PGA Tour Notebook: Best performer in playoffs to date is solid Stricker

Steve Stricker is golf’s version of “Mr. October,” even though he’s usually in a deer stand that month. Golf’s version of the playoffs are in August and September, but that’s when Stricker seems to play his best. He is the only guy to have played all 52 rounds of the 13 playoff events since the FedExCup began in 2007. Stricker has won twice (’07 Barclays, ’09 Deutsche Bank), has one runner-up finish and has twice tied for third. His earnings from the playoffs alone are $5,142,790 -- or 19 percent of his career earnings on the PGA Tour. And that doesn’t include more than $5 million in FedExCup bonus money. Stricker’s scoring average in playoff events is 68.9. A GLASS HALF-FULL: Despite wild rumors on the Internet, Deutsche Bank is expected to pick up the final two years of its option this week, which will keep it as the title sponsor of the Deutsche Bank Championship through 2012. It would continue an impressive run by the PGA Tour in a tough economy, the 19th piece of business -- either a new title sponsor or an existing sponsor -- since the start of 2009. The tour is closer than ever to finding a sponsor for the World Golf Championship at Doral. That would leave only Hilton Head, St. Jude and the Bob Hope Classic as regular events without sponsorship. DIVOTS: Tiger Woods is a combined 1-over par in 37 rounds he has completed this year. Not that it matters—he became ineligible for the Vardon Trophy when he withdrew in the middle of the fourth round at The Players Championship. … Woods was No. 1 in driving accuracy at The Barclays, hitting 79 percent of the fairways. In his previous two tournaments, he was last among 71 players at the PGA Championship, and 79th out of 80 players at the Bridgestone Invitational. … U.S. Amateur champion Peter Uihlein, runner-up David Chung and Scott Langley will represent the United States at the World Amateur Team Championship, which will be Oct. 28-31 in Buenos Aires. … Along with going atop the PGA Tour money list, Matt Kuchar now leads the race for the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average. STAT OF THE WEEK: Cameron Beckman, Derek Lamely, Matt Bettencourt and Bill Lunde are the only PGA Tour winners this year who did not advance out of the first round of the playoffs. They all won opposite-field events, which award only half of the points. FINAL WORD: “Our decision is based on 14 1/2 .”—European captain Colin Montgomerie on his three wild-card picks, referring to the points required to win the Ryder Cup.