TOUR Insider: Stricker set to start another run?

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Steve Stricker holds no illusions about his chances of winning Comeback Player of the Year for a third consecutive season.

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Steve Stricker has four top-10 finishes this season.

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"I don't think they're going to let me win it again," the Wisconsin native said with a chuckle. "But that's OK. I need to go out and do some new things."

Stricker, 41, can start this week in Charlotte, N.C., when he returns to the Wachovia Championship, where a year ago he finished second -- one of four top-3 finishes during a career year that saw him also finish second in the inaugural FedExCup season.

The man he finished behind at Quail Hollow Club and in the race for the FedExCup was Tiger Woods, and Stricker and the rest of the 156-man field won't have to contend with the No. 1 player in the world this time. Woods recently lost the Battle of Wounded Knee. A third operation on his left knee after the Masters Tournament is expected to sideline him 4-6 weeks.

So, the Cat's away.

Nevertheless, everyone else had better come to play. Quail Hollow Club, 7,442 yards, par 72, has been a marvelous venue since it began hosting the Wachovia Championship in 2003, impressive in its presentation while remaining relatively impervious to low scoring. The players have been drawn to it, and this year is no exception with 19 of the top 25 men in the world ranking entered.

If the weather cooperates and little rain falls -- the weekend could bring thundershowers -- Quail Hollow could be even more inhospitable to potential par busters. PGA TOUR officials are hoping to present a faster track. The rough is being trimmed back and the greens sped up and firmer (especially if they crank up the sub-air system).

What does this mean? Well, players who have performed decently at the Shell Houston Open or the Masters, where the setups were similar, might make a run at the title this week.

FEDEXCUP POINTERS

• While the Quail Hollow Club measures a substantial 7,442 yards (just three yards shorter than Augusta National), it did not favor the long hitter last year, even though Tiger Woods was the winner. Interestingly, Woods didn't rank among the top-10 in driving distance, which turned out to be a good thing; not a single player in the top 10 in driving distance finished among the top 10.

• Fred Couples, who saw his Masters cut streak end at 23, returns to action this week with his first appearance at the Wachovia Championship since the inaugural edition in 2003. Couples was among the leaders after 36 holes only to fall off the pace and finish tied for 34th when his bad back seized up.

• Though he won twice late last year with a belly putter, Steve Flesch put a conventional Never Compromise Exchange 5 putter in his bag a month ago on his way to his best finish in a major, a tie for fifth at the Masters. Flesch also had a new Cleveland Hi-Bore driver in his bag at Augusta.

• Last week's cut of 3 over par at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship was the ninth of the year and seventh in the last nine weeks, and now the TOUR heads to Quail Hollow Club, where the cut was 3 over last year and has been over par each of the last three years. Only three times in 20 rounds has the field averaged under par at the par-72 layout, and each of those came in the third round (in 2007, '06 and '04).

• David Toms, winner of the inaugural Wachovia Championship in 2003, is a TaylorMade staff player, but he used a set of Cleveland irons at the Masters and Verizon Heritage after experimenting with a set of Mizuno irons at the PODS Championship that he had purchased from a retail store in Florida. Toms formerly was on Cleveland's staff, and he plans to stick with the CG2 irons until he finds a TaylorMade set with which he is comfortable.

• Speaking of new putters -- or rather old ones made new -- Sergio Garcia changed flat sticks at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. The '05 Wachovia Championship runner-up dug out a model he used eight years ago to try and regain "feel" in his stroke. Alas, Garcia still averaged 29.5 putts per round, ranked 58th in the field.

• TaylorMade's new Tour Burner TP driver was in Andres Romero's bag a few weeks ago when he won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Brandt Snedeker added it to his arsenal (replacing his r7 425 model) at the Masters, where he tied for third. Last year at Quail Hollow he missed the cut.

• The Wachovia Championship has been good to major champions. Woods became the fourth major championship winner to triumph at Quail Hollow, joining Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh and Toms.

• Among the 21 players making their debut at Quail Hollow is reigning U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera, who has just one top-10 finish this year, a tie for fifth at the World Golf Championship-Accenture Match Play Championship.