Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Emiliano Grillo join winner Poston in booking The Open Championship berths

SILVIS, Ill. — A tee time in the 150th Open Championship wasn’t in Emiliano Grillo’s top three goals entering John Deere Classic week, and it certainly wasn’t what he set out to secure playing in the penultimate Sunday twosome.

“But,” he conceded, “it’s a nice bonus.”

Grillo and John Deere co-runner-up Christiaan Bezuidenhout joined winner J.T. Poston in securing Open Championship exemptions available to the three players in the John Deere Classic top-10 who were not already exempt for the major championship played the week after next at St. Andrews Golf Links, the birthplace of the game.

“I get to go home first, recharge the batteries, and then I'm heading to The Open Championship in St. Andrews,” Grillo said. “That's very special. It's in the top-3 places to play golf in the world, and I'm definitely looking forward to it.”

The Argentinian will be making his sixth start in the game’s oldest championship, but his first at St. Andrews. He tied for 12th a year ago matching his best finish in 2016. He missed the cut in three consecutive starts from 2017-2019.

Native South African Bezuidenhout finished 53rd at last year’s Open Championship and missed the cut in his first opportunity in 2019.

The Open Championship entry was a very pleasant bonus to his second TOUR victory for North Carolinian Poston. It will mark his Open Championship debut.

“I can't wait,” he said. “I've always wanted to play in an Open Championship, and this will be my first one,” he said. “So for it to be at St. Andrews and the 150th is pretty special, and pretty hard to draw it up any better than that.”

Grillo didn’t accomplish his first goal of the week, adding a second TOUR victory to his 2015 win at the Fortinet Championship. He did enhance goals two and three, moving up in the Official World Golf Rankings and FedExCup standings, and all but securing his card for 2022-23.

“Well, it's everything now,” he said of the impact of a strong week at TPC Deere Run. “Schedule changes. You can play a little bit more freed up. Obviously, the game is trending in the right direction, so I’ve just got to keep doing the same stuff.”

Bezuidenhout likewise will look to build on his Deere success.

“Yeah, definitely a confidence booster,” he said after a closing 6-under Sunday round of 65 helped him climb for a share of sixth at day’s start. “I've put in a lot of hard work over the last week, especially my golf swing and just overall my game, my fitness. My trainer is here as well. We've been doing a lot of good things over the last few months, so it's nice to see the results coming through and the hard work is paying off.”

And the St. Andrews tee time?

“I was going to play in the Genesis Scottish Open next week, so we leave tomorrow afternoon, flying to the Genesis Scottish Open. So I guess I'll be there for two weeks and not one week now.”
“It's an awesome event, beautiful tournament. To play it at the home of golf as well on 150th Open is pretty special.”