Global Golf Post - January 10, 2012

KAPALUA, HAWAII | You can say a lot of things about Steve Stricker – he plays at a consistently high level, he’s a great putter and a super wedge player. Add to the list that Stricker is a closer. He hung onto the lead for the final three rounds at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and held off the challenge of three younger players to win the first event of 2012 on the PGA Tour.

Stricker shot a final-round 69 in a rare scheduled Monday finish to win by three over Scotland’s Martin Laird. Stricker posted rounds of 68-63-69 to go with the final-round score, good for 23-un- der-par 269 on the par-73 Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort on the island of Maui.

With the win at the Hyundai, Stricker has now won six of his last seven tournaments when holding or sharing the 54-hole lead. The one he didn’t win was last year at Kapalua. He entered the final round tied with Byrd and Robert Garrigus and could only manage a 2-under 71. He finished tied for fourth behind Byrd, who won a playoff with Garrigus.

Stricker, who will turn 45 in February, is clearly the most successful U.S. player at the moment. He is the highest-ranked American on the Official World Golf Ranking at No. 6. He has won 12 events on the PGA Tour, eight of which have come since the beginning of 2009. No other player on Tour has won that many tournaments in that period, including Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Stricker shot a 10-under 63 in Saturday’s second round to take the lead for good and led by five going into Sunday. Webb Simpson got to within one in the third round, but Stricker ended the day with four straight birdies to stretch his lead back to five to begin Monday’s final round.

Laird birdied the final hole for his second straight 6-under 67 to finish second at 20-un- der 272, one ahead of Byrd and Simpson, who tied for third. Byrd and Simpson each shot a final-round 5-under 68.

Byrd climbed to within one shot of Stricker’s lead with three birdies in his first six holes, while Stricker bogeyed the par- 4 sixth. But he came back with birdies at the eighth and ninth to stretch the lead back to three. Byrd could come no closer than two shots the rest of the way.

K.J. Choi shared the low round of the day on Monday, an 8-under 65 and finished tied for fifth at 15-under 277. He shared that spot with Harrison Frazar, who won his first PGA Tour event in 2011 and made his first Tournament of Champions appearance.