Player Profile - Steve Stricker

This week’s player profile highlights the recent career achievements of world number five Steve Stricker, winner of the US PGA Tour’s season-opening Tournament of Champions.

Steve Stricker, affectionately nicknamed “Strick” by golf fans, hails from the town of Edgerton, Wisconsin where he was born in 1967. From his beginnings at the Edgerton Towne Country Club and nearby Ripley Country Club, Stricker has developed his golf game to the highest level, earning himself a string of tournament victories and golfing accolades. He is currently ranked fifth in the world.

Stricker’s amateur career saw him clear to an enrolment at the University of Illinois where he played on the golf team, earning All-American honours in both 1988 and 1989. He graduated in 1990 and has since been an active player on both the US PGA and Canadian Golf Tours.

Stricker spent the first half of the 1990’s rising to the challenges of professional golf and establishing the solid technique that has seen him rise to the world top 10 today. After joining the US PGA Tour in 1994, his maiden victories came in the 1996 season when he won the Kemper Open and Motorola Western Open. Since then, Stricker has become a household name with a string of victories to recommend him as a top-rated golfer.

Stricker’s career took a temporary downturn in the early 2000’s when difficulties with his game, particularly poor form, prevented him from playing at his best. With his characteristic level-headed approach to the game however, Stricker weathered the storm and by 2006 he received the PGA Tour’s Comeback Player of the Year Award. Since then, Stricker has hit his stride, winning nine tournaments on the Tour.

On Monday, Steve Stricker won the prestigious Tournament of Champions event in Hawaii – his twelfth career title and a victory that may be the beginning of his best season yet. With experience and skill on his side, Stricker is likely to provide many more riveting moments for golf fans around the globe.

Golfweather Editorial