USA TODAY International Edition
STRICKER RELISHING ROLE
Golfer will lead Team USA at Presidents Cup
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. How good is it to be Steve Stricker?
Rolls out of bed, hits balls into snow banks in Wisconsin and then goes and challenges the best players in the world after not playing for five months.
Oh, and he’s as polite as the day is long, a husband and father to two kind, intelligent young ladies. A winner of 12 PGA Tour titles and $ 42.3 million in prize money. And, at 49, he’s eying the PGA Tour Champions, which he could turn into his personal ATM.
This year, the avid hunter and fisherman also will be doing plenty of scouting and staying in touch with his younger peers as the captain of the U. S. Presidents Cup team, a role he said he was honored to receive.
The choice of Stricker, universally cheered by the players, speaks to his character and grit that helped him — along with one of golf’s best wedge games and putter — be so successful on the PGA Tour.
His experience representing the red, white and blue isn’t bad, either. He was 14- 10- 0 in five appearances in The Presidents Cup and played in the Ryder Cup three times. He also was an assistant to Davis Love III last fall when the USA won the Ryder Cup for the first time since 2008.
The biennial Presidents Cup matches are Sept. 26- Oct. 1 at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City.
Stricker will draw on the example set by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Corey Pavin, Paul Azin- ger and Love, who were captains when Stricker played for the USA.
“It’s a big role for me,” Stricker said Saturday after the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open. “I never thought I’d have the opportunity to be a captain, and I’m excited to do it. I love being in those team rooms and being a part of that, whether it’s a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. I’m thinking about it every day. I’ll be with a lot of guys I’ve spent a lot of time with over the years, and there are going to be a lot of younger guys who will be part of the team, so that’s another reason I want to be out here as much as I can. To be available if they need to ask me anything.
“And to show those guys I can still play.”
He is showing everyone he can still play in this weekend’s Waste Management Phoenix Open. Making his first start of the 201617 season — he last played in the Deutsche Bank Championship in the first week of September — Stricker has shot 67- 70- 70 at TPC Scottsdale and is in the middle of the pack.
Plenty of people are here to see him and the rest of the field. A record 204,096 fans watched the third round Saturday. The previous record of 201,003 was set last year.
It’s the first road trip of what will be a busy year for Stricker, who three years ago cut back his schedule to spend more time with family and attend Wisconsin Badgers sporting events. After 35 PGA Tour events the last three seasons, Stricker might play 20 to 22 events this year.
“To me that’s a lot of golf,” he said. “I never thought I’d be this busy. But it’s all good stuff. I’m excited to play and to still test my ability on the big tour.”
Stricker, who turns 50 Feb. 23 and becomes eligible for the Champions Tour, will make his debut on the senior circuit March 17- 19 in the Tucson Conquistadores Classic at Omni Tucson National. Stricker played there in 1992 as a member of the PGA Tour. He’ll also play in and host the American Family Insurance Championship on June 2325 at University Ridge Golf Course in his hometown of Madison. The Champions Tour event benefits his foundation.
He’ll be a favorite every week he tees it up on the PGA Tour Champions. And he’s no long shot on the PGA Tour. A few players shook their heads out of respect after Stricker shot 67 in the first round after not playing for 150 days.
Stricker, on the other hand, was not surprised.
“I still play a lot when I go home, and I practice a lot even when there are snow drifts,” said Stricker, who hits balls out of a heated bay to stay sharp when the temps are low. “I still take it very seriously, and I want to play really well. This year I’m going to play more, and I look forward to that.
“I expect a lot out of myself, and maybe that’s why I still play well out here, because I feel I belong out here and I still feel I should play well.”