A pair of 66s over the weekend has seen American Ken Duke kick-start his 2014/15 season in superb manner with a four-way share of fourth place in the McGladery Championship at St. Simon’s Island, Georgia.

After missing the cut in the new season opening Frys.com Championship the Arkansas-born Duke is now lying 24th on the FedEx Cup points series.

The event was won by fellow American Robert Streb who picked up a first victory and also a tee time next April in the Masters.

Streb closed with a 7-under 63 on Sunday and helped by pulling off the best shot of his career, an 8-iron to 4 feet for birdie on the second extra hole of a three-man playoff.

“One is easier to get to. I just haven’t done it yet,” Streb said with a smile. “Definitely thought I would have made that game by now.”

However winning The McGladrey Classic for his first PGA Tour victory was no picnic.

Robert Streb heading to the Masters after capturing the McGladery Classic.

He opened the tournament with a duck-hook into a bush for double bogey and spent the next two days worried about making the cut.

Streb began the final round Sunday five shots out of the lead and made bogey from a fairway bunker on the first hole. Right when he was making a run, he three-putted for bogey on the 13th hole to fall four shots behind with only five holes to play.

The rest was a blur, and then a long wait.

Streb ran off four straight bogeys to finish at 14-under 266. He waited 90 minutes to see if it would stand, and then faced Brendon de Jonge and Will MacKenzie in a playoff.

MacKenzie was eliminated on the first playoff hole with a bogey from the bunker. On the par-3 17th, where two hours earlier Streb had rolled in a 30-foot putt to tie for the lead, he hit 8-iron that never left the flag until it plopped down right behind the hole.

“What can you do? He hit a great shot,” said de Jonge, who closed with a 65. “And as I said, it’s nice for him to have a birdie. It’s a good way to win the tournament.”

Streb, who grew up at Oak Tree just north of Oklahoma City, never felt more pressure than over his final two putts. On the first playoff hole, he ran his 35-foot birdie putt about 4 feet by the hole and had to make that just to stay in the playoff. The next putt he had was for the win.

“I was pretty nervous over those short putts, but managed to work it out, and things went in my favour,” Streb said.

Very little has gone according to plan for Streb in his career.

He wanted to be a Sooner, but the Oklahoma golf team had no scholarship to offer and Streb felt he was only good enough to be a walk-on at Oklahoma State. So he took a scholarship to Kansas State, not exactly a golf mecca, and made sure he earned a degree in marketing in case golf didn’t work out.

It took three years to reach the PGA TOUR. He had to earn his way back. Two months ago in his first FedExCup Playoffs experience, he thought he had advanced to the third playoff event until he was bumped out by two points when Jason Day made a birdie putt on the last hole.

“You’re obviously not going to achieve all your goals right from the get-go,” Streb said. “Well, at least I didn’t.”

Ahead now for Streb is a trip to the Masters, along with Kapalua and the PGA Championship and other invitation-based events he has never played.

As well, his wife Maggie, whom he met at Kansas State, is expecting their first child in February.