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Stricker takes Colonial title

Steve Stricker has learned how to accept the ups and downs of professional golf with a positive approach, a lesson that helped…

Mon Jun 01 2009 - 01:00

Steve Stricker has learned how to accept the ups and downs of professional golf with a positive approach, a lesson that helped the American win the Colonial Invitational in a three-way play-off on Sunday.

A missed birdie putt from seven feet at the 15th, followed by a four-footer for par that slipped by at the 16th, left him two strokes off the pace but the 42-year-old was able to hold on to seal victory at the second extra hole.

"You got to keep moving on and I think that's what I've done very well the last four years or so," Stricker told reporters after edging out compatriot Steve Marino and South African Tim Clark for his fifth PGA Tour title.

"I've been maintaining a positive attitude. Every time I get in contention I take it as a positive. I really had a couple of good chances to win earlier this year, and I didn't.

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"At first they stung not winning, but when I look back over the week, I realise I did a lot of good things to get myself in that position."

Stricker, who had posted five top-seven finishes on the PGA Tour without previously winning this season, was particularly upset by his missed four-footer at the par-three 16th.

"I had hit a decent shot in there . . . and then to miss . . . it really felt like it was slipping away," the former world number three said. "But I just kind of let it roll off my back."

Seeking his first PGA Tour title since the 2007 Barclays Classic, Stricker reignited his victory bid by chipping in from behind the green to birdie the par-four 17th in regulation.

After parring the last to join Marino and Clark in a play-off, he sealed victory with a spectacular birdie at the second extra hole, hitting his eight-iron approach to four feet and calmly knocking in the putt.

"I took dead aim, I tried to hit it in there, and I pulled it off. In a play-off situation, you almost have to do that.

"All in all, it was a great week. It started off Thursday and Friday with some rounds that I don't typically put up, back-to-back 63s. I played good all week.

"I could feel it kind of losing some momentum the last couple of days but I hung in there and the chip-in at 17 really, looking back, was the deal where I was able to win."