JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — First there was a sore throat and a cough.
Then a fever as high as 103 degrees.
Next came Pericarditis, irregular heartbeat, jaundice, high white and red cell blood counts, high liver function tests, an inability to eat solid food and the loss of nearly 30 pounds from an already slim build.
Steve Stricker had a long list of ailments beginning last fall after he led the U.S. to a Ryder Cup victory in his home state of Wisconsin. It lasted into the early spring and doctors couldn’t pinpoint anything.
The only thing they knew was that it wasn’t COVID-19, it wasn’t cancer and it wasn’t the Crohn’s Disease and liver transplant that contributed to the death of his older brother Scott in 2014.
But after six months away from golf, a variety of antibiotics and more rest than he wanted, Stricker was able to return to play on the PGA Tour Champions in May.
Call it a new lease on life. Call it relief that he got his health back. But one thing’s for certain: Since returning, Stricker has played some of the best golf of his career this season.
Attacking the par-5s and making only one bad swing on the final hole when it didn’t matter, Stricker broke a five-way tie for the most victories on the Champions Tour by winning his fourth title this season, the Constellation Furyk & Friends on Sunday, by two shots over Harrison Frazar and three over tournament host Jim Furyk at the Timuquana Country Club.
Stricker slams door on the field
Stricker (69) had a streak of 46 bogey-free holes in a row going back to the front nine of Friday’s first round and finished at 14-under 202. Frazar (65), a Monday qualifier, birdied four of his first five holes and wound up getting as close as anyone to Stricker, who began the day with a three-shot lead over Furyk (69) and Mike Weir (75).
Steve Stricker celebrates with the trophy after winning the 2022 Constellation Furyk & Friends at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
“I felt like if I could go around here and not make a bogey today and take care of the par-5s, birdie two or three of them, shoot 3-under par or 4-under par, it was going to take a really special round [to catch him],” he said, standing by his wife of nearly 30 years, Nikki, who has been his caddie this season. “I didn’t make a mistake really until the last shot out of the fairway and at that point I figured it was over. It was a good day … a tough day when you have a three-shot lead, but I did all the things I was supposed to do.”
Stricker has played lights-out since capturing the Regions Tradition on May 15, his fourth Champions tour major. He’s finished among the top-three in seven of 10 starts, and in the last six weeks, he’s won three times and finished third in four starts.
Stricker has been in the 60s in his last 11 rounds and has a scoring average of 67.0. The $300,000 first-place check vaulted him to third on the money list with $2,473,725.
“We never take any of these for granted,” Nikki Stricker said of her husband’s 35 worldwide victories. “It was just about staying patient and kind of doing his thing.”
Stricker ready for bow season
Here’s the scary part: Stricker said he’s only beginning to feel at full strength.
“I think the last month or so, I feel like I’m showing better signs,” he said. “I still feel like it’s not all quite there. My body, the way it feels isn’t quite the same, strength-wise. I’ve played a lot of golf lately, I’ve lost some weight again lately, so I don’t know if I just need to get going again, put some weight back on, start working out harder again and try to get back up there 10 more pounds.”
And at any rate, it’s getting close to Stricker’s favorite time of year: hunting season, where he loses himself deep in the Wisconsin woods to use a bow to hunt whitetail deer.
“I’m 55 years old, I’ve had a nice career, I’ve been fortunate enough to play a long time, but I still feel like that’s my passion [hunting], that’s what I love to do,” he said. “So I wait for this time period all year long. It’s really only about a month of good hunting and then it goes away, so it’s like I hate to miss that month. Unfortunately, the Schwab Cup playoffs are right in that month time frame. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens at home and I’ll go from there.”
Furyk, who tied for fourth and third in the first two years of his tournament, said it was going to take an extraordinary round to catch Stricker on yet another day of Chamber of Commerce weather.
“Steve’s not going to give the tournament away and he’s not going to back up,” Furyk said. “Someone’s going to have to go chase him.”
Frazar makes a run
Frazar nearly did. After making the field by winning a Monday qualifier with a 65 at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley, the former University of Texas player posted his first career top-10 on the Champions Tour.
His early run was fueled by precise iron shots that set up four birdie putts of 8 feet or less. He posted three more birdies on the back nine but missed two long birdie attempts on his last two holes.
Jim Furyk, wife Tabitha Furyk, Nicki Stricker and Steve Stricker celebrate with the trophy after Steve Stricker won the 2022 Constellation Furyk & Friends at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
Frazar is still content. With a top-10, he’s automatically in the field for next week’s SAS Championship in Raleigh, North Carolina, the final regular-season event, and his $176,000 second-place check gave him $333,527 and at 52nd place, he’s inside the top-72 that will qualify for the Schwab Cup playoffs.
He’s had his own health issues, such as back injuries, and didn’t play much golf for about five years until becoming eligible for the PGA Tour Champions.
“I’ve felt very good about my game for about the last five or six week,” said Frazar, who is a fellow member with world No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffler at the Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas. “I’m finally getting to the point where I’m saving strokes instead of throwing them away.”
Contact Garry Smits at gsmits@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @GSmitter