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Steve Stricker feeling rejuvenated about the new year
DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
HONOLULU (AP) — Steve
Stricker decided three
years ago to start cutting
back on his schedule. Now
he can’t wait to get start-
ed.
That’s why he left Wisconsin
for the California desert the
day after Christmas for six
days of hard work, followed
by a trip to the North Shore
of Oahu for a week of work
and play before starting his
season at the Sony Open.
At first, he barely beat his
daughter. Bobbi Maria, a
senior in high school who
devoted the fall to tennis,
shot a 79. Her dad, a 12-
time winner on the PGA
Tour, shot 73.
“And then I shot 8 under
and 10 under the next two
days. I beat her by 20 after
that,” Stricker said with a
laugh.
He turns 49 next month. He
helped bring a Champi-
ons Tour event to his home
state of Wisconsin this year.
On the practice green
Tuesday at Waialae, he
was surrounded by players
who had not even started
kindergarten when Stricker
began his PGA Tour career.
And he’s not ready to stop
just yet.
“I feel younger this year
than I did at times last
year,” Stricker said.
The Sony Open is the first
full-field event of the new
year, and this won’t be a
Clark hopes to have solution for long putter
DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
HONOLULU (AP) — Tim Clark
hopes he has found the so-
lution to the anchoring ban
for longer putters, even if it ferent.
makes it feel as though he
is starting over.
“I feel like this is my rookie felt the same,” he said.
season because I don’t
know what to expect,”
Clark said Tuesday at the
PGA Tour’s Sony Open.
Clark is using a putter from
BioMech called “Accu-
Lock” in which the shaft
leans forward and allows
the grip to rest against the
forearm during the stroke.
It’s a large, square head
with a hole the size of the
golf ball in the middle, and
the shaft is attached to the
Steve Stricker watches his tee shot on the 12 hole during the first round of the Greenbrier Classic
golf tournament at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Steve Stricker decided
three years ago to start cutting back on his schedule. Now he can’t wait to get started. That’s why
he left Wisconsin for the California desert the day after Christmas to get ready for the Sony Open.
cameo appearance for
Stricker. He still plans a lim- nine more times and didn’t
ited schedule. Being home
for his wife and two daugh-
ters remains a priority. He
also wants to give himself a
fair chance at winning.
“My No. 1 goal is to win
again,” he said. “I’m hitting
the ball not much different-
ly from five years ago. It’s
about getting it in the hole,
and I’ve been grinding on
my putter for the last five
months.”
Stricker, who had surgery
on his back on Christmas
Eve in 2014, didn’t play un-
til the Masters last year and
rear to give it a forward
lean.
He said he has worked with
it off and on for about six
months and it still feels dif-
“I could have gone with a
shovel and it would have
“I went with what felt the
most comfortable. This
method felt the best.”
No player was more vocal
against the ban on the an-
chored stroke than Clark,
whose six victories world-
wide include The Players
Championship and the
national opens in Austra-
lia, Scotland, Canada and
South Africa.
For 19 years, the American
golfer used a long putter
tied for 28th. He played only
fare much better, and he
faced the harsh reality of
a player in semi-retirement.
He wasn’t eligible for any of
the World Golf Champion-
ships, and he wasn’t in the
U.S. Open for the first time in petition that rekindled his
five years. This year, he isn’t excitement.
guaranteed a spot in any
of the big events.
His world ranking, which
reached as high as No.
2 in September 2009, has
dropped all the way to No.
245. It’s about the world
ranking. It’s not about the
money. It’s not even about
that he anchored to his
chest. Clark has a congeni-
tal problem with his arms in
which he can’t supinate his
wrists, and the long putter
was the perfect solution. In-
stead using it like a pendu-
lum, he used a short putting
stroke with the long putter.
Frustrated by the U.S. Golf
Association’s lack of em-
pirical evidence that an
anchored putting stroke
created an advantage, he
traveled to San Diego on
his own for a players meet-
ing and gave an elegant
speech that helped shape
of the opinion of several
players. A month later,
PGA Tour commissioner Tim
Finchem said the tour op-
posed the rule.q
Thursday 14 January 2016
Beach National Pro-Am
(with country singer Toby
Keith as his partner), and
he might play Riviera if the
forecast is right.
(AP Photo/Steve Helber) “I’m excited to play,” he
said. Jordan Spieth, who
hanging on. won by eight shots last
Stricker didn’t mind easing week on Maui, is taking the
his way back into golf last week off. Brandt Snedeker
year, especially after back is the only player from the
surgery. And he concedes top 5 at Kapalua who is
to feeling older than he re- playing the Sony Open, a
ally was. Maybe it was the traditional course just be-
time away from the com- yond the shores of Waikiki
with smaller greens and
tighter fairways.
Whatever the case, he The field also includes
plans to compete 15 times Adam Scott, who at No. 11
and play enough to get is the highest-ranked player
into a rhythm. He played in the field, Zach Johnson,
back-to-back weeks only Matt Kuchar and Kevin Kis-
one time last year. His plan ner from the top 20.
is to head from Honolulu Stricker spent an hour on
to La Quinta, California. the putting green. There
He’ll go to the AT&T Pebble were no chalk lines on the
grass, tees in the ground
or anything else to help
with his alignment. He putts
for feel, and that carried
him to a remarkable resur-
gence that took him from
no PGA Tour card to three
Ryder Cup teams and con-
tending in majors again.
Can he get back to that?
Stricker already has signed
up as a vice captain for
Davis Love III in the Ryder
Cup. And he is aware of
the huge generation shift
on the PGA Tour, particu-
larly among Americans
such as Spieth and Justin
Thomas, Patrick Reed and
Brooks Koepka.q