Injuries and self-doubt kept Brian Campbell away from the PGA TOUR for eight years. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever return, at times grateful just to keep a job on the Korn Ferry Tour. Now he’s a repeat TOUR winner. Campbell won the John Deere Classic with a par on the first playoff hole at TPC Deere Run, outlasting Emiliano Grillo after both players finished 18-under for 72 holes at the TOUR’s longtime Quad Cities stop. Campbell entered Sunday at 14-under, one back of 54-hole leader Davis Thompson, and moved into playoff position with a closing 4-under 67 while battling off-and-on rain showers throughout the afternoon. Campbell struck a 193-yard approach to 16 feet on the first playoff hole, the par-4 18th, and comfortably two-putted for the win after Grillo flew the green on his approach from the right rough and couldn’t get up and down.

It’s another step in a remarkable rise for Campbell, statistically the TOUR’s shortest hitter, who earned his first TOUR card via the 2016 Korn Ferry Tour in his first full year as a pro, but then lost his card after a rough 2017 season and spent the next seven years mostly battling just to keep his Korn Ferry Tour card, sometimes on the verge of stepping away from full-time competitive golf but hanging onto the self-belief that he could get healthy, retool his game and channel his strengths into the elite play that he showed in an acclaimed collegiate career at the University of Illinois. Campbell, 32, regained his TOUR card through the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season-long standings then earned his first TOUR title in a playoff at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld – outlasting the TOUR’s longest hitter, Aldrich Potgieter, in a playoff at one of the TOUR’s longest courses.

Golf is a funny game like that, as evidenced again Sunday when Campbell emerged victorious at the site of his PGA TOUR debut as a pro, a decade ago, in the state where he played collegiate golf. “I'm definitely a grinder,” Campbell said afterward. “I'm not going to outdrive everybody. I'm not going to out-ball-strike everyone every week. I can do my best to outthink everybody.” Campbell’s success in professional golf hasn’t always been linear, but it reached a high point Sunday in a place special to his heart. He earned it.

TOUR takes on both sides of the pond

The PGA TOUR kicks off its two-week swing through the British Isles with the Genesis Scottish Open, an annual event that highlights the TOUR’s partnership with the DP World Tour. Held once again at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland, the tournament will feature many of the game’s biggest names, including Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele and 2023 champion Rory McIlroy. Scotland’s own Robert MacIntyre returns to defend his title, with 500 FedExCup points on the line as the season approaches its home stretch.

While action gets underway in Scotland, the TOUR also heads to a new course for the ISCO Championship. Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville, Kentucky, will host a collection of PGA TOUR players and DP World Tour members. Last year, Harry Hall chipped in for birdie from 45 feet on the third hole of a five-man playoff to win his first PGA TOUR title. See who’s in the field for the first of two back-to-back Additional Events.

Video of the week

Ahead of the 2025 John Deere Classic, 15-year-old Carter Henning, a varsity golfer from Calamus Wheatland High School in Iowa, played alongside Zach Johnson and Dylan Frittelli in the John Deere Classic pro-am. Henning lost his leg while fixing a snowmobile in February and was fitted with a prosthetic in June.

Mic check

“The advice I would give is just you really got to dig deep and trust yourself. It's easier said than done, but what worked for me a lot was trusting a lot of things I used to do when I was a kid. You know, getting back to enjoying the game and loving the game for what it is and just having fun with it.” – Brian Campbell on the advice he would give his younger self.

Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10

The Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 highlights and rewards the extraordinary level of play required to earn a spot in the TOP 10 at the conclusion of the FedExCup Regular Season as determined by the FedExCup standings. The competition recognizes and awards the most elite in golf.