University of Iowa golfer Steven Ihm was able to live out a dream last week in the Quad Cities.

Ihm, a native of Peosta, Iowa, received a sponsors exemption to play in the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run. He will be a senior on the men’s golf team next fall and his success as an amateur player led to tournament director Clair Peterson offering Ihm a chance to play with the best in the world.

Ihm has been ranked as high as No. 35 in numerous world amateur rankings after winning back-to-back college tournaments in the spring, along with the prestigious Sunnehanna Amateur earlier this summer.

That ranking gave him national recognition, which led to the John Deere Classic sponsors exemption.

Ihm narrowly missed the cut in his first PGA Tour event, finishing two strokes above the cut line. He carded a bogey-free round of 69 (-2) on Friday to have a shot at the cut, but missed birdie putts on the final two holes.

Despite missing the cut, Ihm was thrilled with the experience.

“It was awesome,” Ihm says. “They really roll the red carpet out for these guys. It was amazing being able to compete on the PGA Tour.”

On Thursday at 9 a.m. Ihm stood on the tee box awaiting his first shot in a professional event. The gallery following a local Hawkeye roared in applause when Ihm’s name was announced.

“Getting applause for your name being announced on the first tee was pretty cool,” Ihm says. “They do it at college tournaments, but this is a whole different level.”

Most of that applause came from Hawkeye fans that made the trip to the Quad Cities to support a homegrown talent competing on the national level.

“We have such a great fan base,” Ihm says. “I saw a lot of faces in the crowd that I really didn’t recognize, but they were rocking the Hawkeye gear. I even heard a couple times ‘hey that’s the Hawkeye guy.’ That was a pretty cool thing to experience in a PGA Tour event.”

Gaining experience was the ultimate goal for Ihm at the John Deere Classic. He is anxious to carry the lessons learned from the week into his senior season at Iowa, and beyond.

“This gives me a lot of confidence,” Ihm says. “I thought I handled the pressure very well because I never felt nervous out there. I had a chance to make the cut in my first PGA Tour event, and that’s what I wanted.”

Ihm will be busy this summer, playing in three of the top amateur tournaments left on the playing calendar: The Southern Amateur, The Western Amateur and the U.S. Amateur.

He will be back on campus in the fall as a returning first team All-Big Ten performer, and two rounds on the PGA Tour under his belt.