Stricker Continues to Prove Age Is Just a Number in Golf

Every Monday during the PGA Tour season, Monday Pin Placement will run as a wrap-up of the weekend's action. Basically, we'll focus on what you missed while you were out grinding on the putting green.

Stricker Wins Again -- Sometimes, being old has its perks. You can get a cheaper breakfast. You occasionally get helped with your groceries. And apparently, you can also still cash in victories on the PGA Tour.

Steve Stricker became the second 40-something to win twice this year on the PGA Tour when he took the John Deere Classic on Sunday, joining Kenny Perry and adding to the seven wins in 2009 by people in their 40s (Angel Cabrera and Phil Mickelson have also won, but are a year shy of the group).

If youthfulness in golf means a limber back and ability to squat in strange positions to read putts, age brings wisdom to a game that needs it. Stricker, 42, won three times from 1996 to 2001, but has now equaled that mark less than two years, adding his name to the elite of the elite on tour. His putting stroke is smooth, and although he tends to come off as an emotional wreck, it was Stricker who withstood a 36-hole finale on Sunday at TPC Deere Run to win by three shots.

Stricker now has seven top-10 finishes this season, including four top-3s. He seems to always be in the hunt, and that claim can be backed up by his stats, which are only offset by a lack of driving distance (which never seems to hurt Stricker). He is second in putting average this season, second in scoring average, and 14th in greens in regulation.

Could Stricker make noise at the British Open this week? I believe he could. Playing links golf is all about controlling your feel around the greens, because American golfers are playing shots they would never do while on this side of the pond. Stricker's ability to roll the flat stick gives him an advantage that others suffer from. He will have the option to pull out the putter at any point from 20 yards in, similar to how Todd Hamilton navigated Royal Troon in 2004 with his utility club.

At Turnberry, distance won't be a big key, so that plays in Stricker's favor. Also, he's won twice in four starts, so it is safe to say that besides a certain "Swooshy" celebrity, Steve might be playing the best golf in the world at this moment.

Mickelson Out at British -- Phil Mickelson has played in 61 consecutive major championships, going all the way back to the 1994 Masters when Phil was the last one left off the field list. With his wife Amy Mickelson and mom Mary Mickelson both suffering from breast cancer, Lefty has decided to pass on the British Open.

It was an inevitable move for Phil, who came oh-so-close to claiming his first U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. Historically, the British has been the toughest tournament for Phil, who has only one top-10 ever at the major across the pond. Ben Crane has replaced Phil in the field at Turnberry.