Chubb Classic: Joe Durant closes strong to beat Steve Stricker

Joe Durant won the Chubb Classic. Make no mistake. Steve Stricker didn't lose it.

But Durant had to lose the lead before he could win it.

Durant birdied Nos. 17 and 18 to break away from a tie with Stricker and win by four strokes on Sunday at TwinEagles Club.

The pair were tied after Stricker birdied No. 16 from 6 feet and Durant got in a bunker and made a bogey. Looking back, that ended up getting Durant even more focused.

"In a weird way that kind of settled me down a little bit after I made bogey there, because it's like, I hit a terrible shot, hit a bad bunker shot, got out of there with a 4," said Durant, who grabbed his third tour victory and first since 2016. "Game was on. It was like, 'Now I've got to go play golf.'"

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More:2018 Chubb Classic: Joe Durant leads Steve Stricker by a stroke after two rounds

On the par-5 17th, Durant ended up just right of the green and made a great lag putt from 30 feet to leave a short birdie putt. Stricker was right of the green and had to pitch it with the pin on the left side of the green downgrain with water on the left. The ball rolled past the pin to the fringe. Stricker made par, and Durant had a one-shot lead heading to No. 18.

"I hit two good shots at 17 and it flew too far, really -- the 3-iron I hit from the fairway," Stricker said. "I was trying to hit it in the middle of the green and it flew over that ridge and kicked way back into not a very good lie. It was a dicey chip shot, had a good putt at it but hit a lot of putts on the edge today, too."

Durant, who won $240,000, then stuck his approach shot on No. 18 to 15 feet, not leaving Stricker many options on the par-4 with water to the right of the green and a right pin placement.

"I couldn't be more happy with my second shot on No. 18," said Durant said. "That's one of the best iron shots I've hit in a long time."

Stricker, 50, went for the flag, left it short in the water, and eventually double-bogeyed to make Durant's victory margin four shots at 19-under 197 following a final-round 67.

"Not my favorite pin in the world on the right side, and the right-to-left wind, and I tried to hold it off and pushed it a little bit. He hit a great shot in there, forced me to try to go right straight at it, and I didn't pull it off," Stricker said.

Lee Janzen, David Toms, Billy Mayfair and Tim Petrovic all tied for second with Stricker, who came into the final round trailing Durant by a stroke in his search for his first PGA Tour Champions victory.

John Daly had a hole-in-one and tied for eighth.

Durant, who is from Pensacola, got going with a 20-foot eagle on No. 13 to pass Stricker, who grabbed the lead early and held it up to that point.

"That was one of the best putts I hit today, and then I felt like, OK, I'm in this thing now, so let's just keep backing it up with quality shots," said Durant, 53, who followed it up with a birdie from the same range on No. 14 for a two-shot lead.

Each parred No. 15, setting up the two-shot swing in Stricker's favor on No. 16. But Stricker made his second par on the back nine par-5s, compared to an eagle and birdie for Durant.

"The par 5s killed me today, really," Stricker said. "I eagled the first one (No. 3) and then I was in great position on every other one and walked away with pars on all of them."

It was the second time Stricker was in good position for his first win in seven career tour events. In his debut in Tucson last year, he came to the last hole tied with Tom Lehman, but put his tee shot in a hazard and Lehman went on to win. Stricker has finished in the top three in four of his seven tour events.

Durant hadn't won since the 2016 3M Championship and said he didn't sleep well knowing he had the lead.

"I'm worn out," Durant said. "I was very nervous starting the day today and was
fortunate -- I missed a couple of short putts early, but made a good birdie on No. 8 and
birdied No. 9 and that kind of steadied me a bit.

"It was a roller coaster for sure. When it gets bunched like it was, anything can happen and I just kept telling myself if I could just hang in there, give myself a shot at it with three or four holes to go, you never know what's going to happen."

Durant did and his third tour victory was what happened.