Feeling the Ryder Cup heat, Stricker excels at Barclays
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
PARAMUS, N.J. -- He doesn't want another one of those calls.
He doesn't want to pick up the phone in a few weeks and have the conversation begin with, "It was a tough decision, but... "
He's heard that twice now. Once from Ben Crenshaw; once from Tom Lehman. And it still gnaws at him.
So close to a Ryder Cup spot, yet so far away. A consideration, not a choice.
You'll have to pardon Steve Stricker if his mind is a bit cluttered this week. If he can't just take a deep breath and tell himself to take care of business at Ridgewood Country Club this week and the rest will take care of itself. If, right now, he can't see the forest for all the dang trees.
Stricker isn't just trying to defend his title here at The Barclays, which comes with crystal, a gi-normous paycheck and the lead after round one of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.
He's also trying to make the 2008 Ryder Cup team.
Stricker is 0-fer on that front -- see those calls from Crenshaw in 1999 and Lehman in 2006 -- and he doesn't want Paul Azinger to make it 0-3. Yet, after finishing one place out of the automatic top 8 on the list after the PGA Championship when Ben Curtis knocked him out, Stricker has only one choice -- play well enough to be a Captain's Pick.
And therein lies the underlying battle.
"I've got two tournaments going on within one -- that's basically what I feel like,'' Stricker said. "That Ryder Cup is there a couple of weeks away when he makes that decision, and I'm trying like heck to keep it out of my mind, but it's nearly impossible. I want to make that team, and I want to be on there. I think I could help that team. I think I would be a good addition, but it's hard when I'm thinking about that and when I'm trying to play golf here, too.
"I feel a little more pressure to tell you the truth coming into this week, just because of that reason trying to make the team. Like I say, I've got two things going on at one time and I'm trying my best to separate them out.''
Which isn't easy.
Take Friday. He threw out a second-round 64, took a two-shot lead midway through the second day of play at The Barclays, separated himself from 99 percent of of The Barclays field by what felt like a chasm and found himself mulling over the Ryder Cup predicament.
He finished second, mind you, in the inaugural FedExCup to one Tiger Woods. With it, he picked up a tearful first win in 11 years at the 2007 Barclays -- held at Westchester Country Club an hour-plus away in Harrison, N.Y. -- and a second consecutive Comeback Player of the Year Award. The last of which tells you just how far he had come in the previous four years, especially since mid-2006.
"I take nothing but positives from winning that award, even though it was two years in a row,'' said Stricker, who is sitting at 132 after rounds of 68-64. "And Tiger said something to me after I won it the second time, and he was dead serious, and I don't know if I've said this before. But he looked at me in the eyes and he's like, 'You know, no one ever will do that again.' And that's the way that guy thinks.''
He paused and laughed along with reporters.
"I'm just thinking, great, I won it again. And he's like, 'no one's ever going to do that again,' which is pretty cool.''
Pretty cool, indeed. As cool as that 64 he threw out which began with a birdie on the second hole and a 60-degree sand wedge that hit and spun back on a rope and straight into the cup at the third for eagle. He made the turn 4 under for the day, then birdied 11, 13 and 15 to get to 7 under for the day, 10 under for the tournament.
Not bad for someone who opened Thursday with a pair of bogeys.
"It was,'' he said, "a wake up call.''
For a mind cluttered with questions and not-so-gentle reminders.
Making this field was a snap. He has yet to win in 2008, but he played well enough to grab the 21st spot in the rankings coming into the Playoffs. It's eerily similar to last year when he came into The Barclays ranked 12th in the FedExCup standings, won and vaulted to first.
And, by the way, he played on the 2007 Presidents Cup team.
Which brings us back to this season and the on-going battle. Stricker was on a roll until, starting with the Masters, he missed four cuts in a row. Then he started pressing hard to move up the Ryder Cup points list.
"I've been on the bubble like you say throughout,'' he said. "I felt like it puts extra pressure on you each week. You have this extra goal out there that you are trying to make and it's hard to focus on both things.
"So it's been difficult to try to shove that in the back of my mind, because it keeps coming up. It keeps presenting itself to me that I very much want to be on that team, so I've always got to try to put it back and concentrate on what's at hand and that's playing good golf and trying to play well. We all know when you do that, things take care of themselves.''
Then came the PGA Championship. Going in, he was eighth, but Curtis finished third to bump him out.
"I talked to Ben and he thought I would be mad at him and all that kind of stuff,'' Stricker said laughing. "I was rooting for the guy. You can't root against him. He's a great guy. And it's not over yet.
"That's what I keep telling myself. I have got three more weeks to try to play well and show Zinger that I deserve to be on that team.''
So far this week, so good.
Stricker is off to a fast start on A.W. Tillinghast's combination course -- one where everyone thought it would take a big hitter. Instead, Stricker is proving accuracy (19 of 28 fairways; 27 of 36 greens) is more important.
Just like in majors. The most nerve-wracking rounds Stricker has played in the last two years have been in majors. Particularly the British Opens where he finished tied for eighth in 2007 and tied for seventh this year.
Trust us, a two-fer-one battle here isn't easy either. He's got three more Playoff events to contend for the FedExCup again, but only two to seal the Ryder Cup deal. If he can trust himself. If he can take care of Ridgewood and let the rest take care of itself...
That call in eight days or so will be the one he's waited for. The one that begins "Pack your bags for Louisville..."
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