Jordan Spieth Unlocks A New Celebration, Davis Thompson's Basketball Mixtape, And Luke Clanton May Be A Dude

John Deere Classic week isn't one that many circle, but year after year, golf fans in the Midwest show out and the tournament does deliver the goods. Let's rephrase that, it delivers some of the goods.

Davis Thompson earning his first PGA Tour win and letting the emotions out while hugging his wife on the 72nd green was an awesome scene, but not nearly as great as watching him shoot a basketball. The Georgia product was a hooper back in the day, and thank goodness there is video evidence of that.

Jordan Spieth showed us quite the spark during Saturday's third round by posting 63, but then crashed back down to Earth with a disappointing Sunday. He did deliver a new celebration that perfectly represents the season he's having.

While Thompson earning his maiden victory on Tour is the story of the week, amateur Luke Clanton deserves plenty of attention given what he's managed to accomplish over the past few weeks. The Florida State kid is a dude, and he knows it.

Davis Thompson: The Basketball Player Who Also Plays Golf

Davis Thompson was operating at a different level this week at TPC Deere Run. A run of 63-67-62-64 will get the job done anytime, anywhere, as evidenced by his four-shot win. While the entire week is one he'll remember, the one round the outside world is talking about is his 64 on Sunday.

While most expected Thompson to show some nerves and maybe toss in a hiccup at some point early in the round, he absolutely refused to do so. Coming out of the gates with birdies on five of your first six holes while chasing your first victory makes the final stretch a bit easier.

For those paying attention to Thompson's path to this point, him earning his first win in his 63rd start on Tour shouldn't necessarily come as a surprise. In high school, he won the Alabama state championship as an individual twice and helped lead his team to six state titles. From there, he went to Georgia where he earned SEC honors on multiple occasions as well as All-American honors. He went on to earn his Tour card after picking up a win on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022, and the rest is now history.

What folks may not know about the PGA Tour's latest winner is that he used to put in work on the basketball court as well. He helped lead his high school to a state title in hoops in 2016 as a junior, which isn't something many professional golfers can say.

Oh, and he can dunk.

It's fair to say that not every professional golfer falls under the category of ‘athlete,’ but Thompson undoubtedly does. 

He may be one of the quietest guys out on Tour, but I don't think there's anyone who wants action against him on the hardwood.

Jordan Spieth Is Out Here Fist Pumping Misses

Average is the word that probably best describes the 2024 Jordan Spieth is having. For him personally, it's been a well-below-average year with three Top 10s in 18 starts, including six missed cuts. The reality is that Spieth hasn't won a golf tournament since April 2022. When the sample size of not winning extends beyond two years, just sort of hanging around and collecting paychecks turns into your new average.

He's still entertaining and puts his fans through real-life rollercoaster experiences just about every time he tees it up. Even this weekend he was fist-pumping par-saving putts about a half-second after the ball left his putter face.

I think it's incredibly difficult for any golf fans between the ages of about 25 and older to convince their brains that Spieth is ‘cooked’ or done winning on the PGA Tour given how insane his run was from 2015-2017.

Two wins on the PGA Tour since April 2021, however, speak for themselves. Maybe the magic reappears, or maybe we end up waiting a few more years and he re-emerges like Phil Mickelson did back in the day. 

There Is Being Confident And Then There's Being Luke Clanton

Unless you keep up with college golf, Luke Clanton wasn't a name you knew two weeks ago, but the third-year golfer at Florida State has quite literally made history in his two starts on the PGA Tour.

After finishing T-10 at last week's Rocket Mortgage Classic, Clanton went ahead and finished T-2 at the John Deere making him the first amateur to post back-to-back Top 10s on the PGA Tour since 1958.

The Florida native very clearly found confidence in making the cut at the U.S. Open earlier this summer and is riding the hot hand unlike any amateur we've seen in quite a while.

Speaking of confidence, there may not be a more confident player on the planet at this moment than Clanton. He's already calling his shot after playing in exactly two Tour events.

"It just kind of proves again to me I know I can win out here," Clanton said following his 63 on Sunday. "I don't want to sound cocky or anything, but I wanted to prove to myself I can do it. After last week, being up there and in contention and this week being … in second place … it just kind of shows me if I keep grinding and doing my thing, I'll be alright."

He may catch some flack for this quote, but every successful player out there truly believes they can win every time they tee it up, the difference is that Clanton is just sharing that thought out loud.