Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Quad Cities tourney now known as John Deere Classic

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Thursday, July 22, 1999

Quad Cities tourney now known as John Deere Classic

Associated Press

COAL VALLEY, Ill. - This tournament has been called the Miller Classic, Quad Cities Open, Hardee's Classic and Quad Cities Classic. It's been held in September and in July. It's been played just before the British Open and on the very same weekend.
   This year's event has a new name - the John Deere Classic - and it's being played the week after the British Open.
   The course is still the par-70, 6,762-yard Oakwood Country Club in Coal Valley because the new Deere Run course is not yet ready.
   The purse is $2 million, up from $1.35 million last year.
   Steve Jones is back after winning last year's Quad Cities Classic. On the final day, Jones, the 1996 U.S. Open winner, rallied from a four-way tie for third, three strokes behind third-round leader David Toms, the 1997 winner here. Jones finished with a 4-under-par 66 and a 17-under 263 total.
   Caddies this year can wear shorts when the heat index, a gauge of temperature and humidity, rises above 100. For the first time in the PGA's 83-year history, shorts will be proper attire for caddies as long as they are khaki, are hemmed and don't come above the knees.
   With a forecast for hot, sunny weather, the change was generally welcomed here.
   "It's been a long time coming. There are going to be a lot of happy caddies," Fred Sanders, golfer Robert Damron's caddie, told the Quad City Times. "I think that after the Western Open . . . the tour has figured out it was risking a huge lawsuit if somebody did die."
   Garland Dempsey, John Magginnes' caddie, collapsed during the Western but was revived on the course by medical personnel.
   The Deere Run course in Silvis, five miles northeast of Coal Valley, will be used for next year's event.
   After touring the new course Tuesday with designer D.A. Weibring, PGA commissioner Tim Finchem said it should meet or exceed the high standards of the tour.
   "It is certainly going to be one of the better golf courses, if not one of the very top golf courses, among Tournament Players Clubs," Finchem said.
   A TENNIS: In Stuttgart, Germany, defending champion Gustavo Kuerten quit after just 37 minutes of his match at the Mercedes Cup on Wednesday because of fatigue from the Davis Cup.
   Kuerten was trailing Magnus Norman, 5-2, in the first set of the second-round match when he stopped. Last weekend, he played a five-setter and two three-setters in Brazil's 3-2 Davis Cup loss to France.
   "I lack the energy, the strength and the motivation," he said. "I need a break so I can really relax."
   Brazil's Fernando Meligeni, who played Davis Cup singles with Kuerten, fared better. Seeded 16th, he swept Argentina's Gaston Gaudio 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.
   Tommy Haas, the local favorite, reached the third round when Argentina's Mariano Puerta took ill.
   Marcelo Rios, the third-seeded Chilean, struggled past Argentina's Hernan Gumy 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-0. He kicked the ball after letting a 4-1 lead slip away in the second set.
   Also, No. 6 Felix Mantilla of Spain lost to Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-1; Norway's Christian Ruud upset No. 9 Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-2, 6-1; and Germany's Jen Knippschild ousted No. 14 Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.
   No. 4 Karol Kucera of Slovakia downed Sweden's Magnus Gustafsson 6-4, 6-2; No. 5 Alex Corretja of Spain defeated Rainer Schuettler of Germany 6-2, 6-2; and No. 13 Vincent Spadea of the United States topped Karim Alami of Morocco 6-4, 6-2.

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