• John Deere Classic, Round Four

Stricker strikes back to stun Stanley

Steve Stricker successfully defended his title for a second year running © Getty Images

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Steve Stricker held his nerve to claim a hat-trick of titles at the John Deere Classic in Illinois.

Stricker was vying to become only the second player since 1980 to win the same event three years running, and he looked perfectly placed to do so, entering the final day two strokes ahead of his nearest rival.

However, the world No. 5 looked to have blown his chance after back-to-back bogeys at 15 and 16 saw him surrender his lead to Kyle Stanley, who had stormed up the leaderboard with five birdies between holes 10 and 15.

Heading into the final hole, Stricker trailed Stanley by one shot, but in a remarkable turnaround, Stricker clinched an unlikely victory after a two-shot swing on the 18th. Having found the bunker, Stricker's hopes appeared to have faded, but the American showed impressive guts to calmly find his way out of the sand before draining a 30-foot birdie putt.

In stark contrast, the nerves appeared to get to Stanley as he bogeyed the last to miss out on his maiden PGA Tour title.

"I really thought I could pull that shot off," Stricker said. "To make the putt is a bonus."

Rookie Stanley picked up the biggest cheque of his career with his first top-ten finish, while Zach Johnson and Canadian Matt McQuillan were tied for third four shots further back on 17-under.

The only Englishman in the field, Brian Davis plummeted down the leaderboard after a final round 73. Davis started brightly, climbing to ten-under after three early birdies, but his round hit a stumbling block when he bogeyed the ninth, and a double-bogey five at the 11th hole saw his round begin to unravel as he eventually finished 14 shots off the pace at eight-under-par.

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