Steve Stricker pleased with performance after return from illness

Steve Stricker returned to PGA TOUR Champions for the first time since October at last week’s Insperity Invitational, and fortunately he looked mostly like himself.

The 55-year-old Wisconsin native, who was struck by an unidentified illness that sent him to the hospital twice and cost him nearly 30 pounds as the calendar turned to 2022, finished tied for second at The Woodlands, Texas. It’s not the best start any athlete has ever had upon returning from a long absence, but it’s pretty close.

“It was a good week,” Stricker said. “I kind of learned where I'm at, which was good. I felt like my game got a little bit better every day. …

“Started to feel a little more comfortable. All those things were good. I'm tired, though.”

Stricker had only begun playing 18 holes in the first week of March, and he was using a cart to get around (he did not use one at the Insperity). He has put most of his weight back on, but he said he didn’t feel strong and said his distances with his clubs reflected that. Still, he was tied for the lead after two rounds with Steven Alker and Brandt Jobe. He just didn’t have the gas to catch Alker in the end.

Jobe said it was interesting to have a front-row seat for the Steve/Steven duel. Alker, a New Zealand native who was active on the Korn Ferry Tour until he turned 50, has been as good as anyone on PGA TOUR Champions since he joined in August 2021. He has played in 17 events with 15 top 10s and now two victories.

Alker closed with a 66, while Stricker and Jobe could muster only 70s.

“Yeah, I said I thought he didn't feel well,” Jobe joked about Stricker. “You know, he's just got -- Scott Verplank, we're staying together, we were talking about it last night. He's just got his game in a spot where he can turn it on and turn it off and not many people have been able to do that. Obviously we're very envious of that because I can't do that, but he's got his swing and everything just in a spot where he goes out, he puts the work in, he comes back and it's like he hasn't missed a beat.”

Stricker is in the field to play in the Mitsubishi Electric Classic at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Georgia, this week and again next week at the year’s first major, the Regions Tradition at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama. Stricker said during the Insperity that he’d skip the MEC if he didn’t feel up to it, so it’s a good sign that he intends to tee it up at TPC Sugarloaf.

“If you would have seen where I was a month ago to where I am today, that's what makes me happy because I've come a long ways in just a month,” Stricker said. “If I can keep kind in getting stronger and progressing the next month, I'll be all right.”

Stricker hadn’t played in the Insperity since joining PGA TOUR Champions; neither has he played the MEC event in Greater Atlanta. But both are played on courses with which he is familiar because both were home to PGA TOUR events during Stricker’s playing days there.

So he’ll go to Georgia with a shot of confidence after his first outing of 2022.

“In the long run, I'm just trying to get better each and every week,” Stricker said. “I don't feel like I can't get back to where I was last year or the year before or even before that. I'm working hard at it, I'm working out, I'm trying to get stronger. Now I can focus a little bit more on my golf, which I haven't been able to do, so I can do that and put it all together. Hopefully, I get back to playing well again.”