeyman who made the tournament as the 12th alternate late Wednesday afternoon, closed with a 1-under 70 to finish tied for 24th place, his best result in five appearances at the JDC.

The $34,860 check he’ll take with him up the road to Milwaukee is almost as much as he earned in making three previous cuts in seven events this season, but he left TPC Deere Run feeling like he’d left a lot of money on the course.

“I’m definitely pleased with cashing a good check, but at the same time, I had the opportunity to do something special this week, which would have taken care of me getting into the next week and moving forward,” Willis said, pointing out that his poor putting cost him a chance to contend for a JDC win.

A top-10 finish here would have landed Willis a spot in this week’s U.S. Bank Championship field. As it stands, he is eligible to play on Tour only because of a 2001 win at the Tucson Open, but he must qualify or wait as an alternate, as he did last week. He played in last Monday’s JDC qualifier at Pinnacle Country Club in Milan, Ill., but finished 23rd, shooting 2-over-par.

Now, it starts all over again. Willis drove 3½ hours to Milwaukee on Sunday evening to scout the U.S. Bank Championship qualifier course, where he’ll play a round today, trying to make the 132-player field. He is the 10th alternate there but figures to have a harder time getting in without a top-four finish in the qualifier, compared to the JDC, which took 13 alternates to fill out its larger, 156-player field.

If he does get the chance this week, Willis again will play with urgency. He has played in eight events this year and needs to play in at least seven more to keep his full PGA retirement.

“I gave myself a great opportunity this week that I didn’t take advantage of,” Willis said. “The golf course was right there for the taking, and I played some really good golf and wasn’t able to score.”

Willis at the JDC

Year    Score              Place

2003    67-73-69-72—281   T27

2004    69-72—141         CUT

2005    66-72-68-68—274   T20

2006    70-70-66-68—274   T27

2008    65-70-70-70—275   T24

Eric Page can be contacted at (563) 383-2277 or epage@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.