Backspin: Stricker finding Singh-like success in 40s

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Aloha, 2012.

For all the talent of the 20-somethings on the PGA TOUR -- they produced 18 victories last year -- wouldn't you know that the first tournament of the season goes to a guy who will be 45 years old in February?

Stricker's victory at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions is a testament to a remarkable career that's been resurrected a couple of times, the most recent of which has him in the midst of what could very well end up being a similar run to that of another 40-something: Vijay Singh.

Singh is the poster child for success after 40 with a record 22 career wins on the other side of that number. During that time, Singh reached No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking for 32 weeks in 2004 and 2005 and soon after was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Stricker has a ways to go to catch Singh, but he certainly could be in the neighborhood soon. Of Stricker's 12 career wins on TOUR, nine of them have come since he turned 40. And eight of them have come since the middle of 2009.

To put that in perspective, No. 1 player in the world Luke Donald has six worldwide wins since 2009.

"I just try to do my own thing," said Stricker, who takes over the early FedExCup lead with 500 points, when asked about his place in the game. "I tried to compare myself to guys when I was playing well back in the mid '90s when I was playing well, and I got into some bad things.

"I'm happy with what I do. Jimmy, my caddie, says do what you do, or let's just do what we do. I think that sums it up the best. It may not be the flashiest thing at times, but I do other things well; I chip and putt well, I'm driving the ball well. Everybody has got a little bit different game, and that's the way I just kind of look at mine and do the things that we know how to do the best."

What Stricker did at Kapalua was play the final five holes in a combined 15-under for the week on his way to a total of 23-under. That's as clutch as it gets, and Stricker did it despite battling a neck injury that stems back to last season and required a couple of cortisone shots.

Still, there were times Monday when Stricker's lead was in danger. He found the rough on the par-4 sixth and missed a 5-footer for par to lead by just one.

A younger player might have been frazzled and slid out of contention. Stricker of course didn't.

"You've just got to keep hanging in there," Stricker said. "I've been through this enough, and I've had some wins recently where I have the confidence knowing that I can come back and I can make a shot when I have to, or make a putt.

"I just keep telling myself good things. Even though I sat on the back of the sixth green beating myself up, I still try to flip it around and try to tell myself that it's OK, we're still leading, and let's go and make a couple of birdies. It's hard. It's a challenge, but it's worth it, especially when it works out at the end."

Judging by the past few years, that end doesn't appear to be anywhere in sight for Stricker.

THE BACK NINE: 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. As well as Stricker played, Webb Simpson's performance can't be overlooked. He's right there with Stricker as one of the best players in the game right now with two wins, a runner-up, a tie for third (in Hawaii) and three other top-10s in his last eight official starts since last year's PGA Championship.

2. Speaking of Simpson, he's one of those 20-somethings I mentioned earlier who had success in 2011. So is Brendan Steele, who offered an explanation on why players are performing better younger. "Guys like Rickie [Fowler] and Rory [McIlroy] are exposed to golf so early that they're not fazed by the time they get to big events," Steele said. "For me it was a couple of years on the Nationwide Tour that prepared me well. There are a lot of seasoned guys out there and I tried to pick their brain. I also picked up things from players [on TOUR] and different types of shots and applied them to my game." That didn't play out so well for Steele in Hawaii, where he finished 25th in a 27-player field. Still, the experience of Steele's win at the Valero Texas Open, or Simpson's two victories in 2011, goes a long way toward "calming down" a young player, as Steele put it, and that leads to the good golf we're seeing from the game's younger players.

3. Stat of the Week: Stricker is a combined 76-under par in his last 16 rounds at Kapalua. Twelve of those rounds have been in the 60s. His highest score during that stretch were a couple of even-par 73s. His results: W, T4, T10 and a playoff loss in 2008. He's also the only player on TOUR with multiple wins each of the last three seasons and now is halfway to extending that to four straight.

4. Reigning FedExCup champion Bill Haas got off to an inauspicious start with a 20th place finish at Kapalua, where he broke par just twice in what was his worst performance in three trips to the Aloha State. As for how Haas spent his offseason? For one, he and new wife Julie finally took their honeymoon to Costa Rica after being married last summer. And as for that $11.4 million he won last fall? "We were waffling on whether to put a pool in. We put a pool in," Haas joked. "I would love -- if anybody knows of a '65 to '70 Mustang out there for sale, I really want one of those, anything in that year. But until I find one I really want, I won't make any huge purchases."

5. That Tiger Woods announced on Monday via his website that he would make his 2012 PGA TOUR season debut at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (Feb. 9-12) was news but not exactly a surprise. A few months ago, Woods' agent Mark Steinberg had intimated that it wasn't out of the question that Woods would play at Pebble Beach. Woods hasn't played in the event since 2002, but he's of course had success there -- most notably in 2000 when he won the AT&T and the U.S. Open. The event also fits well with Woods' schedule. In the past, he's opened at Torrey Pines. This year, he'll start his season in Abu Dhabi, which is the same week as the Farmers Insurance Open. From there Woods will have a week off before playing at Pebble Beach.

6. Last year in a conversation with Hank Haney, I asked Haney if he'd ever considered doing a book about his experiences coaching the former No. 1. He said he had and didn't add much more than that, but you could tell the wheels were turning.

Fast forward to this past weekend when Haney announced "The Big Miss" would be hitting shelves March 27. I talked to Haney again on Monday for about 15 minutes and he said, explaining why he decided to go through with it, "I thought about it for a long time. I felt like I was in a unique position where I got to live a part of golf history and I wanted to share that with people." Haney couldn't discuss specific details of what's in the book, but he did say it will include his observations and experiences of six years working for Woods.

The book, by the way, came together quickly -- in about four months -- and is being written by Jaime Diaz, who is arguably the most respected writer in the business. That was important to Haney. "He's always written fair pieces about Tiger and I didn't want to work with someone who has a chip on his shoulder about Tiger," Haney said. "That's not the kind of book I wanted to do. To be fair and honest was my No. 1 goal."

7. Players getting hurt is nothing new -- remember when Phil Mickelson broke a leg skiing in 1994? -- but Paul Casey is starting to look like golf's version of Greg Oden. The last couple of years Casey missed time because of rib and turf toe injuries. Now a separated shoulder suffered while snowboarding in Colorado will keep him out the first two months of 2012. What might hurt most, however, is that the time off will cost Casey valuable Ryder Cup points. That's exactly what happened in 2010 when he had the injured ribs, failed to qualify for the team and was not selected as a captain's pick.

8. There's no doubt Tiger drives interest in the game but Commissioner Tim Finchem made an excellent point last week in Hawaii. "The PGA TOUR grew when Jack Nicklaus was winning. It grew when he stopped winning and it's grown with Tiger winning," Finchem said Sunday. "It doesn't matter to us. We can grow with one player dominant or we can work with a more wide-open competition. The fans like it and are interested in it both ways."

9. Two important debuts of sort to watch this week: Erik Compton and Billy Hurley III. Each took vastly different roads to the TOUR and both are playing out here full time for the first time in their careers. Different paths, same resiliency, equally amazing stories.

Monday Mailbag (Make that Tuesday this week)

Will Steve Stricker ever win a major? It feels like the time. -- D. Shepherd If now isn't the time, I don't know when is. He's played the best golf of his life the last few years and I don't see that changing -- unless his neck injury lingers. Stricker has nine career top-10s in majors with a runner-up at the 1998 PGA Championship at Sahalee his best result. Three of his top-10s have come in U.S. Opens, though I don't think he'll win one unless it's at somewhere like Merion in 2013. Last year, Stricker finished in the top 12 in three of the four majors. So to answer your question, I think Stricker has a chance at Merion in 2013, or maybe a PGA. Bubba Watson, Gary Woodland or someone else -- who's going to lead the TOUR in driving distance this year? -- Brandon Charlebois I'm going with Bubba. He ranked second each of the last three years and led the two years before that. He's already off to a fast start in 2012, too, after averaging 296.4 yards at Kapalua to lead after the first week. Plus he's playing the best golf of his career, and when Watson is playing well he doesn't hold back. Can you see four different winners of majors again this year, or someone gobbling up a couple or more? -- Sam Morgan We're in a new era of golf. It's called parity. After being spoiled by one guy winning 35 percent of the time he teed it up (Tiger Woods), I think we're back to a big year being three wins in a season. Have a question for the mailbag? Email brianwacker@pgatourhq.com, or tweet it to @pgatour_brianw.

Forward Spin

The Sony Open in Hawaii is the polar opposite of what we saw in Maui. Unlike Kapalua, the greens and fairways at Waialae are tiny. Translation: Look for David Toms, who was second-to-last in Maui, and Zach Johnson to play well there. At least judging by history they should: Toms won there in 2006 and Johnson in 2009. Another player to keep an eye on: Charles Howell III. He's finished in the top 10 in half his starts there.