Star-studded Hyundai Tournament of Champions comes to a conclusion as Steve Stricker surges to the top
Top-ranked American player, Steve Stricker, despite burgeoning Cortisone neck injury, soared to the top of the leaderboard on the final day of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, winning the title by three strokes.
44-year-old Stricker, who will be heading into a four-week extended rehab for his lingering neck injury, pulled the glamorous feat with five birdies and dropped just one shot enroute to four-under, 69 in the final round.
Stricker started off the day five shots ahead of the rest of the field. However, by the end of his opening nine on the front, he had fallen behind and was just one stroke ahead of the fast approaching Martin Laird.
Stricker pulled in three birdies on the back nine to take the better off the Scotsman, Martin Laird, who stumbled on bogeys while making the turn. "It was tough," said Stricker, who finished at 23-under 269.
"I never let up today. It's always tough trying to win, and it's even more tough when you have a lead like I did. I'm very proud of what I did today. And it's always cool to get a hug from your family walking off at the end," Stricker added as he was joined by his family on the 18th green.
This was Stricker’s 12th victory on the PGA Tour. He has now surged to number five on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), earning precious 500 points on the FedExCup and a winner’s share of $1,120,000.
"I think you're able to lose your patience much more at a younger age," Stricker said. "Believe me, I've felt like that at times. But you've just got to keep hanging in there”.
Some of the top ranking PGA Tour players wrestled their way up the leaderboard over the weekend.
Hyundai Tournament of Champions was one of the only two events on the PGA Tour calendar that started on Friday and culminated on Monday, the other one being the Deutsche Bank Championship on FedExCup Playoffs.
Laird finished for an outright second, trailing Stricker by three shots and one shot better than Webb Simpson and Jonathan Byrd who finished for a joint third.
Simpson, the two-time winner on the PGA last year, carded another impressive performance over the weekend, pulling in rounds of 68, 68, 69 and 68 for an aggregate of 19-under, 273.
He pulled in a final round score of five-under, 68 at the painstakingly difficult Plantation Course at Kapalua.
The event marks a successful beginning of the PGA Tour calendar which will now proceed to Sony Open in Hawaii.
The Kapalua venue came under criticism as many of the critics lashed at the low turnout of spectators, as well as high profile players, and suggested a change in venue for the event next year.
Although none of the three major title holders, Rory McIlroy, Charl Schwartzel and Darren Clarke declined the invitation to play at the event, Keegan Bradley was the only major winner who was part of the field.
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