Normally Tyler Swanson would be heading home from his Psychology 101 class to study and get ready for practice with the ISU men’s golf team on Thursday afternoons — but this isn’t any regular Thursday.

Swanson, a sophomore, will be busy teeing up his ball on the PGA Tour with some of the world’s best players at the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill. He will be sharing the Tournament Players Club at Deere Run with Vijay Singh, Davis Love III, Greg Norman, Tom Lehman and Charles Howell III, to name a few.

“I am going to just live it up and take everything in like a sponge,” Swanson said. “So far this week things have been great. Everything is free, food, pop … everything. It is kind of weird. Everyone seems to already know who I am from the local coverage in the papers here. I haven’t had to show my PGA pass to anyone so far, and Justin Leonard even said ‘hi’ to me earlier.”

The dream experience will begin for Swanson when he tees off at 1:45 p.m. Thursday. He will be playing with Jason Gore and Tom Gillis, two players he admitted to not knowing much about.

“Either way, they are still pros and I am still going to play my game,” Swanson said.

Swanson, a native of Clinton, Iowa, qualified for this event over the summer after earning Player of the Year honors in the First Tee of the Quad Cities Amateur golf tour. The tour allows local amateurs to participate in nine tournaments over the course of the summer to earn points. The overall winner wins an exemption into the tournament.

Swanson missed the first two events, but played well enough to win the last event by one shot and earn his way in. He missed the Cyclone men’s golf team’s opening tournament earlier this week in Lincoln, Neb., to prepare for the John Deere Classic. It was a decision he made easily with support from head coach Jay Horton and his teammates.

“He played every tournament for us last year and he was worried about letting the team down,” Horton said. “I pretty much told him to go play. He will learn more in one week seeing and watching the other pros compete. He will find out what it is he needs to work on.”

Swanson’s father Cal, who is also his caddie, agreed that even though he isn’t physically in Ames, he will be taking notes.

“The poor side is, yes, he is there for an education,” Cal said, “But it is similar to a vacation where you can learn more things out of the classroom than inside it. This will be a great learning experience. You could look at it as him being in school and learning a lot this week.”

The golf team was victorious without Swanson in the 14-team Fairway Club Invitational on Monday and Tuesday.

“That is just awesome, and it says a lot about how deep we are as a team this year,” Swanson said. “With me being here and Jeremy Lyons shooting what he did — that is really good.” Lyons shot a 154 to tie for 43rd place.

Horton has played in the John Deere Classic twice before, missing the cut both times. He will be on hand when Swanson tees off Thursday afternoon.

“I am anxious to watch him play,” Horton said. “I have to get back because we have a recruit coming in over the weekend.

“I told him to go feeling like he belonged out there, and not to feel like you have to get out of their way. He qualified to be there just like most of the other guys. I also told him to have fun and finish as high as he could.”

Cal sat down with Tyler to discuss the weekend.

“He wants to just play like Tyler Swanson,” Cal said. “Don’t be scared. Play the best game that he can play and not play the pro’s game.”

After practicing on Monday and Wednesday and playing a practice round Tuesday, Swanson hopes to be good and comfortable when play begins.

“I played with John Bermel, who is the golf coach at [Northern Iowa], and Scott Brauer, who is the pro at St. Andrews [Golf Club] in Cedar Rapids. I didn’t keep score in the practice round. I was really just trying to play to where I thought the pins will be for the actual tournament.”

With all the preliminaries out of the way, Swanson just wants to get to work and play his best to make the cut. He said his course knowledge is one thing that should help him this week.

“I have played the course for five years since it has been open,” Swanson said.

“I just want to make the cut. No one who has qualified from the Quad Cities Amateur tour has made the cut, and if I end up doing it, then I will jump on that bridge when it comes.”

Cal Swanson, who coached men’s golf at Mt. St. Clare college in Clinton from 1999-2003, was the first to put clubs in Tyler’s hands.

“He first started playing at age three and played his first tournament at age six,” he said. “He picked up the game of golf because he was tired of seeing me leave to go play all the time.”

Cal said the individual aspect of golf is what makes it right up Tyler’s alley.

“He is a very competitive person,” Cal said. “Golf is ideal for him, because he likes the blame being on himself when he plays bad and then again when things go well.”

Clinton is within an hour of Silvis, and the Swansons are expecting a large following.

“I would guess around 50 or more in addition to his family,” Cal said. “Tyler is very fortunate to have a great group of supportive fans here in Clinton. Hopefully he can play well.”