What they said: Steve Stricker

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MORE INTERVIEWS: Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial transcript archive

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: At this time I would like to welcome the 2009 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial winner, Steve Stricker, congratulations on your fifth career PGA TOUR, and you also move to second in the FedExCup standings. It took 74 holes, but I'm sure you are pleased with the outcome, and you got a new addition to your wardrobe maybe some opening comments about a fantastic week for you.

STEVE STRICKER: Yes, thanks. It was a great week. It started off Thursday and Friday with some rounds that I don't typically put up back-to-back 63's. I played good all week. I could feel it kind of losing some momentum the last couple of days. It was hard to get some putts to fall all of sudden. But I hung in there and the chip-in at 17 really looking back was the deal where I was able to win. All in all a great week. It was a lot of fun. It was a great tournament.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Take some questions.

Q. Steve, can you expand just a little bit about your lie and thought process over that chip-in on 17 at regulation?

STEVE STRICKER: We had a hard time figuring out which way that wind was going. It felt left-to-right. If felt in at times. We were contemplating between an 8 and 9-iron, and we ended up hitting. I kind of pulled it a little bit and it ended up being downwind. It was kind of the wrong club at the wrong time. I had a good lie. I was thinking about chipping in, and a guy said in the stands, you know, chip it in, and it really made me think and focus on trying to do that. I was thinking if I could chip it in, and maybe make birdie at the last, we could get in a playoff or steal one. So I had all of the right intentions and the shot just came off perfect. You don't expect to chip a shot like that in especially the 71st hole. You know, I gave myself a good look at 18, too. You need breaks to win out here, and I think that's why winning is so special. It's so hard to do. You know there is so many ups and downs through the course of the week, through the course of the last round and things just happen to turn all my way today.

Q. Steve, two parts. You had really and up and down Sunday, not normal for you to go birdie birdie, bogey bogey, birdie birdie, it's not like you. Part one, what were you going through on the golf course, was it mechanics, was it emotional? Part No. 2, can you talk at all about putting your name on that wall with all of the great players along with all of the other great players?

STEVE STRICKER: Yes, the course played a little bit different today. The fairways were a little bit further. I got off to a good start. I missed birdie on 1. But then I made a couple of birdies at 5 and 6 and then I drove it up against the lip at 7, and I tried to bite off more than I could chew there trying to get it on the green. I was lucky the ball didn't comeback and hit me in the leg, or somewhere else, because I hit the lip and it came back in the bunker really quick. I three-putted 8, so I was back to even real quick. You know, all of those things go through your mind. You feel like you are letting the tournament slip away. But there is still 10 holes to play, and I just hung in there and kept doing the things I've been doing all week. You know, really the shot that upset me the most is that little putt at 16. I hit a decent shot in there over the green. I missed it on the right side, on the correct side, and putted it down there to a couple of feet and then to miss that after missing birdie putts at 14 and 15, that really felt like it was slipping away. So to be sitting here, I feel very fortunate. You know, it's funny how things work out. I've been on the other end a couple, two or three times this year where you think you are going to win and all of a sudden didn't things don't go your way and you end up losing. So this one feels very good.

Q. Steve, how much were nerves starting to play a part of things for all of you after you got into 17 and 18 and then into the playoff, did it feel like it was getting pretty tense out there?

STEVE STRICKER: It's always tense coming down to the stretch, the final few holes of a tournament when you are in contention. That's what makes winning difficult and hard to do. Sometimes we take for granted what Tiger has done, or what Phil has done. You know they make it look fairly simple at times and for the average player out here, it's a very difficult thing to do. You know, I can remember trying to win my first event, and I could relate to what Tim was trying to do today. You know, it's just a hard thing to do. There is a lot of things that creep into your mind and it's tough to get them out, and you are dealing with swing issues and outside agencies that you can't really control at times; the wind or lie or whatever. But, you know, it just gets tense. Everybody is on edge. That's why it's difficult.

Q. Steve, since you won at the Barclays a couple of years ago, can you talk about the intervening months? You have been in contention so much the last couple of years. Did you ever get frustrated, lose hope, or did you always maintain a positive attitude throughout?

STEVE STRICKER: I've been maintaining a positive attitude. Every time I get in contention I take it as a positive. I really had a couple of good chances to win earlier this year, and I didn't. At first they stung not winning, but when I look back over the week, you know, I realize I did a lot of good things to get myself in that position. You know, I guess what I kept telling myself is to just keep put putting myself back in this position, and maybe it will work out and here we are sitting here. But, you know, you got to keep plugging out here. You can't give up. You just got to keep moving forward.

Q. All four days you get a chance to look at that wall when you go up there on No. 1 tee, I'm wondering what does it mean to you to have your name on that wall now?

STEVE STRICKER: Well, it's very special, obviously, this tournament has been around for so many years and so many of the great players have played here and have won here and to be a part of that is, you know, probably beyond what I can even expound on. But it's just very, you know, it's very humbling. You know it's very cool.

Q. Do you almost feel like you are in the second half of your career, maybe like a basketball game analogy? You comeback from swing issues, and you were young and you were hot for a while, then you disappeared, and now you are back again, do you feel like you are in the second half of your career as it were?

STEVE STRICKER: Yes, I think so. You said it all right there. It's the nature of the game, ups and downs. You know, I'm fortunate enough to come back from a time when I wasn't playing so well and this last four years has been very special and it's been a lot of hard work. It makes it all worth it when stuff like this happens and when you win. It solidifies what you're doing is the right thing.

Q. Steve, talk about 17 in the playoff a little bit, when you all parred 18, and you got to 17, did you feel really good about that after you just came off 17?

STEVE STRICKER: I felt good with the number. I had 4 yards further the second time around. The wind wasn't as goofy as it was the first time around. It was the way it should have been. You know, I took dead aim. I tried to hit it in there, and I pulled it off. You know, in a playoff situation you almost have to do that. Just look at Tim, he hit a great shot in there at 18, and he hit the flag at 17 again. You know it's do or die at that point and Tim was a little bit unlucky, and he was able to make birdie.

Q. Steve, you seemed a little frustrated after the putt at 16, I am wondering how tough is it to compose yourself and do what you did on the next hole?

STEVE STRICKER: Yes, you just got to keep -- this is what my whole career is about, everybody's career here on TOUR. It's about the ups and downs, and you got to learn to pull yourself up after it happened, or something doesn't go your way. You got to keep moving on, and I think that's what I've done very well the last four years or so. I just kind of let it roll off my back, even though I was upset. I thought I maybe let the tournament slip away at that point. But, you know, you just got to keep plugging and do what you know how to do, hit it in the fairway and that's what ended up happening.

Q. Steve, you talked about your sponsor exemption a few years ago to get into this tournament?

STEVE STRICKER: Yes.

Q. Now you are here for the lifetime?

STEVE STRICKER: Yes, you know I think I needed a spot in 2005 maybe, I think I got a sponsor's exemption here at a time when I needed it. I haven't forgot that. It's funny how it comes back around in a circle. That's it.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Steve Stricker, congratulations.

Transcript courtesy of sportstranscripts.com.