SOUTH BEND — For the second time in as many months, Steve Stricker is running away with a PGA Tour Champions major.
The 52-year-old from Wisconsin won by six shots at the Regions Tradition six weeks ago in Alabama. On a stifling Saturday afternoon at the Warren Golf Course, Stricker stretched a two-shot lead to six over longtime friend Jerry Kelly with his second straight bogey-free round.
Since carding a bogey at the par-4 sixth hole on Thursday, Stricker has gone 48 straight holes without a hiccup. Through three rounds, the 2020 U.S. Ryder Cup captain has piled up 17 birdies and an eagle against just that single bogey.
“Just didn’t get into too many problems,” Stricker said after Saturday’s 4-under 66 left him 18-under for the tournament. “That was the key. Pretty steady round again.”
Having recently returned to a set of Titleist 755 forged irons, which were released in 2006, Stricker has been knocking down flagsticks all week. He missed just five greens through the first two rounds, and that precise exhibition continued Saturday with Kelly as his playing partner.
Stricker has played the toughest three holes on the course – Nos. 3, 4 and 5 – in a combined 4-under-par this week, including two more birdies on Saturday.
“I know they’re good holes,” Stricker said. “They’re some holes that can come up and get you. I’ve been trying to play those very smart. If you can go around and play those in even par, you’re doing well.”
Fred Funk set the 72-hole scoring record for this event in 2009 at Carmel’s Crooked Stick Golf Club. Funk finished 20-under. Stricker has set the lowest 54-hole total in event history, both in terms of total strokes and in relation to par.
It was a bit of an odd feeling for Stricker and Kelly to be paired in Saturday’s final twosome, and they will run it back on Sunday. Born exactly three months apart, they grew up playing junior golf together in their native Wisconsin, when their talent was as obvious as the differences in their respective personalities.
“He was quiet, and I was not,” Kelly recalled this week.
Last weekend in his native Madison, Kelly outlasted Stricker and Retief Goosen in a three-man playoff to claim the PGA Tour Champions victory.
“It’s comfortable yet kind of weird in a strange way,” Stricker said of playing with Kelly. “We’ve been partners in team events. Last week we had a playoff and that felt weird too. Usually we’re rooting for each other. It’s fun to play with him, it’s fun to be out there with him, but it’s kind of awkward too.”
Over the decades, the mutual respect has only grown between Kelly and Stricker, who grew up in Edgerton, about 29 miles southeast of his current home of Madison.
“I think he helped me along,” Kelly said. “And then, when he was on his downside, I helped him along. It’s competition and support and friendship; it’s all of it in there. I appreciate everything he’s done for my game. I hope he knows I’ve been there for him.”
When Stricker fell into a prolonged slump, missing 38 cuts in 69 starts from 2003-05, Kelly was among those who provided support. Stricker, a former University of Illinois All-American who had played regularly on the PGA Tour since 1994, lost his Tour card in 2005.
Early in 2006, Stricker fell to 347th in the World Golf Rankings before rebounding with a third-place finish at the Houston Open.
“That was his first finish after being in the abyss,” Kelly said. “We were almost both in tears in the locker room.”
While Kelly is playing in his third U.S. Senior Open, including a second-place finish last year at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Stricker is making his debut in this year’s event. As part of his reconnaissance as U.S. Ryder Cup captain next year, Stricker is still splitting time between the PGA and Champions tours, even at age 52.
He had that major win and three other top-six finishes on the Champions Tour this year coming into the week. Things have been rougher for him on the PGA Tour, where he has missed three cuts in seven starts with a top finish of a tie for 22nd at the Memorial Tournament.
Stricker finished in a tie for 41st in the Senior PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in upstate New York.
“It’s been a challenge,” Stricker said this week. “I pull myself in both directions. I’ve talked to other players that have gone through the process of trying to play both, and they say the same thing: It’s hard. They told me you’ve got to commit to one or the other, and I have not done that.”
