The secret to Steve Stricker's success

Quite like mine...except mine has no win and success

Quote :

``I think that sums it up the best,'' Stricker said. ``We just go about and do our thing. It may not be the flashiest thing at times, but I do other things well. I chip and putt well. I'm driving the ball well. Everybody has got a little bit different game, and that's the way I look at mine. Do the things that we know how to do the best.''

I thought you were going to say that he doesn't go to the range and saves his good shots for the course only.

Two more nice quotes from SS...


Stricker was regarded as one of the rising Americans in 1996, when he broke through by winning the Kemper Open and the Western Open and finished at No. 4 on the money list. A few months later, Woods turned pro and won twice in seven starts.

When he arrived at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am the following February, Stricker was at No. 13 in the world ranking. Woods was one spot behind at No. 14. Phil Mickelson was No. 7, the highest of American golfers in their 20s.

Stricker was paired with Woods for three rounds - Stricker had sportscaster Bryant Gumbel as an amateur partner, Woods had actor Kevin Costner. Stricker didn't make it to Sunday, tying for 66th. Woods was runner-up to Mark O'Meara.

Stricker left the Monterey Peninsula feeling inadequate.

``We were paired together at Pebble Beach, and I walked away from there feeling my game was not anywhere close to him. And it wasn't,'' Stricker said. ``He's probably done that to other players, too, don't you think? I just didn't think I had the skills or ability he had. But I'm OK with it now.''

That was the beginning of what once looked like the end.

And then came the abyss that nearly ended his career, when he lost his PGA Tour card and only pulled himself out by hitting balls out of a three-sided trailer in Wisconsin to a driving range covered in snow.

Why the downfall?

``Some of it was seeing the ability Tiger had,'' Stricker said. ``Then I started trying different things, different equipment. And I played a ton of golf in the fall. I didn't get away from the game. As you know, you have to be fresh. You have to want to be out there.''

What a renaissance this has been.

Stricker won The Barclays in 2007, the first FedEx Cup playoff event. He won three times in 2009, twice more in 2010 and 2011, and started the 2012 season with yet another trophy. He has risen as high as No. 2 in the world. When he won the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2009, it was his first win with Woods in the field.

It's different now.

He was paired with Woods at the start of every playoff event in 2009. They were represented by the same agent (Mark Steinberg) for years, but never were particularly close until that year. Stricker still noticed a difference in their ability. But he knew he was capable of good golf himself.

``I had built up some confidence, and I wasn't worried about what he thought, or how I played with him,'' Stricker said. ``Then we started getting paired together, and then were partners in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. And we became ... well, we are friends. And now, it's like going out to play with my friend. I don't care about that stuff anymore.

``I just do what I do.''


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Well said SS.

Which is why I refused to view my swing.... It will de-inspire me