The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Stricker, Spieth finish strong
Some of the loudest cheers at the U.S. Open were reserved for a guy who never really challenged the leaders.
Wisconsin golf fans love home-state favorite Steve Stricker.
He had a pretty good final round, too, shooting a 3-under 69 to finish at 5 under for the tournament. His best finish in 20 U.S. Open appearances came in the first Open to be held in Wisconsin.
There was one last ovation as he walked off the 18th green after putting for par.
“It was really cool. Yeah, I don’t get those very often,” Stricker said. “And to play well today on top of it was extra special.”
Stricker was rolling down the back end of the back nine, with three birdies between the 14th and 17th holes. He came up short at the par-4-15th , when a 23foot putt stopped right on the edge of the cup. Stricker tapped in for par.
“Yeah, that would have been nice to get. But can’t complain the way I finished it off,” Stricker said.
He’s not slowing down either.
After turning 50 this year, Stricker gets to play in the PGA Tour Champions event that he will host in Madison next weekend, the American Family Insurance Championship.
He’s not sure if his wife, Nicki, will repeat as his caddie next week, though.
“She’s hurting, I don’t know if she’ll be able to caddie next week,” he said. “But she did well. We had a lot of fun together again.” Hills.
“Yeah, no doubt. I thought it was a fantastic round of golf, given what we were dealing with to start the day,” the fifth-ranked player in the world said.
When asked to rate his confidence level, Spieth assigned himself a “B,” though he graded himself at an “A” with his putter .
“I feel really good about just about everything else,” Spieth said. “I’ve just got to get on the greens and have that cup start to look a bit bigger.”