Streb nearly holes out in a playoff for win

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, GA. » Robert Streb now has two PGA Tour victories, both at Sea Island, both winning in a playoff. Those are the only similarities.

Six years after he had to rally from a five- shot deficit, Streb failed to protect a three- shot lead Sunday and felt the RSM Classic slipping away until piecing together three big shots to beat Kevin Kisner, none bigger than his final full swing.

His ball nestled in Bermuda rough on the second playoff hole on No. 18 at the Seaside course, Streb had to rely on a good guess and a soft bounce. He got both. His pitching wedge from a flier lie 158 yards away was perfect in flight, landed softly and came within an inch of going in.

That left him a tap- in birdie to cap off a wild final hour that changes everything for Streb — a check worth nearly as much as he made the last two years, a return to the Masters and a PGA Tour exemption through August 2023.

“We were planning on the ball kind of knuckling out of there and jumping,” Streb said. “You’re kind of at the mercy of whatever you get and it came out really well. I was just hoping it would land soft, and obviously it just worked out as good as you could hope for.”

Streb was one shot behind until his 6iron on the par- 3 17th took a good hop to 12 feet away for a birdie that allowed him to catch Kisner and closer with a 2- under 68. Kisner, who won at Sea Island in 2015 for the first of his three PGA Tour titles, closed with a 63.