American golfer Steve Stricker birdied the final hole from the fringe (25 ft. 3 in) on No. 18 to claim a one shot win over rookie Kyle Stanley to record his third straight victory at the PGA Tour John Deere Classic.

Stricker moves into second in the FedExCup standings, 125 points behind Nick Watney.

Stricker has converted seven of 13 third-round leads/co-leads on TOUR, including five of his last six. He failed to convert the lead/co-lead at the 2011 Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Eight of Stricker’s 11 wins on TOUR have come since he turned 40.

Stricker has held the outright lead six times on TOUR after 54-holes and he has converted each into victory.

In 10 careers starts at the John Deere Classic, this is the second time Stricker has only recorded all four rounds in the 60s (66-64-63-69). The other time was in 1997 when he finished T7.

Stricker records his third straight multiple-win season on TOUR. He is currently the only golfer to have multiple wins each of the last three years 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Stricker is the eighth player since 1983 to win multiple events in three (or more) consecutive seasons on TOUR:

Steve Stricker: 2009-2011/3

Phil Mickelson: 1996-1998/3, 2000-2002/3 and 2004-2009/6

Tigers Woods: 1999-2003/5 and 2005-2009/5

Vijay Singh: 2002-2005/4

Ernie Els: 2002-2004/3

David Duval: 1997-1999/3

Mark O’Meara: 1995-1998/4

Nick Price: 1991-1994/4

Stricker continues to lead the TOUR with 35 consecutive cuts made. Matt Kuchar is second with 29. Tiger Woods owns the all-time record with 142 consecutive cuts made. 

Stricker records his 11th career win on TOUR, joining the following players who won 11 in their career: Andy Bean, Frank Beard, John Cook, Al Geiberger, Bob Goalby, Scott Hoch, Wayne Levi, Bobby Nichols, Victor Ghezzi and Tony Lema.

The third-round leader/co-lead has now won 16 of 28 events on TOUR this season, most recently achieved by Stricker this week and Nick Watney at last week’s AT&T National.

Stricker is just the 17th different player to win a PGA TOUR event three straight years. Here is a look at those with three or more consecutive wins at the same tournament:

4          Tom Morris, Jr., British Open, 1868-70 (no event 1871), 1872

            Walter Hagen, PGA Championship, 1924-1927

            Gene Sarazen, Miami Open, 1926 (schedule change), 1928-1930;

            Tiger Woods, Bay Hill Invitational, 2000-2003

            Tiger Woods Buick Invitational, 2005-2008

3          Jamie Anderson, British Open, 1877-1879

            Robert Ferguson, British Open, 1880-1882

            Willie Anderson, U.S. Open, 1903-1905

            Walter Hagen, Metropolitan Open, 1916, 1919-1920 (no event held 1917-1918 due to World War I)

            Gene Sarazen, Miami Beach Open, 1927-1929

            Henry Picard, Tournament of the Gardens, 1935-37

            Ralph Guldahl, Western Open, 1936-1938

            Ben Hogan, Asheville Land of the Sky Open, 1940-1942

            Gene Littler, Tournament of Champions, 1955-1957

            Billy Casper, Portland Open, 1959-1961

            Arnold Palmer, Texas Open, 1960-1962

            Arnold Palmer, Phoenix Open, 1961-1963

            Jack Nicklaus, Disney World Golf Classic, 1971-1973

            Johnny Miller, Tucson Open, 1974-1976

            Tom Watson, Byron Nelson Classic, 1978-1980

            Tiger Woods, Memorial Tournament, 1999-2001

            Tiger Woods, World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational, 1999-2001

            Stuart Appleby, Mercedes Championships, 2004-06

            Tiger Woods, World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, 2005-2007

            Tiger Woods, World Golf Championships-CA Championship, 2005-2007

            Steve Stricker, John Deere Classic, 2009-2011

Sticker’s 100 putts this week are the third fewest on TOUR this season. Stricker also led the John Deere Classic field in Stokes Gained – Putting (5.024).

Kyle Stanley

Stanley (2nd) records his first top-10 finish on TOUR in his 32nd career start.

Stanley has made 15 of 20 cuts on TOUR this year in his rookie season.

Stanley finished T9 last year at PGA TOUR Qualifying School to earn his TOUR card this season.

With his second-place finish Stanley moves from 94th in the FedExCup standings to 45th.

Stanley was looking to become the fifth rookie to win on TOUR this season (Jhonattan Vegas, Charl Schwartzel, Brendan Steele and Keegan Bradley).

Stanley’s previous best finish on TOUR was T12 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March. This is Stanley’s fourth top-25 finish on TOUR this season.

Stanley matched his career-best round on TOUR this week with a pair of 65s in the first and third rounds.  He also had a 65 earlier this year at the Bob Hope Classic.

Stanley has made 32 starts on TOUR, 28 as a professional and four as an amateur.

With his runner-up finish, Stanley earned a spot in the British Open as a result of being the top player among the top 5 at the John Deere Classic who was not previously eligible. Stanley has never played in the British Open. His only starts in a major was at the U.S. Open in 2008 (MC) and 2009 (53rd).

Matt McQuillan

McQuillan (T3) earns his first top 10 of his TOUR career.

PGA TOUR rookie Matt McQuillan earned his berth onto the PGA TOUR card via the Qualifying Tournament, where he finished T16. He had never played a TOUR event prior to 2011. After a T54 in his first start, the Sony Open in Hawaii, he missed the cut in his ensuing 10 starts, coming into this week. 

The Ontario, Canadian played amateur golf for two years at Oklahoma State and one year at the University of Georgia.

Charles Howell III

Howell records his third straight top 10 on TOUR (FedEx St. Jude Classic/T3, AT&T National/T3 and John Deere Classic/T5). It is his fifth top 10 of the season.

Zach Johnson

Johnson (T3) picks up his third top 10 of the season. He has had three or more top 10s on TOUR each of the past eight seasons. It is Johnson’s second top 10 in his last three starts at the John Deere Classic.

Miscellaneous

There were 20 players in this week’s field scheduled to compete in next week’s British Open. They are: Jonathan Byrd, Chad Campbell, Stewart Cink, John Daly, Brian Davis, Jason Day, Jason Dufner, David Duval, Bob Garrigus, Nathan Green, Todd Hamilton, Charles Howell III, Zach Johnson, Jerry Kelly, Davis Love III, Steve Marino, Louis Oosthuizen, Steve Stricker, Chris Tidland and Mark Wilson. Kyle Stanley earned the final exemption into the British Open, making 21 players taking the charter to the British Open.

Five former British Open champions are in the field this week; defending Open champion Louis Oosthuizen (MC), Stewart Cink (MC), John Daly (MC), David Duval (MC) and Todd Hamilton (T22). 

Weather: Mostly sunny with an afternoon high of 90 degrees. Winds S-SE 7-15 mph.

Final-Round Golf Leaderboard

Steve Stricker     262 (-22)

Kyle Stanley       263 (-21)

Matt McQuillan     267 (-17)

Zach Johnson       267 (-17)

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