Steve Stricker, Tim Clark and Steve Marino battled it out on their second playoff hole in at Sunday's Crown Plaza Invitational before Sticker got the break on his approach shot and set himself up for the victory.
Tim Clark held the lead at the 14th hole, after a 23-foot birdie putt that gave him a two-shot advantage and tied him for the lowest score ever in the Crowne Plaza Invitational's history.
Clark failed to finish the feat, however. He missed the 9 foot putt which would have clinched the victory on the final hole, and failed to end it all with a 7 foot putt on the first playoff hole.
To add insult to injury, on the second playoff hole, he hit the pin and rolled his ball more than 20 feet past the cup. As Clark let victory slide through his fingers, Stricker took advantage of his opportunity, and put it away.
His strong approach on that second hole set him up for win that was a tribute to persevering in the face of what seems to be hopeless circumstances. That's not uncommon for Stricker, who has been comeback player of the year twice, and has worked his way up to 8th in the world rankings.
He was in the lead two rounds into the 36 hole tournaments, with a record 126. He fell behind on Sunday then moved ahead with birdies and 5 and six. His luck or skill - whichever it is - didn't hold then, as he fell behind with consecutive bogeys.
Then came the missed 4 foot putt on 16. Things got even worse when his ball fell in the fluff behind the 17th hole.
But he was able to chip the shot in, and things began to turn around. Stricker acknowledged that there is an element of lucky breaks when you win any tournament.
In another bit of luck, the final hole of the tournament was the 17th hole, where Sticker shot a birdie on in three of the last four rounds.
Steve Marino, the third member of the threesome facing the playoff holes, missed making a long birdie on the first hole by mere inches, then sent the second tee shot wild, sealing his own fate.
He remained positive, however, saying that he feels good about his golf right now, and is enjoying playing golf.
Stricker, Marino and Clark all finished at a 17 under 263 for the weekend.
Coming in fourth was Jason Day, just a stroke out of the playoff with a 264. The 21-year-old is from Australia, and recently joined Colonial. Although he had a low 65 in the other two rounds, he started the third with a bogey and couldn't recover.
One stroke back of Day with a 265, Paul Casey nearly added another win to his European victory that pushed him forward to Number 3 in the world. Although he started the third round in style with three birdies, he never got the momentum to take the lead.
In sixth place were Woody Austin and Vijay Singh, both finishing at 14 under.
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