Robert Streb wins McGladrey Classic for first PGA Tour victory

Two items on Robert Streb’s bucket list are attending an Oklahoma-Texas football game and playing at Augusta National.

He never could have guessed which would be the first one scratched off the list.

Streb closed with a seven-under-par 63 on Sunday and won the McGladrey Classic with the most significant shot of his young career, an eight-iron to within four feet for birdie on the second extra hole of a three-man playoff at Sea Island in St. Simons Island, Ga., that helped secure a trip to the Masters next April.

“One is easier to get to. I just haven’t done it yet,” Streb said with a smile. “Definitely thought I would have made that game by now.”

Winning the McGladrey Classic for his first PGA Tour victory was no picnic.

He opened the tournament with a duck-hook into a bush for double bogey and spent the next two days worried about making the cut. He began the final round Sunday five shots out of the lead and made bogey from a fairway bunker on the first hole. Right when he was making a run, he three-putted for bogey on the 13th hole to fall four shots behind with only five holes to play.

The rest was a blur, and then a long wait.

Streb ran off four straight bogeys to finish at 14-under 266. He waited 90 minutes to see if it would stand, and then faced Brendon de Jonge and Will MacKenzie in a playoff.

MacKenzie was eliminated on the first playoff hole with a bogey from the bunker. On the par-three 17th, where two hours earlier Streb had rolled in a 30-foot putt to tie for the lead, he hit eight-iron that never left the flag until it plopped down right behind the hole.

“What can you do? He hit a great shot,” said de Jonge, who closed with a 65. “And as I said, it’s nice for him to have a birdie. It’s a good way to win the tournament.”

Andrew Svoboda, who started the final round tied for the lead with MacKenzie, twice had the outright lead with birdies on the front nine and he remained tied after 10 holes. He made back-to-back bogeys, and then dropped another shot on the 14th and never caught up. Svoboda closed with a 71 and tied for eighth.

Defending champion Chris Kirk closed with a 67 and was in the group that finished two shots behind in a tie for fourth. Kevin Chappell went out in 30 to get within one shot of the lead, only to par every hole on the back nine for a 65 to finish three shots back.

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Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark made a series of spectacular saves in defense of a shrinking lead to shoot a one-under 71 and win the Perth International golf tournament by three shots.

Olesen started the final round with a three-shot lead which dropped to one after 12 holes in the face of a concerted charge by Frenchman Victor Dubuisson, who matched the day’s best round of 66 to finish outright second.

Olesen made good his win with a vital birdie on the par-5 15th to claim his second European Tour title with a 17-under total of 271.

His two birdies, one bogey and 15 pars didn’t entirely reflect a checkered final round on Perth’s 6,521-meter (7,131-yard) Lake Karrinyup Golf and Country Club course.

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South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace had a four-stroke lead in the Blue Bay LPGA when final-round play was suspended because of darkness.

Pace had five holes left when the round was stopped. Rain delayed play for nearly four hours with the leaders halfway through the round, leading to a Monday finish in the tournament cut from 72 to 54 holes after play was washed out Friday.

Tied with American Jessica Korda at 11 under entering the round, the 33-year Pace made three front-nine birdies and holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-four 12th.

Michelle Wie was second, also with five holes left.