T.J.'s Take: Stricker on fire
By T.J. Auclair, PGATOUR.com Interactive Producer
After the first week of the 2008 PGA TOUR season, the biggest surprise to me should have come as no surprise at all.
I'm talking about Steve Stricker. What has gotten into this man? He's possessed.
OK, so, he lost the Mercedes-Benz Championship after a four-hole playoff with Daniel Chopra, but how about what the guy did to get into a playoff to begin with?
Prior to Sunday, the best score recorded at Kapalua's Plantation Course for the tournament was a 7-under-par 66. In the final round, Stricker and Hunter Mahan each posted a tournament-low of 9-under-par 64. Stricker was 6 under on the back nine, which included a 12-foot birdie on the closing hole. A playoff wasn't guaranteed, as a Chopra birdie on the last hole would have won the tournament, but Stricker still knew that he could make no worse than birdie to potentially force overtime.
In the end, he may have been disappointed with the outcome, but after sitting back and remembering where he's been, surely Stricker got over it fast.
It could be argued that aside from Tiger Woods, no player has been hotter over the last 24 months than Stricker. He doesn't have the same number of wins over that span as Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk or Vijay Singh, but, Stricker is currently third in the Official World Golf Ranking, which is unbelievable considering this is the same guy who had to call on tournament sponsors for exemptions to play on TOUR in 2005 because he was outside of the top 150 on the money list and only earned exemptions as a past champion.
In the mid-90s, the Wisconsin native was considered to be one of the rising stars on TOUR. He lived up to that billing in 1996 with seven top-10 finishes, including two wins. This, of course, was pre-Tiger Woods and a time when winning twice in a season was considered incredible (it's still incredible today, but Tiger's otherworldly numbers make you think, two wins? That's nice.).
For Stricker, it seemed as though there were no limits. To further that point, he had top-five finishes in the U.S. Open (tie for fifth) and the PGA Championship (second) in 1998.
In 2001, Stricker defeated Pierre Fulke in the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, which many top players skipped out on since the event was played in Australia. Even so, a win is a win. And, it would be the last taste of victory Stricker would have for six grueling years.
| Inside the Numbers | ||||||||||||||||||
| Steve Stricker in last week's Mercedes-Benz Championship | ||||||||||||||||||
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What happened? Did he lose his passion? Did he lose his desire?
The answers to those questions were an emphatic "no." Chalk it up to starting a family and, simply, losing his game.
And that's the beauty of golf -- every hacker out there, whether your idea of a great round is breaking 100, 90, 80, or whatever -- knows what it's like to lose your game. However, when it's your profession like it is for Stricker, it's not "beauty" it's "maddening."
And, true to golf's fickle nature, just when it seemed all was lost for Stricker, along came 2006 and a re-coming-out-party, if you will, in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. You saw his name on the board throughout the week thinking, "Oh yeah, I remember that guy. Where's he been all this time?"
The record books will show that he tied for sixth-place that week -- what they won't show is that his career was reborn. He rode the momentum from that high finish to a tie for second the following week at the Booz Allen Classic. With five top-12 finishes to close out the season, Stricker earned PGA TOUR Comeback Player of the Year honors for 2006.
All in all, it was a nice story. But, what would 2007 have in store? He answered that question quickly with a tie for fourth in the first full-field event of the year at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Suddenly, top-10 finishes became routine. Then came the completion of the comeback with his first win in 11 years on U.S. soil at the first event of the inaugural PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. Stricker hung right in there with Woods all through the Playoffs and wound up second in the standings, thus resulting in his second PGA TOUR Comeback Player of the Year in as many seasons.
Many in the golf world were surprised that Stricker could earn the same award in consecutive years, but is a comeback truly complete without a visit to the winner's circle? I think not.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a more humble, unassuming golf star than Stricker, too.
One vivid memory I'll always have of Stricker was from the 2007 Deutsche Bank Championship, where he tied for ninth. Following his final round, Stricker was swarmed by reporters and, among other things, was asked what it was like to go from where he had been to top-10 in the world.
Shaking his head with a grin of indescribable self-satisfaction and perhaps a hint of disbelief, Stricker conceded that it was nice, followed by a playful laugh.
While it may have taken longer than many anticipated, Stricker has developed into a player you expect to finish among the top 10 whenever he tees it up.
The great part about his story is he's now playing with a level of confidence where you can see that he expects that too.
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