Doug Ghim reflects on his impressive opening round at the 2025 John Deere Classic, where he shot 9-under despite not feeling like he made many putts. Ghim discusses his strategy of patience on low-scoring tracks, his comfort playing in the Midwest, and how recent changes to his team have helped him mentally and technically. Plus, he shares what a first PGA TOUR win — especially in Illinois — would mean to him.
Uh, great opening round. You mentioned, you know, you know, you have to go low. Uh, what’s the mentality heading in tomorrow? How do you keep this thing going now for three more rounds? Yeah, I mean, honestly, anytime you can get to 20 under or better is you’re going to have a chance. Last week, the scoring was really low as well, and 22 ended up being the winner. After the first day, it looked like, you know, 29 under could be the winner. But, um, it’s still golf. It’s still, you know, a challenge. You you have to hit fairways. I hit a lot of them today. And uh just just trying to shoot four to six under every day and see where that puts me. Seemed like a lot of things were working for you. Uh maybe the putter was maybe a little bit one of the issues was just looking at your stats. I didn’t get to see what everything, but what was working really well for you today, I guess? Yeah, I mean I hit it close. I I hit a lot of fairways. I didn’t miss many greens. Um I had to chip it off a green on on 17, so it probably hurt the stats. I didn’t get it up and down. um cuz I had to come over the corner of the bunker. So obviously statistically it’ll look worse than probably it was. But um honestly hit it so close all day. I probably didn’t gain much anytime I tapped in for birdie. Honestly I put it for birdie a couple of times and and uh that’s just the way the stats go sometimes. But uh I hit it really well. Uh hold out a wedge. Um and uh yeah I mean honestly uh anytime you can shoot nine under and not really make a putt is is always a good good sign. Doug, you mentioned a little bit about patience on the radio. Uh, has that been an acquired trait for you and and you come to a track meet like this, is it hard to stay patient? Yeah, I mean, you learn. Uh, there are times like earlier in my career that you try to go out and try to shoot a 62 and and not to say that we’re not trying to shoot 62 every day, but um, you kind of have to let it come to you. Um I mean obviously on Sunday if you’re behind the pack you’re going to have to try to um but on a Thursday you’re just trying to keep yourself in it. You know that if you shoot five under even if someone shoots the 59 today you know that if you shoot another 500 tomorrow you’ll be somewhere along the pack. So um you’re just trying to keep yourself in it and then when you have your run hopefully it’s at the right time and you might win. But, uh, putting yourself in the pack is the most important thing and and, uh, today was a good start for that. When did that lesson really come to mind for you? When did you really catch on to that? Yeah, I mean, I think it comes and goes. Obviously, there are certain times where I I do it really well and I I I would speak for the rest of the field and and just any professional golfer. Some at sometimes it comes easy. You’re hitting your shots. I mean, Scott Sheffller’s making it look really easy right now. Uh but uh like in Vegas last year, played really well. Um and almost won and was patient all week, didn’t really try to knock the grass off the course the entire week and almost won that week. And um sometimes it’s just a little harder and you see guys shooting eight under, nine under every day and you try to keep keep up, but really you’re just trying to kind of stay in your own bubble and I think that’s something that every year I’ve gotten a little bit better at. And uh yeah, hopefully uh hopefully we learned a lesson before this week starts so that you know we’ll have a chance at the end. Doug, you made it look easy today. Can you talk about the characteristics of this course? Everyone comes here this time of year, they know they’ve got to score low, but if you’re not playing well, you get found out quick, too, don’t you? Yeah. I mean, they’re still challenging T- balls. It’s still golf. It’s still an outdoor sport. Um you could hit the fairway, be in a divot, and uh have to manage that. So, um, you still have to play very good golf. There’s long par threes. There’s, uh, there’s some challenging T- balls and and even the scoring holes, you could easily end up with a with a five, six footer for par. Uh, 14’s a drivable hole today. And the group in front of us, all of them had to have about four and a half feet to to six feet for par. And, uh, that’s how quickly it could happen. What goes through a player’s mind, in particular yours, because you can speak to that when you see guys shoot the way you did today, but you’re struggling out here with black numbers. Uh just yeah I mean I think at the end of the day it’s always tough when you’re not having a great start but um you know you have to keep telling yourself that first of all one over is better than two over when you’re finishing a round because the next day you could shoot 59 and uh you don’t want to be four over and shoot 59 and barely make the cut. So um you’re just trying to play your best as always. Uh it’s like a swimmer. you’re just trying to swim as fast as you can and you spend time looking at the other swimmers, you’re not going to swim as well. You’re not going to swim as fast. So, uh you’re just trying to stay in your own bubble and and uh obviously if you’re shooting over par on a day like today, that’s tough. Uh you’re going to have to do some herculean effort like speed did I think in 2015 and uh you know, you’re just going to have to go really low from there on out. Is there a comfort level for you here um playing in the Midwest in particular, but but also playing here where you know um you had one of your first starts? Yeah. No, for sure. Um anytime we come to the Midwest in general, it’s it’s the style of golf that I’m used to. I grew up playing with, you know, treeine and and bent bent rough, bent green. So, um it’s always uh a welcome sight to come to Illinois, to Indiana, to Wisconsin, Michigan. Uh last week was also a very familiar feeling golf course for me and uh yeah, always look forward to coming back to the Midwest. Do you still have family in Chicago? Yes, both my parents live in Chicago along with cousins and uncles and and aunties. Didn’t have a huge gallery today, but I I that might change over the weekend. Yeah, absolutely. For sure. Uh 24 first time winners here, most of any event on tour since 1970. You’ve never won. What would it mean to to win here, not only your first win, but like we just said in the Midwest? Yeah, I mean obviously uh any win on the PGA Tour is amazing and uh to do it here would be awesome, but uh there’s a lot of golf to be played and and uh I probably won’t even be leading by the end of the day, so we’ll see. Hey Doug, how important was it for you guys to change your team and bring in new people? what was a year and a half ago now or so. Does that really make things different? Yeah, I mean uh changes happen a lot uh when we’re doing what we’re doing. It’s a high pressure, you know, circum environment that we put ourselves in every week and um you’re trying to beat the Scotty Shufflers of the world, the you know, uh Rory, all those guys. And everyone’s trying to find, you know, the perfect formula for that. and uh you know seeing different perspectives and and even the coaches and and and the help that I’ve had in the past that are no longer on the team have tremendously helped me get to a place where I feel like I needed to get another perspective. So, um happy with the team that I’ve had in the past and and very excited about the team that I have now.
