Davis Thompson is a PGA Tour winner. And if we write it here, you know he’s a Dawg.
Joining the likes of Bubba Watson, Hudson Swafford, Kevin Kisner, Chris Kirk, Harris English, Russell Henley, Brian Harman, Keith Mitchell, Sepp Straka, and Brendon Todd, Thompson is now a former University of Georgia Bulldog golfer, coached by current men’s UGA golf coach Chris Haack, winning on the PGA Tour.
The Auburn, Alabama raised Thompson didn’t need any weird mojo from his hometown to pull it off, either. More on that in a second.
Thompson is spending his 2nd full season on the PGA Tour. After winning most of the accolades one can win in college (2021 SEC Player of the Year, 1st team all-SEC, 1st team All-American, multiple tourney wins, etc. etc.) he turned pro in late 2021. A stellar 2022-23 Korn Ferry season including a win propelled the young UGA legacy to the PGA Tour for 2023 and 2024.
An early runner-up finish at the 2023 American Express gave him confidence to know he belonged. So much so, that he made the FedEx Cup playoffs in his rookie campaign.
The 2024 season has been pretty good for a youngster. He’s made 14 of 19 cuts so far, with 10 top 25 finishes. That includes 2nd place finishes at the Myrtle Beach Classic in May and last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. A top 10 at the US Open in Pinehurst, plus top 30’s at both the Memorial and Charles Schwab shows he was in good form this summer and knocking at the door.
While hanging around the first 2 rounds, Davis took command Saturday with a best-of-the day 62. The course surrenders low rounds routinely – a 59 was recorded earlier in the week along with a 61. But stacking good rounds is the key in the Quad Cities, and Thompson was doing that very thing. Starting Sunday with a 2 stroke lead, a tenuous thing at best, Thompson fired early and often and built the lead up by the turn.
All he had to do was hang on. And he did that very thing, hitting fairways and greens down the stretch. He actually had great looks at birdie on several of his last 9 holes, but didn’t need them. The stress-free pars were just what the doctor, and his dad (former UGA golfer Todd Thompson 1985-1988), and he, and pretty much everyone else ordered.
Thomspon becomes the third former Bulldog to claim the John Deere Classic as champion (Straka – 2023, Harman, 2014).
Word is, he’s staying in the same rental house that Sepp Straka rented last year. And sleeping in the same room as Straka did. Straka went on to capture the tournament title in 2023 and book his flight across the pond for the British Open. Which Thompson will also do. Methinks that rental house, and that room, might bump up their rate come next July.
While you’re looking for VRBO’s in Round Rock, TX, or biting your nails over this autumn’s visit to Tuscaloosa, rest easy knowing that Bulldogs are doing very well. Like $1.4 million well, and another Bulldog in the field at the British Open. Enjoy, and as always…
GO’ DAWGS!!!