2023 John Deere Classic: Officials Back in the Charter Plane Services

Jul. 2—When the John Deere Classic was played a week ahead of The Open Championship, John Deere Classic officials made it as easy as possible for players to get from the Quad-Cities to Europe.

As the PGA Tour schedule morphed and the Scottish Open was added the week before The Open and the week after the JDC, that travel perk went away.

Realizing that the tournament with a $7.4 million purse — one of the most modest on Tour — could utilize any benefit possible to lure players to the area during a hectic time of year, those involved with the JDC had a change of heart.

And that resulted in the tournament opening its pocketbook and offering the charter service once again, transporting players directly from Moline International Airport to Scotland for the Scottish Open.

JDC Tournament Director Andrew Lehman admitted that the new offering opened some eyes when he was on his last recruiting trip.

"It was a big talking point on the range when I was at The Memorial," said Lehman of offering the charter flight. "There were more than several guys who were interested."

And when he returned to the office, he had even more inquiries regarding the charter service.

"I had seven emails from players inquiring and figuring out what that looked like," said Lehman.

The idea of chartering players across the Atlantic Ocean began in 2008 and ran through 2019. There was no Quad-City tournament in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the flight was again offered when the JDC returned in 2021.

When the JDC was moved two weeks ahead of The Open for the 2022 season, the flight was not offered.

"Our goal is to have 20-25 guys on the flight," said Lehman, who reported that there were 26 players with seats and about 80 total passengers on the manifest.

JDC officials have secured one of the two New England Patriots' team planes to use for the charter. It is a Boeing 767-300 ER with a reconfigured interior that features 78 business class seats and 123 economy seats.

"I have talked to two players who have been on this plane and they said it's awesome," said Lehman. "I did not know that prior to us investigating it."

In season, the jet moves the Patriots and their equipment to road games. The rest of the year, the Patriots charter it out, sometimes donating the use for charitable causes. In recent years, it has been used to bring back over a million masks from China in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic and to transport healthcare workers to the Super Bowl.

Last year, the Patriots' jet made a stop in Des Moines, part of an airlift of Iowa National Guard members.

Tournament and Deere officials have requested each player make a $1,500 donation per seat with those proceeds going to the tournament's Birdies For Charity bonus fund.

Lehman said there are normally upwards of 100 people on the charter with some players opting to take their entire families on the trip.

"We're trying to make it as easy as we can for the players to get there," said Lehman, "and make as big an impact on our charity bonus fund."

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