Steve Stricker won a third straight John Deere Classic in dramatic fashion. Stricker sank a birdie putt from off the fringe on the 18th and final hole to win by one shot over runner up Kyle Stanley.

Stricker’s winning putt cam just moments after he got to within range by using a six iron out of a fairway bunker and completed a birdie-birdie finish that saw him get to within range by getting a birdie at the 17th hole as well.

Stanley took the lead into the final hole but missed a pair putt on the 18th that opened the door for Stricker who finished with a final round of 69 and was 22 under for the tournament.

Zach Johnson tees off this afternoon at the John Deere Classic near the Quad Cities. It is the tenth appearance at the tournament for the Cedar Rapids native who won the 2007 Masters. Johnson says he loves coming back and the last decade has been “tremendous.” He says serving on the tournament board has been great.

Johnson says the John Deere Classic is a tournament he would love to win someday. He says it was his second ever PGA start and having so many friends at the tournament, he says playing in the tourney is tremendous, and winning would what he calls his “fifth major.”

Johnson says each week on the PGA Tour he is reminded of his Iowa roots. He says it doesn’t matter where he goes or what tournament, including the British open he sees a connection to his home state. Johnson says the support every week is “ridiculous.”

Johnson has won seven tour events during his career.

A former winner of the John Deere Classic is the subject of a book for his two decades of leadership at the PGA Tour. Deane Beman won the tournament in 1971 and 1972 when it was known as the Quad Cities Open and later went on to serve as commissioner of the PGA Tour from 1974 to 1994.

Adam Schupak, is author of the book “Deane Beman: Golf’s driving force”, which chronicles Beman’s efforts to make the PGA Tour one of the nation’s most watched professional sports. Schupak says Beman “changed the trajectory of the tour” and made it into the billion dollar business it is today.

He says bowling got bigger ratings than golf when Beman took over, and tennis was a more popular sport. Schupak says televising golf was the most expensive sport to broadcast because of the way it is laid out. But he says Beman create the corporate sponsor model that took it from being the most expensive to broadcast to being the most profitable.

Schupak says the corporate sponsorship made the assets of the tour go from $400,000 when Beman took over to $260-million when he retired in 1994. Schupak says Beman’s work has allowed more professional golfers to make a good living playing the sport.

When Beman played, it was “subsistence living” as there were a few stars, but the rest of the players drove themselves to tournaments and had to make the cut to get into the next event. Schupak says Beman has the vision of making golf a bigger sport.

Schupak writes for Golf Week Magazine and is covering the John Deere Classic this week.

A strong field will tee off next week near the Quad Cities for the P.G.A. Tour’s John Deere Classic. The latest P.G.A. veteran to announce he will take part is former P.G.A. champion Davis Love III. The field will include reigning British Open champ Louis Oosthuizen and 2009 British Open champ Stewart Cink.

Tournament director Clair Peterson says they have had a great run and with the shuttle to the British Open they have eliminated one of the hurdles to having the best players take part.

The John Deere Classic has always been known as a tournament that features younger members of the P.G.A. Tour, Tiger Woods played it early in his career, but Peterson says it is also a plus to have the big names take part. He says they also love having the developing players come on board and many have started here and gone on to big things.

Peterson says there is a large crop of good young golfers on the tour and he says that might be part of Woods’ legacy as some of the great athletes decided golf was cool. Steve Stricker will be out to win his third straight JDC title. The first round is next Thursday.

The reigning British Open champion will play in next month’s P.G.A. Tour John Deere Classic near the Quad Cities. Louis Oosthuizen earned his first major championship in 2010 by winning the British Open by seven strokes at St. Andrews.

Tournament director Clair Peterson says having Oostehuizen in the field is exciting and it’s his first time playing in this tournament. For the past few years the John Deere Classic has offered an easy way for players to travel to the British Open. The charter plane leaves directly from the area and flies directly to the British Open. Each player is asked to donate $1,250 per seat on the flight.

Peterson says Oosthuizen has also had a long relationship with John Deere as he bought a Deere tractor after winning last year. Oosthuizen will be a guest speaker at a Deere event while in the Quad Cities.

The John Deere Classic is July 7th through the 10th near the Quad Cities.

The Wartburg women’s golf team is in Orlando this week competing in the Division III National Championship tournament, and Cedar Falls native Jordan Galles is looking to help the Knights shoot a low number.

Galles is a senior for Wartburg and the Knights have qualified for the national tournament each year of her career. She says that experience helps the team know what to expect as it is the best competition they play all year.

The Knights finished in 12th place at last year’s national tournament, and Galles says that Wartburg has the potential to better that placing this year. Galles says they have a great group from top to bottom.

While Galles has led the Knights at a few tournaments this year, Wartburg has a very even team from top to bottom. Galles says that balance is vital to a good showing at Nationals. Mehodist University has won each of the last eleven Division III women’s golf titles.

Galles says that many of the Methodist golfers actually major in golf, which gives them a bit of an edge. She says they are studying to be a golf professional, while the Wartburg team has students with a lot of majors and golf has to take a back seat to schoolwork at times.

They begin play tomorrow and the tournament runs through Friday.

By Jesse Gavin KCNZ Cedar Falls