SILVIS – The John Deere Classic took two major hits on Monday as the top player in the field along with the PGA Tour’s most recent winner both withdrew from this week’s event.

Patrick Cantlay, ranked No. 8 in the latest Official World Golf Ranking, and Rocket Mortgage Classic champ Cam Davis both pulled out of this week’s $8 million event at TPC Deere Run.

Davis jumped up to No. 38 in the latest OWGR after his victory in Detroit. 

As of Monday, Davis was listed as being in the field at next week’s Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland. Cantlay was not among the entrants for the tournament that precedes The Open Championship, July 18-21 at Royal Troon.

Cantlay, who is No. 9 in the FedExCup standings, and assured of a spot in the upcoming playoffs, is in the Open field, Davis is not.

According to PGA Tour communications officials, neither player gave a reason for withdrawing from this week's tournament.

While shocked by the news, JDC tournament director Andrew Lehman still has plenty of reasons to be excited for the week that includes seven players ranked among the top 50, led by defending champ Sepp Straka at No. 24. Other Top 50-ranked players in the field are Jason Day (No. 27), Sungjae Im (28), two-time JDC champ Jordan Spieth (32), Denny McCarthy (34), 2021 winner Lucas Glover (40), and 2022 winner J.T. Poston (48).

The field also includes six 2024 Tour winners in Nick Dunlap (The American Express), Jake Knapp (Mexico Open at Vidanta), Brice Garnett (Puerto Rico Open), Peter Malnatti (Valspar), Chris Gotterup (Myrtle Beach Classic), and Davis Riley (Charles Schwab Challenge).

“WDs are always part of the process,” said Lehman. “I think in this line of work, acceptance that they’re coming is a big thing. We had an idea last night with Cam, he played great and I’m sure he’s worn out with tons of media responsibilities in Detroit last night. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

“Certainly disappointed that Patrick’s not going to make it to Thursday to tee it up but we wish him a speedy recovery and wish him well.”

This would have been Cantlay's first start here, having WD'd prior to the 2014 event citing a bad back. Davis played in the Quad-Cities in 2019, 2021 and 2022, finishing T8 hit last time here.

Taylor Montgomery also withdrew from the field on Monday.

Those three are being replaced by Russell Knox, Cody Gribble and Zecheng Dou -- the latter two being pulled off the course during Monday's four-spotter at Pinnacle Country Club in Milan.

“We still have a great field, 156 guys who are here and we’re going to celebrate it being a great week and looking forward to crowning a great champ on Sunday,” said Lehman.

Cantlay, an eight-time Tour winner who has four Top 10 finishes this season, played three straight events in June, missing the cut at The Memorial before posting a T3 finish at the U.S. Open and a T5 at the Travelers two weeks ago.

He did not play last weekend in Detroit.

His last Tour victories came in the 2021-22 wrap-around season when he took home titles from the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the BMW Championship.

Davis, a 29-year-old Australian, finished off his second Tour victory on Sunday. It was also his first Top 10 of the season as he stands 40th in this year’s FedExCup standings.