{"id":24702,"date":"2017-03-20T11:17:10","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T11:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=24702"},"modified":"2017-03-20T11:17:10","modified_gmt":"2017-03-20T11:17:10","slug":"tom-lehman-rallies-beat-steve-stricker-tucson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/sports\/tom-lehman-rallies-beat-steve-stricker-tucson.html","title":{"rendered":"Tom Lehman rallies to beat Steve Stricker in Tucson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tTom Lehman rallies to beat Steve Stricker in Tucson<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span>
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\n\tTom Lehman rallies to beat Steve Stricker in Tucson:<\/strong>– Tom Lehman took advantage of senior newcomer Steve Stricker's late mistakes Sunday to win the Tucson Conquistadores Classic for his 10th PGA Tour Champions victory.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tTwo strokes behind Stricker with three holes to play, Lehman closed with two birdies and a par for a 7-under 66 and a one-stroke victory over playing partner Stricker. The 58-year-old Lehman is coming off arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t"I haven't been playing a lot of golf," Lehman said. "Had surgery in early November. Had a great doctor and had a great physical therapist, Tom Bratcher, who kind of really put me through the paces over the last 3 1\/2-4 months getting ready to play. I give him a lot the credit."<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tStricker followed his second-round 63 with a 70. He was trying to become the 19th player to win in his first start on the 50-and-over tour and first since Miguel Angel Jimenez in 2014.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t"It was a good week. It was a good positive week," Stricker said. "I did a lot of good things. My game is always a work in progress, it's like anybody's, and I haven't played that much yet so far this year. I think this is just my fourth event. Yeah, I'm excited."<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tStricker bogeyed the par-3 16th, matched Lehman with a birdie on the par-5 17th, and bogeyed the par-4 18th after hitting a 3-wood drive left into the water.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t"I clawed my way back and I took a couple-shot lead going up to 16 there," Stricker said. "I three-putt and he makes birdie and that was really the tournament. The drive on the last, which I thought was a good one, it was 300 yards to that water there on that line and I hit 3-wood and we thought we had it into the wind, so I don't know how it went so far."<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tLehman won for the first time since the 2015 SAS Championship, finishing at 20-under 199 on Omni Tucson National's Catalina Course. He won the 1996 British Open and four other PGA Tour titles.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t"I've been working hard to get in shape," Lehman said. "Since I couldn't play golf, I spent a lot of time just trying to get in better shape and I think that really paid off this week. I feel much better over the golf ball, hit a lot of good shots, made some good putts, had a lot of energy."<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tStricker turned 50 on Feb. 23. The 12-time PGA Tour winner will captain the U.S. Presidents Cup team in September. He missed the cut last week in the PGA Tour's Valspar Championship.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t"He played quite well, himself," Lehman said. "He has nothing to be ashamed of. I can assure you, he played outstanding golf and I just made a couple more putts."<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tLehman erased a three-stroke deficit on the first two holes. He went birdie-eagle, and Stricker opened with his first bogey of the week.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBernhard Langer broke the tour record for consecutive rounds under par at 32, shooting a 65 to finish third at 15 under. Gil Morgan set the previous mark in 2000. Colin Montgomerie has 30 straight sub-par rounds. He didn't play the event.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSource:- http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/golf\/2017\/03\/19\/tom-lehman-rallies-to-beat-steve-stricker-in-tucson\/99392368\/<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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