Stroud’s heart back home in Houston
NORTON — It has been a roller-coaster month for Texas native Chris Stroud.
It started with the highest of highs as he earned his first PGA Tour victory at the Barracuda Championship and a top 10 a week later at the PGA Championship, but it’s ending with the lowest low, as he helplessly watches from afar the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey on the Houston area.
After missing the cut last week on Long Island, Stroud debated whether to return home just before the storm hit but was unable to get a flight. He even contemplated not playing this weekend at the Dell Technologies Championship and instead flying to Dallas and driving the final 250 miles home.
“I talked to my wife, my family, my friends, and the thing they were concerned about, if I did get back home, (was) how could I get back out,” Stroud said yesterday while wearing an Astros hat. “So we discussed it, and we decided for me to stay north.
“It was tough. My heart goes out to all the people there. Obviously, I was extremely worried about my family being at home.”
Stroud described his home in Spring, about 20 miles north of downtown Houston, as “a fortress” which is located in an elevated area. It is dry and is using electricity through a generator. His wife and two daughters have had about 20-25 friends, neighbors and family members staying with them.
Friends have been using his truck, which is raised up and can get through about 5 feet of water, to help deliver essentials to others in the neighborhood. Recently he had been contemplating trading it in for something a bit more practical.
“My wife refuses to drive it because it’s so tall,” Stroud said. “I love it. It’s just fun. . . . My buddy texted me yesterday and said your truck has been worth the weight in gold of what we needed it.”
He said that while his home has been spared, friends of his have not been as lucky. Web.com Tour player Dawie van der Walt sent him pictures from his house with 4 feet of water in it.
After seeing the success Houston Texans star J.J. Watt has had raising more than $5 million through social media, Stroud figured it was the way he could help others. He said he will contribute $10,000 plus 10 percent of his winnings from this week’s event to the American Red Cross.
Other tour players have started to pitch in with the relief effort. Sergio Garcia pledged $2,000 for every birdie and $5,000 for every eagle during the FedEx Cup playoffs. The PGA Tour is donating $250,000 to the relief effort.
Dell Technologies tournament director Rich Brady said spectators will be able to pitch in monetarily at “giving kiosks” located within the fan experience area near the 17th fairway.
Race for ROY
Before last year, if a rookie managed to get through to the Tour Championship, they won Rookie of the Year honors. Last year, Emiliano Grillo edged out Si Woo Kim for the award after they each won an event and were in the top 10 at the Tour Championship.
Among the nine rookies currently left in the FedEx Cup playoffs, five earned a victory this year — Xander Schauffele (The Greenbrier), Wesley Bryan (RBC Heritage), Mackenzie Hughes (RSM Classic), Grayson Murray (Barbasol Championship) and Cody Gribble (Sanderson Farms Championship). And three were runner-up finishers: Ollie Schniederjans at the Wyndham Championship, Patrick Cantlay at the Valspar Championship and C.T. Pan at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Pan, Spaun and Gribble are all going to need a big week to advance, while Murray currently is in the last spot to make the BMW Championship at No. 70.
With his win in West Virginia and a top-five at the U.S. Open, Schauffele enters this weekend leading all rookies in 27th place. Bryan (32nd), Hughes (37th) and Schniederjans (42nd) look safely through to Chicago in a bid to reach the Tour Championship.