Despite back injury, Stricker in the hunt
Steve Stricker is stuck between two tours — the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions — wondering at times where he’ll play from week to week. Now he’s day-to-day.
Stricker, 51, playing on the PGA Tour this week instead of teeing it up in the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, a major championship on the PGA Tour Champions, injured his back Thursday during the first round of the Fort Worth Invitational but played on and played well.
The victorious captain of the 2017 USA Presidents Cup squad told reporters after the round that he was going to get his back checked. In 2014, Stricker had back surgery to relieve hip and quad problems stemming from a bulging disk.
“It didn’t look or feel very good for a while. Somehow just managed through it,” said Stricker, who added that he was reinjured in the same spot where he had back surgery while hitting a 6-iron early in the round. “Seemed to kind of loosen up and let go the more I kept playing. I’m going to go and get it checked out now and see what really happened. I’m not sure what happened.”
He was a bit surprised by what happened after the injury. After starting with bogeys on two of his first five holes, Stricker reeled off six consecutive 3s — good for four birdies and an eagle — and added another birdie before signing for a 5-under-par 65 at historic Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.
“I just kept plodding along,” said Stricker, a winner of 12 PGA Tour titles and two on the 50-and-older circuit. “I didn’t expect to go on that little stretch that I went on, but I knew I could get it back. To 5-under, I wasn’t thinking of that. I was just thinking to get it to a couple under by the end of the day. Some good things happened. Hit some good shots. I played well.”
As did a lot of players who took advantage of the windless, warm day.
Kevin Na chipped in from 30 yards on his final hole to shoot 8-under-par 62 to put his name at the top of the leaderboard. Charley Hoffman shot a season-low 63, while Beau Hossler, Andrew Putnam, Jhonattan Vegas and Emiliano Grillo were at 64.
Rickie Fowler was in a group at 67, Jon Rahm in a group at 68 and Jordan Spieth, who has won this tournament and tied for second twice in the past three years, was in a group at 69.
Stricker said he feels at home on both tours. Last week he opted to play in the Regions Tradition, a major championship on the senior circuit, where he tied for second, instead of the AT&T Byron Nelson.
This week, Colonial won out.
“I’ve just been picking where I really want to go and play at the time,” said Stricker, who has made four of five cuts on the PGA Tour this year, with a season-best tie for 12th in the Valspar Championship. He has two wins, two seconds and a tie for fifth in five starts on the Champions.
“There is no rhyme or reason to it,” he added. “It’s just kind of picking them as I go and seeing where I want to go and seeing what feels good at the time. I’m gaining some confidence when I play out there.”