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SILVIS, Ill. — With 50 mini-tour wins, give or take, to his credit, Eric Cole knows he has game. Having spent 12 years chasing the coveted opportunity to follow his father, Bobby Cole, onto the PGA TOUR, Cole also knows the difference is both vast and minute between the brand of golf played on the minis and the game that succeeds on a major-league level. “You don’t have the depth that you have in like a Korn Ferry event or out here on the PGA TOUR, but you’re still playing against the top few guys that are really, really good — guys who either have had success out here in the past or are capable of it in the future,” said Cole, who has actually lost count of his many mini wins. “It’s kind of crazy how many good young players there are playing the Korn Ferry Tour and just kind of learning the ropes of professional golf, guys are going to have a lot of success out here in the near future.” As he readies at this week’s John Deere Classic for his third PGA TOUR start in the past five months, the 33-year-old Cole is working to build on his nearly two years of competing on Korn Ferry Tour. In March, he advanced through a PGA TOUR Monday qualifying event for the first time in several tries and logged a 22nd-place finish at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship. Last month, he advanced through two rounds of qualifying for the United States Open and, despite shooting rounds of 77 and 73 and missing the cut at Torrey Pines, learned some major lessons. Thursday at 8:35 p.m., Cole will head off the first tee at TPC Deere Run for his seventh official TOUR round after again successfully playing his way into the field through John Deere Classic Monday qualifying. His hope is to cash out Sunday with enough FedExCup points to finish 200th in the year-end TOUR standings and punch his ticket to the impending Korn Ferry Tour qualifying finals. “Where I’m at on the Korn Ferry points list, with the two seasons in one, it takes a lot to move from 107th where I’m at to top 75,” he said of his decision to compete for a John Deere Classic opportunity. “I already have some non-member FedExCup points from Puntacana, so if I could get in that top 200 that’s kind of where my focus turned.” That’s his hope. His dream, of course, is bigger. Joining defending champion Dylan Frittelli and the 22 others who scored their maiden PGA TOUR victory over 49 Quad Cities events would be a life-changing occurrence. That’s an unspoken dream, however. Although his father is a former British Amateur champion and winner on the 1977 Buick Invitational and his mother, Laura Baugh, was an LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year with a bevy of top 10 finishes on the premier women’s tour, Cole knows well that a place on TOUR is anything but a birthright. Highlighted by a tie for third at the Savannah Golf Championship last October, Cole’s inaugural opportunity on the Korn Ferry TOUR represents the pinnacle of his professional career. Still, it has been a challenge and then some. He has made 14 cuts In 27 starts in a combined season elongated by the pandemic, and Savannah represents his lone top 10. As such, he has gained a keener understanding of the miles-deep talent in a game that’s grown far beyond what his father faced at the advent of the all-exempt TOUR in the 70’s. So, he’ll tee it up Thursday with ample perspective and genuine appreciation. “I’ve definitely had a bit of a grind this year, and then in the past doing more Mondays and mini-tour stuff years ago,” he said. “It’s just something that you have to kind of take the positives of and try and find a way to enjoy it. If you’re not one of those kids coming out of college and really having extreme superstar success, it’s something that you have to kind of relish, take the positives and enjoy it when you can.”

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A shot into the water at the 16th by Phil Mickelson gifts Francesco Molinari the point that wins the Ryder Cup for Europe.

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