News

Stricker Tops Leaderboard at Barclay’s

Steve Stricker used seven birdies to vault past K.J. Choi and into the 54 hole lead at The Barclays on Saturday. Mr. Choi’s mundane 70 allowed ten players to creep within five shots of the lead. Hunter Mahan tied his second tournament record in five weeks with nine birdies, all from 12 feet or less, in a round of 62 to put himself into a tie with Rich Beem for third. Another shot back are Geoff Ogilvy, Rory Sabbatini, and Woody Austin, whose name has become a fixture on leaderboards of late. Steve Flesch, Kenny Perry, and Ernie Els stand another shot back heading into today’s final round.

Published

19 years ago

Aug 26, 2007

Eric Schuster

Steve Stricker used seven birdies on his way to the 54 hole lead at The Barclays, the first time he’s been in this position since the last century. His 65 sent him past second round leader K.J. Choi and into first alone. In his last four events, two of them majors, Mr. Stricker has shared the lead or been a shot behind only to come undone. His last event, the PGA Championship, his putter, of all things let him down.
"One of these times, it’s going to come out in my favor," said Stricker, whose 14-under 199 tied the 54-hole tournament record.

Mr. Choi allowed all kinds of folks back into the tournament when his driver let him down on the back nine. A birdie birdie finish salvaged a 70 and share of second place. The round of the week belonged once again to Hunter Mahan, who tied a tournament record for the second time in five weeks with a stellar 62 that left him tied for third with Rich Beem.

Mr.Beem is perhaps the most desparate of the contenders, he has to finish in the top 10 in order to advance in these playoffs. The first eight holes it appeared Mr. Beem was in the process of packing his bags, however an eagle at the ninth righted his game and he finished with 69. "It’s going to be fun for me," Beem said. His round might have been even better had he not left his last two wedge shots outside 30 feet. "But I can’t complain about anything," Beem said. "I played some pretty good golf today."

Geoff Ogilvy had a 69, four shots behind Mr. Stricker along with Woody Austin , whose name keeps popping up on leaderboards, and first and second round leader Rory Sabbatini. Steve Flesch, Kenny Perry and Ernie Els were another shot back at nine under par. So there are ten players within five shots of the lead.

Mr. Stricker has had a marvelous year to this point, considering he lost his card in 2005. He was comeback player of the year in 2006, not an award you necessarily want to ever be in consideration for but, if it happens then one that becomes an acceptable achievement. Not having won since 2001, he’s managed to make the President’s Cup team for the first time in eleven years and placed himself in contention numerous times this year. "I haven’t been beating myself up about not winning any of those events, but obviously, I would like to win," Stricker said. "It’s been a long time since I’ve won, and I’m just going to try to bring as many positive thoughts to the table tomorrow as I can."

As for Mr. Mahan, he’s not finished outside the top 25 all year, and of his nine birdies yesterday none was outside of twelve feet. Can you say "dialed in". Talk about pitching darts, that’s closer to sticking the ball into your pocket and just casually dropping it on the green. "I just tried to keep playing good and give myself a ton of opportunities, and made some," Mahan said. How’s that for understatement of the week?

If any of the top seven heading into today’s round claim the trophy they also receive, as an added bonus, the lead in the Fedex Cup race. Of course, the caveat with that comes the reality that one Mr. Tiger Woods has yet to tee it up. Enjoy it while you can fellas.

Disclaimer: I am an unabashed fan of Wisconsin golfers, so if it ever appears I’m playing favorites it’s because I am and fully intend to do so going forward. Anyone who choses to winter in a land where you have to plug your car in so it will start( which also makes it unfit for human habitation so I’m attempting to get the federal government to come rescue us the next time it dips to 30 below zero) is a crazy person I can relate too. You haven’t lived until you’ve hit the range with snow on the ground. Hooray for Jerry Kelly and Steve Stricker, great golf games; questionable sanity.

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 OccuNet Classic

Published

2 hours ago

Jun 9, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

With the PGA Tour across the border in Canada this week, GolfWRX Tour Photographer Greg Moore stayed stateside and headed to the OccuNet Classic presented by Amarillo National Bank in Amarillo, Texas.

It’s always interesting to see what the guys are playing on the KFT, and this week certainly hasn’t disappointed so far, with some incredible wedge stamping on display.

Check out links to all our albums below.

General Albums

2026 OccuNet Classic (KFT) – Monday #1

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

Luke Potter’s custom Cameron putter – 2026 OccuNet Classic (KFT)

News

From the GolfWRX Classifieds: Scotty Cameron GOLO 6 with BGT Stability Tour2 2022 M Edition

Published

2 hours ago

Jun 9, 2026

Will Schube

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @HuskerFlyer is sharing a Scotty Cameron GOLO with a BGT Stability Tour2 2022 M Edition shaft. While the putter is certainly enviable, the Augusta-inspired shaft is equally noteworthy.

From the listing:

Scotty Cameron Golo 6 with BGT Stability Tour2 2022 M Edition Scotty Headcover 34″ $375

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules.

News

J.T. Poston delivers career-changing victory after major gear changes

Published

24 hours ago

Jun 8, 2026

Alistair Cameron

J.T. Poston required extra holes Sunday to earn a handshake from Jack Nicklaus himself and walk away with the biggest victory of his career.

Poston outlasted Ryan Gerard on the second playoff hole at the Memorial Tournament, and the victory at Jack’s place was aided by two significant gear switches ahead of the tournament in Ohio.

Firstly, Poston swapped from the Titleist Pro V1x to the new Pro V1x Left Dash in his last start at the Charles Schwab Challenge. It’s the ball that made headlines just a month ago, when Jordan Spieth also transitioned into the low-spinning variant at the Cadillac Championship.

Poston’s ball change was spurred by a discussion with Titleist Tour reps about testing some options that could be a little better for him in the wind, after the now four-time PGA Tour winner had gained slightly more speed of late and was feeling like his irons and full wedge shots were overspinning.

Poston spent time testing both the current-generation Pro V1 and the new Left Dash at home the week after the PGA Championship, and at Colonial Country Club, he spent more time dialing things in on the range with J.J. Van Wezenbeeck before deciding to tee up the Left Dash that week. At the time, Poston was 85th in SG: Approach (+0.024); he gained +1.402 at Colonial.

“So we felt like today was going to be a good test of that and it obviously performed really well,” Poston said after a second-round 65 at Muirfield Village which propelled him into the lead. “We had a couple shots that I felt like didn’t quite hit ’em perfect and it hung in there pretty well. So I feel like just having that confidence in that too is big, where I just — we’re trying to hit the smart shot and hit the right shot and just trying to execute and go from there.”

On his way to victory, Poston delivered a dominant performance from tee-to-green and was +8.081 in approach and tied for fourth in greens in regulation.

Poston’s Memorial victory was also the first on Tour for the new torched line of TaylorMade’s 2026 Spider putters. Poston also added the L-Neck Tour X at the Charles Schwab Challenge the week prior, something prompted because “it seems to be working for a lot of the other guys.”

A usually reliable putter, Poston had dropped to as low as 89th on Tour in strokes gained, and when he saw his good friend Denny McCarthy using the Spider, he thought about the change. With the new flatstick in hand, Poston gained close to seven shots on the field at the Memorial and ranked third in SG: Putting for the week.

Poston was the first to agree, though, that neither switch was more important than the other.

“The ball got me there, the putter helped me get it in the hole,” Poston said.

See Poston’s full winning WITB here.