Stricker will have no trouble putting Sunday in rearview
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
That was tough to watch.
No, it wasn't as agonizing as Greg Norman at Augusta National in 1996.
Nor was it as much of a head-shaker as Jean Van de Velde with his pant legs rolled up standing in the Barry Burn in 1999 or Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie on the 72nd hole at Winged Foot in 2006.
It was, sadly, golf.
With all due respect to Pat Perez, what I took away from Sunday afternoon's final round of the 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer was the shot of Steve Stricker sitting on his bag, head cradled in his hands. He had to be numb. He stared straight ahead -- at nothing. Even veteran caddie Jimmy Johnson, one of the best in the game, demurred, realizing there were no perfect words for the moment.
One minute Strick's up by three and working on a record score; the next he's four back and on the way to another almost on his resume.
Three bad swings. That's it. A triple at the seventh hole. A quad at the 10th. Two bad holes.
Not a meltdown like Norman. Not the wrong club. Not one of those brain blips.
Just that fickle game.
Stricker had been patient as he watched the water whip across the lake, but he couldn't wait forever to hit his tee shot at the 10th. And, well, when he did, those canyon winds -- those tricky devils no forecaster predicted would be that bad -- got the best of him.
"I had backed off a couple of times there trying to wait for it to calm down and it never really calmed down,'' Stricker said. "And at some point, I've got to hit the shot."
When he did hit, he was tied with Perez. The tee shot flew out of bounds. His next one found the water. He walked off with an 8, shaking his head.
How can you shoot a career-low 61 on Friday, 62 on Saturday and hockey sticks in the final round? It happens. A lot.
But of all the players on the leaderboard going into the final round? Well, Stricker was the one guy you figured would be immune. Not from losing, but at least from a 77.
Calm, cool, collected. Great iron player when he has that swing dialed in. Two-time Comeback Player of the Year. He finished strong last year after the spring blahs, but it was the tie for seventh at windblown Birkdale that made us sit up and wonder if there was indeed a major in Stricker's future. A Masters, perhaps?
That's one reason we can't see this dragging him down. This is nothing when you consider the abyss he was in before. But don't remind him. That was then. This is the rest of his career.
Stricker doesn't do half-empty. He's a half-full kind of guy. Which is why he'll take those swings, the circumstances and put it all into perspective.
Who hasn't faced a near impossible situation like that? And more than once a year.
Amen Corner comes to mind. Those capricious winds in Augusta dance along the treeline then swoop in and push or slap down shots. Or the Open Championship. It was gusting 45 mph at Birkdale where hit-and-pray shots were routine.
Strick's last win -- the 2007 Barclays -- came with tears. Lots of them. It had been so long, so frustrating. He hadn't won since the 2001 World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. Before that? It was a double in 1996 -- the Kemper Open and Motorola Western Open.
After 2001, he had fallen so far off the map he had to write for tournaments asking for exemptions. He had to go back to qualifying school. He wasn't sure if he could still play the game at the highest level, but he wanted to try. It was what he wanted to do.
He turned the corner at the 2006 Shell Houston Open with a third place and a few months later, he had us with that tie for sixth at the U.S. Open. That sealed it. He won Comeback Player of the Year. Then did it again the following year after he won The Barclays. Each time by a vote of his peers.
So this? It's a bump on the road. Not a setback.
Yes, he wanted to win the Hope. He's had 10 top-10s since that last win and it's time. But two bad holes and a tie for third? That's not going to send him reeling. He didn't give up when he was four back, then five behind. He tried to salvage the day, make something happen.
Sunday, it was just too much to ask. Especially with Perez playing the way he did.
"It's a little tough to recover from a triple and a quad,'' Stricker said afterward. "But overall, if you would have told me I would have played like I did this week coming into the tournament, I still take a lot of positives away.''
He knew that, too, a few years ago in Houston. He pressed on, working his way back. Three runner-up finishes. Thirteen top-10s. Then the tears and The Barclays win.
That's why when we saw Stricker sitting on the bag, we made a mental note. We knew it wasn't a Van de Velde, but rather the frustration of the moment, of golf.
And, knowing him, a hint of something major yet to come.
Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.
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