- FedExCup Points: 50,000
- Purse: $7.0 million
- Winning Share: $1,260,000
- Yards: 7,415
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents
NORTON, Mass. -- Bobbi Stricker had just won a golf tournament, and the 8-year-old knew exactly what should happen. She told her daddy, Steve, that she wanted to go to Hawaii, just like he got to do when he won his last PGA TOUR event in 2001.
Unfortunately, the patriarch of the Stricker clan had to break the news that a trip to the season-opening, winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championships didn't accompany victories in junior tournaments. He did compromise by taking the family to the 2008 Sony Open in Hawaii, though.
When Stricker won The Barclays on Sunday, he finally earned that trip to Maui that had eluded him for the last six years. The fact wasn't lost on his eldest daughter, either.
"She made a sign that said, 'At last we get to go to Hawaii,'" Stricker said with a smile.
The greeting at the airport Sunday night was just the start of a whirlwind 72 hours or so that saw him travel from New York to Madison, Wisc., and Boston. Stricker had time to reflect on the excitement Wednesday during a break in his preparation for the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Stricker enters the second event in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup leading the standings in the race for the $10 million bonus. He's also a four-time winner on TOUR after that two-stroke win over K.J. Choi at Westchester Country Club on Sunday.
"I was scheduled to go home and see my daughter off to school for her first day today, so it all worked out well," Stricker said. "(My) family and friends met me at the airport when I flew in Sunday night and (the festivities) kind of moved on over to our house.
"It didn't last very long because everybody was working the next day and all that, but that was a nice gesture of all my family and friends to be there. It was a special three days, and it's been busy to say the least."
Stricker's parents were among the visitors -- and "it was way past their bedtime," he said with a grin. The emotional 40-year-old, who will play on the U.S. Presidents Cup team next month, was extremely touched by the reception from family and friends alike.
"Sunday night really I didn't sleep at all," Stricker said. "Maybe it was the eight beers that I had that I couldn't get to sleep because usually I don't drink. I was just so excited. Nicki was the same. She couldn't sleep, either. I talked to Tom, my caddie; he couldn't sleep.
"It's been so long, and it was such an exciting finish for us; I was just still flying high at that time."
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The TPC Boston and the PGA TOUR gave Captain Marc Giammatteo an honorary membership to the club on Tuesday.
Giammatteo has undergone more than 30 surgeries to repair his right leg, which was severely injured by a rocket-propelled grenade during his service in Iraq. He spent two years in Walter Reed Army Hospital but is now working on his masters at Harvard Business School.
Giammatteo, who was awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, was a 4 handicap before his injury. The TOUR is working with the Wounded Warrior Project to provide honorary memberships to special veterans at its 17 TPCs across the country.
PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem handed Giammatteo, who has become an unofficial advocate for wounded veterans, the key to his new locker. During the presentation, Finchem talked about the inspiration he and several players found after a visit they made to Walter Reed.
"Marc, you represent what these young men and women are," Finchem said. "They are such great role models who represent the core values that we like to think people learn from the game of golf. But you can't learn from the game of golf the lessons you learned by making sacrifices that you made and the commitment and valor that you demonstrated on behalf of your country."
Giammatteo, who will be a guest of the Deutsche Bank Championship throughout the week, thanked the Wounded Warrior Project, the TPC Network and the PGA TOUR for their efforts on behalf of wounded servicemen.
"I would be remiss to think this ceremony would be for me," he said. "I think it's more the fact that it's the PGA TOUR reaching out to all of us."
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Rich Beem has already bucked the odds once -- moving from No. 134 on the FedExCup points list at the start of last week's first Playoff event to No. 113 with his tie for seventh at The Barclays.
Beem needs to move into the top 70 in the standings this week at the Deutsche Bank Championship to have a chance to play in the third Playoff event. He trails Steve Flesch, who is 70th, by 3,462 points. Solo second this week is worth 5,400 points.
"Anywhere between first and second I'll be all right, but other than that ... that's just the nature of how this works, you know?" Beem said. "It's kind of exciting. Hopefully the fans are kind of feeling that same way.
"I know for the players, last week did have a different feel to it, and right now it has a different feel walking down the range. You know there's some guys that aren't there that got eliminated last week and certainly got eliminated before it even started.
"It's nice to be able to survive. I played my way in, which is always fun, and hopefully we can continue that."
Beem took Monday and Tuesday off to regroup since the Deutsche Bank Championship doesn't begin until Friday. He spent much of Tuesday watching TV -- "I think every movie I saw yesterday was great," Beem said -- but he's ready to get down to business now.
"I feel good about my game, and I'm having fun out there for a change," Beem said. "I think that's the biggest change in anybody's game. Kenny Perry said it the best: 'When you're playing well, you never want to go home, but when you're playing bad, you can't wait to get on that plane.'
"I'm not ready to get on that plane yet, but I know it's coming sooner or later, and I know there's a chance I can stick it out for one more week, but I've got to play awfully well against a really quality field."
