Rookie Streb gets first Web.com Tour win, by four shots at Mylan Classic

CANONSBURG, Pa. -- Rookie Robert Streb fired a 7-under-par 64 in Sunday’s final round of the Mylan Classic to earn his first Web.com Tour win. Streb, 25, rode a hot putter at Southpointe Golf Club and finished with a tournament-record 18-under 266 total, a comfortable four shots in front of closest pursuers.

“This is awesome. I finally won somewhere other than my home course,” said Streb, whose last two victories came in the Oklahoma State Open at Oak Tree Country Club in Edmond. “I didn’t think I needed a 64 today. I figured if I got to 15 or 16 under, I’d have a pretty good chance. The 64 didn’t hurt. It gave me some breathing room.”

Matt Weibring (67), second-round leader Brad Fritsch (68) and third-round leader Cliff Kresge (69) shared second place while two-time winner Ben Kohles (67) rounded out the top five, five shots back.

Streb started the final round at 11 under par and one shot back of Kresge, but quickly moved to the front with three birdies in his first six holes. Two more birdies to close the front put him at 15 under and in front by two.

The former Kansas State Wildcat was cool under the pressure of the back nine. He hit every fairway, missed only two greens and added three more birdies to win going away.

“I’ve gone through spurts where I putted really well and spurts when I hit it really well but I kind of strung it together this week,” said Streb, who finished the week tied for third in fairways hit and tied for first in putting. “I felt like my game was really good today. The putter was working well and I hit a few close, which made it a little easier.”

Streb needed only 24 putts to negotiate the final 18 holes and was never in any real danger of having the tournament slip away from him.

At the end of the day, tournament officials presented him a check for $108,000, which pushed his season total to $253,491 – more than enough to secure a spot in the top 25 at the end of the year. The 25 leading money winners will earn their PGA Tour card for 2013.

“You get a couple of good finishes and your goals change,” said Streb, who has five top-10 finishes this year. “I guess I’ve reached my goals for now. It’s nice because I can figure out what I’m doing the rest of the year. I have to keep playing well to make sure I finish high up by the end of the year.”

Fourth-Round Notes:

 --Sunday’s final round was played under lift, clean and place conditions. Overnight rain measured a little less than one-half inch of rain at the golf course.

--Robert Streb’s 18-under 266 total broke the tournament record of 17-under 267 set by Gary Christian last year. Streb became the third straight tournament winner to shoot all four rounds in the 60s, is the 13th first-time winner in 20 events on the Web.com Tour this year, and is the sixth rookie winner this year. He also moved from No. 23 to No. 4 on the 2012 money list with seven events left on the schedule.

--Streb’s final-round 64 matches the third-lowest finish by a tournament winner this year. Hudson Swafford at the Stadion Classic and Ben Kohles at the Cox Classic both fired 9-under 62s to win. Shawn Stefani had a 7-under 64 on the final day to win the Midwest Classic.

--Streb’s winning margin of four strokes is the second-largest on Tour this year. Casey Wittenberg won the Chitimacha Louisiana Open by eight strokes.

--For the week, Streb finished tied for third in driving accuracy (44 of 56), tied for 20th in greens in regulation (53 of 72) and second in total putts (108).

--Casey Wittenberg’s tie for 19th earned him $7,800, which was enough for him to overtake Luke List for the No. 1 spot on the money list. List did not play this week. Wittenberg leads by $3,232.

--Kevin Kisner and the Southpointe Golf Club appear to be a good match. Kisner won the tournament in 2010 and tied for fifth last year. Kisner fired a 1-under 70 in the final round to tie for seventh.

--Rookie Ben Kohles continued his impressive start as a professional with a 4-under 67 and to wind up in fifth place. Kohles, who became the first player in Tour history to win his first two starts as a professional, now has three top-5s in his first four Tour starts. He won the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational and the Cox Classic and was 60th at the Price Cutter Charity Championship. He earned $24,000 this week and remains No. 3 on the money list with $286,875.

--Justin Hicks fired a bogey-free 65 Sunday. He remains No. 9 on the money list despite not having won yet this year. Hicks has made the cut in 12 of 18 starts this year and has 11 top-25 finishes. This was his seventh top-10 finish of the season.

--Matt Weibring notched his third consecutive top-10 finish. He tied for fourth at the Midwest Classic and tied for 10th at last week’s News Sentinel Open. Weibring has now made seven cuts in a row – before that he had made only one cut in four starts.

--The Web.com Tour will be idle next week before heading to Idaho for the Albertsons Boise Open at Hillcrest Country Club Sept. 10-16.