TROON, Scotland -- Steve Stricker made the most of his first Open in four years, shooting a final-round 69 to finish fourth and earn an invitation to next year's Masters, among other perks.
Stricker, 49, who plays a limited schedule these days and had not played on the PGA Tour in more than a month, had his best performance at The Open in 14 appearances.
"That's the great thing about playing golf out here professionally," said Stricker, who has won 12 times on the PGA Tour in his career. "There are a lot of carrots dangling. When you're playing well, you're rewarded and you get to do some pretty cool things. If that's the case, getting back to Augusta is pretty cool. We'll see after it all shakes out."
Another trip to the Masters is assured, as is a spot in the field at next year's Open at Royal Birkdale; The Open extends invites to the top 10 finishers from the previous year.
Still in doubt is qualifying for the PGA Championship in two weeks. Results at the Barbasol Championship, which ends Sunday, will affect that.
Including last week's Scottish Open, which he decided to play when the Greenbrier Classic was canceled on the PGA Tour, Stricker has played just 12 times in 2016.
"But that's part of the reason I think I'm still playing well," he said. "I've cut down. I'm still really excited to come out and play. I enjoyed my two weeks over here a lot. Scottish Open last week was really fun, and hanging with Phil [Mickelson] last week made the week go by real quick. It was good for my game, getting over here and experiencing all that weather, so it was a good decision to come over here."
Stricker shot rounds of 67-75-68-69 to finish at 5-under 279, 15 strokes behind winner Henrik Stenson.