Part-time Naples resident Steve Stricker is losing the beginning of this sentence.
Stricker has sold his home in Quail West, and is packing up and getting ready to find a new home, likely somewhere else in Florida, he said Thursday before the pro-am of the Chubb Classic presented by SERVPRO.
“It’s been a crazy week,” he said. “We have to get out quick, so I’m balancing playing and packing.
“But excited to be here. It’s a special spot for us. We’ve had a lot of great times here in Naples and at the (QBE) Shootout, and now we get to play Chubb right here at Tiburón.”
Stricker, 54, said the sale happened quickly, so he’s trying to figure out where else besides his home base in Wisconsin to add as a second residence.
“I don’t know, I’m not sure where we’re going to head to, but we’re out of here for little while,” he said. “Probably somewhere else in Florida. Maybe the center part of the state somewhere.
“But right now we’re just kind of — it happened so fast. The market is good. You’ve got to take advantage of the market at the time, and it’s really good down here. But we’re going to miss it.”
Stricker is focusing on his game for this week’s Chubb Classic — he’s finished tied for second in 2018 and 11th in 2019. Since the start of 2021, he has made four of six cuts on the PGA Tour and finished in the top three in his lone PGA Tour Champions tournament.
“I’m excited where my game is at,” Stricker said. “I’ve been playing well. Played some nice events out on Tour.”
“If I could have made a few putts I could have been right in there a little bit more, but my game is — it’s been good. I’ve had three weeks off, so I’m ready and raring to go this week.”
Stricker still has to keep his eye on what is going on with the PGA Tour, though. The Ryder Cup is in just over five months at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. Stricker, the team captain, said he will take a look at the course again next week.
“Just watching right now,” Stricker said of the tour. “Just a lot of the things that — the little things we got done last year (before the coronavirus pandemic postponed the Ryder Cup to 2021), so we’ve had plenty of time to do this.
“Right now it’s just about watching the guys, and when I go out there and play, try to see them, talk to them, play a practice round with them. But just be around and watch a lot of golf.”
There is a new player who caught plenty of people’s eyes during the Masters last week. Will Zalatoris ended up finishing second, one behind Hideki Matsuyama.
The 23-year-old won the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2014 and was the ACC Player of the Year at Wake Forest in 2017. He qualified for the U.S. Open last year, and tied for sixth.
“I reached out to him a couple days ago just to tell him how impressed I was with his play,” said Stricker of Zalatoris, who has moved up to 23rd on the Ryder Cup points list. “I’ve never met the kid. Seems like a wonderful guy and obviously played great, so we’ll hook up along the way somewhere down the road and try to get to know him and see — watch his game up close.”
Stricker will have six captain’s picks — so half of the 12-member team, which will be announced after the second FedEx Cup playoffs event at the end of August. The matches are Sept. 24-26.
Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele are in the top six qualifying spots this week. Patrick Reed, Tony Finau, Webb Simpson, Daniel Berger, Jordan Spieth and Billy Horschel complete the top 12 in the points standings, although Stricker can go outside of the top 12 to make selections.
Stricker played with Berger in the QBE Shootout in December, and they finished ninth in the 12-team field.
Stricker will go watch his daughter Bobbi, who plays for Wisconsin, in the Big Ten championship next week, and then play in the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship near Tampa to give him another opportunity to watch the Tour players in person. Bobbi Stricker helped out at both the CME Group Tour Championship and QBE Shootout in December.
Earlier look at the Black: There are a handful of players in the field who have played in the QBE Shootout, which has been played at Tiburón since 2001. In 2014, a turfgrass disease attacked some of the greens on the club’s Gold Course. Shootout organizers had to do some rerouting, and that meant using the front nine of the Black Course as part of the tournament course.
Mike Weir played in 2014 and remembered those holes during his pro-am round Wednesday.
“I saw some of them,” Weir said. “But (Tuesday) was the first time I saw all 18. It’s a good course. It’s a very good course. Demanding on the tee. It’s not as long as the other course, but it’s a really good course.”
Weir played with Retief Goosen that year, and they struggled, finishing last in the 12-team field.
Stricker, Jerry Kelly, and Scott Verplank also played that year. Jason Day and Cameron Tringale won the tournament.
In 2014, the Shootout front nine was Tiburon’s original South course, which was Nos. 1-7 and Nos. 17 and 18 on the Norman-designed Black Course. The back nine started on Gold No. 8, Gold No. 9, and Gold No. 11 as tournament Nos. 10, 11 and 12, respectively, then picked up what was the traditional final six holes for the Shootout, with Gold Nos. 13-18.
TV personnel: Bob Papa will be doing the play-by-play for all three tournament rounds on the Golf Channel this weekend, joined by former champion Lanny Wadkins as an analyst, John Cook in the tower, and Billy Ray Brown as the on-course analyst.
Coverage will be streaming on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app, as well as on the Golf Channel from noon to 2:30 p.m. Friday, and 3 to 5:30 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
Chip shots: Naples resident and former Miami Dolphins head coach Dave Wannstedt played in the pro-am on Thursday with pro Scott Verplank. … Dakota and Phoenix Baker, two junior golfers playing in the Golf To Paradise-First Tee Champions Challenge this weekend were in the pro-am Thursday in Scott McCarron’s group. The Bakers will play for The First Tee of Greater Philadelphia. … The two-person teams from 12 chapters across the country, including the Naples/Collier chapter, were scheduled to get a clinic from Champions Tour player Peter Jacobsen of Bonita Springs on Thursday afternoon. The three-day competition starts Friday, with all three rounds at Quail Creek Country Club.
