Dylan Frittelli packs his bags for the Open with John Deere Classic win

South African Dylan Frittelli won the John Deere Classic by two shots on Sunday, booking his spot in the Open Championship field next week

If South African Dylan Frittelli made any plans for the upcoming week, he now has to cancel them.

Frittelli became the latest PGA Tour champion on Sunday, winning the John Deere Classic by two shots for his first career title. The victory not only makes him exempt on tour for the next two years, it also qualifies him for the Open Championship at Royal Portrush beginning on Thursday.

By making the John Deere his first PGA Tour win, Frittelli is following in the footsteps of a player he’s all too familiar with. He and Jordan Spieth were teammates for one year at Texas, Frittelli a senior when Spieth arrived for his one and only season in college. Together they won the NCAA Championship in 2012, Frittelli holing the clinching putt. The next year, at the age of 19, Spieth won at TPC Deere Run for his inaugural victory.

The similarities between the two, however, end there. Spieth has gone on to win three major championships and 10 more PGA Tour titles, including a second John Deere win in 2015. Frittelli has two wins on the European Tour and has also won on the Sunshine Tour in his native South Africa, but the type of success Spieth has had eluded him. But even as he toiled to make it in the professional game, Frittelli used the accomplishments of his college teammate as motivation to keep going.

“I’ve used that as fuel,” he said at his post-victory press conference. “I’ve played with Jordan. I’ve beat him. I actually beat him in more tournaments than he beat me during that college year. So I try to draw on that and think, hey, if he can do the amazing things he’s done, and I’ve played at his level, I know I can still do that.”

Spieth is also the ultimate competitor on tour, not satisfied unless he wins at whatever he puts his mind to. Even in college, Frittelli says Spieth wouldn’t let their ping-pong games end until he won. Frittelli, though, admits he’s not like that and doesn’t try to be.

“He’s probably the antithesis of me in terms of mental focus. He has a burning desire to win everything,” he said. “I don’t really have that. I’m more methodical, I’m more thoughtful in what I do…I wish I had more of that burning desire, but I don’t.”

Frittelli didn’t need plenty of mental toughness to do well at the traditionally low-scoring Deere Run course, but he did have plenty of game. Coming into the final round two shots back of the lead, he hit his opening tee shot into a fairway bunker but recovered with an approach shot to within three feet, setting up his first birdie of the round. At the third hole, he made an 18-foot birdie putt to get into a tie for the lead.

By the time he made the turn, however, Frittelli found himself behind a player having a career day. Russell Henley shot 10-under 61 on Sunday, the lowest round of his PGA Tour career and the best final round score at the John Deere since 1983. Now one behind Henley, Frittelli chipped in from over the green at the 10th to get back into a share of the lead, then retook sole possession for good with a 20-foot putt at the 11th. He finished with a seven-under round of 64 and 21-under for the tournament, two shots ahead of Henley.

The 29-year-old Frittelli now has a plane to catch for Northern Ireland, securing the last spot in the Open Championship field through the Open Qualifying series. He’s played in two prior Opens but missed the cut both times. But Spieth won the Claret Jug in 2017, and, as he admits, anything Spieth can do Frittelli thinks he can do as well.

“Obviously, he’s gone on to win multiple majors and do amazing things, and that’s something I hope to do in due time,” he said.

He’ll get the chance to give it a try on Thursday.