A pair of elite amateurs – winners of the 2025 U.S. Amateur and 2026 NCAA Championships – will carry on a longstanding tradition at the John Deere Classic when they compete in the 2026 JDC, the tournament announced today.
In a news release, the PGA Tour event announced that Mason Howell, 19, winner of the 2025 U.S. Amateur (Olympic Club), and 2026 NCAA Champion Preston Stout, 21, a leader on Oklahoma State’s 2025 national championship team, will grace the fairways having received sponsor exemptions to compete. The pair will join 142 other world class golfers at this year’s JDC, scheduled for Thursday to Sunday, July 2-5, at TPC Deere Run, Silvis.
“The John Deere Classic is very excited to carry on our longstanding tradition of inviting the world’s top amateurs to play in our tournament,” Tournament Director Andrew Lehman said. “We look forward to having our fans get an early look at Mason and Preston, two of the truly elite young players in the game.”
Mr. Howell, who is an incoming freshman at the University of Georgia, was the third-youngest winner in the U.S. Amateur’s history and a member of the victorious 2025 U.S. Walker Cup team, where he didn’t lose a match. He played in this year’s Masters and last year’s U.S. Open. In 2024, he finished fifth at the Western Junior and advanced to the round of 64 in the U.S. Junior.
Mr. Stout, a Texas native, recently won the NCAA individual championship at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California. Earlier this year, he became the first golfer to win the Big 12 individual championship for the third consecutive time while leading Oklahoma State University to its 13th league title.
$8.8M purse this year
While Mr. Howell won the 2025 overall U.S. Amateur in match play, Mr. Stout won the stroke play element of the championship. Mr. Stout and former JDC Champion Jordan Spieth are the only three-time winners of the Byron Nelson Junior Championship.
The 55th edition of the Quad Cities’ PGA Tour event will have an $8.8 million purse with Brian Campbell defending his 2025 title win.
Since its 1971 founding, the tournament has helped raise more than $200 million for charity, more than 99% of it since John Deere first assumed the sponsorship in 1998.
Ahead of the 2025 tournament, John Deere and the PGA TOUR announced that Deere & Co. had renewed its title sponsorship of the golf tournament through 2030.
