Latest news with #SteveStricker
Daily Record
6 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Record
Tennis icon inspiring Justin Rose to buck trend as he defies kick in the goolies
Evergreen English star back in the mood after Masters misery Flying Justin Rose has named Steve Stricker and Novak Djokovic as inspirations as he continues to buck the trends. The English star refuses to let age be a barrier and recovered from being 'kicked in the goolies' to post a brilliant second-round at The Memorial. Second at the Masters behind Rory McIlroy, Rose has finished runner-up in two of the last three Majors and remains a threat at the highest level with another Ryder Cup appearance looming in September. The 44-year-old is in contention at the tournament where he won his first-ever PGA title 15 years ago and his longevity in inspired by stars both in and out of his own sport. Rose revealed: 'I'm getting to that stage in my career where that is the goal now, sort of having pride in performance and trying to buck the trend of what is a natural kind of ageing process. There are things that are more difficult or get more difficult, but you don't want to kind of believe it. I still think my good is good, which is what I've seen this year and that's the most important thing to see. I'd rather that than the top 20th every week, just to know that if I do put things together, I'm capable of winning. I still believe that. 'Steve Stricker is a really nice example. I think he won maybe nine times in his 40s. And I think he did it living in the Midwest, locking things up for winter, having a great family, didn't sacrifice the world in order to do it. He's a really good role model from that point of view. If you could have a career like his in his 40s, think that's what I would say is doable, aspirational. If you choose to kind of go all in, there's other things in your life that suffer, right? So it just depends on the balance of that. 'But in other sports, obviously, Djokovic clearly is sort of the one pushing greatness in a sport where you do wear out pretty quick. 'Adam [Scott] is a huge benchmark for me and I think I am for him. We're both within a couple weeks of each other in terms of age. If you look at our careers, they're remarkably similar and good friends as well. 'There's things that he does really well that I need to push myself to still be competitive that way. I'm sure he looks at my game and thinks there's things that he needs to do to sort of compete with me. 'Sergio [Garcia] as well. We're sort of all like around 1980. We're the three players that have kind of kept the form and popping our names up on the leaderboard once in a while. 'I've been on tour over here since 2003. So there was seven years before breaking through. Now 15 years since. It's quite amazing when I think about it like that. The image I have is my little son Leo was kind of messing around in a bunker behind 18. I mean, now you lose him in these bunkers! But back then, you could still see him!' Rose carded six-under on Friday to show he's over a Masters hangover having lost the play-off to McIlroy and pulling out of the Truist with illness. He said: 'I was just sick there. The man flu. A sniffle. I was already seven over par and I was conscious that PGA was coming up the following week. PGA just was not out the gates and then obviously I felt like [Thursday] I was two under par through eight holes. I really prepared well this week and coming into this week, so was a real kick in the goolies. The PGA Championship was super disappointing, so delighted to have kind of gotten myself back into the tournament.' Asked about a Masters hangover he added: 'Not consciously. Quite possibly. There is stuff to process there and I think obviously a lot of people want to keep talking to you about it. It's just hard to put it 100 per cent behind you all the time. I had two weeks off after Hilton Head and felt like I did a little bit of work, but not a ton of work and I felt like there was a little bit of slippage in that period of time. 'So it's probably taking me a little bit of time just to really find that form again, I suppose. Traveling back and forth from England, this year I've definitely tried to change the way I'm approaching my weeks off at home. 'But I do kind of feel like it's my weeks off that are the problem, It's definitely a balance.'
USA Today
08-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
How long will PGA Tour Champions star Steve Stricker keep playing? He has an idea
How long will PGA Tour Champions star Steve Stricker keep playing? He has an idea Show Caption Hide Caption History of the Galleri Classic golf tournament on PGA Tour Champions schedule The Galleri Classic is a spring event on the PGA Tour Champions golf schedule Golfers on the PGA Tour Champions are remaining competitive and winning at older ages than they did in the past. Steve Stricker attributes this trend to golfers taking better care of themselves with diet and exercise. Bernhard Langer, who is still winning tournaments at 66, is an inspiration to older golfers. Stricker emphasizes the importance of early cancer detection and enjoys playing in the Galleri Classic for its cause and course familiarity. For much of its existence, the PGA Tour Champions has had a rhythm for its players. Golfers transitioning from the regular PGA Tour turn 50 and have great success on the PGA Tour Champions. That success begins to fade a bit after two or three years, and by the time the golfer is in his mid-50s, other new players have come along to have their own success. But in the last decade or so, that rhythm has been disrupted. Golfers over the age of 50 play better for longer, winning tournaments into their late 50s and even into their 60s. Take, for instance, Steve Stricker. A 12-time winner on the PGA Tour, Stricker, now 58, has 18 wins on the PGA Tour Champions, including seven PGA Tour Champions majors. In 2023, Stricker won seven events to claim the PGA Tour Champions player of the year award. While he won just once in 2024, he remains a threat to win each time he tees up. So what changed to make players like Stricker not just competitive but winning into their late 50s? As Stricker prepares to play in the third annual Galleri Classic in Rancho Mirage later this month, he believes golfers just want to stay competitive longer. 'People just taking better care of themselves, being a little more dedicated to that aspect,' Stricker said at the Galleri Classic's media day this week. 'Eating better, working out, stretching, We want to continue playing, most of us do anyway, as long as you possibly can. It's a great game to be able to play into our 50s or potentially like Bernhard (Langer) into our mid-60s.' Langer, who at 66 remains a winning player on the tour with a tour-record 47 victories, has certainly changed how some golfers look at longevity on the senior tour, Stricker said. 'You see that from Bernhard and you're like, hey, this can happen,' Stricker said. 'So you start to look a little bit longer term. Even for me the next five, six, seven years, and if I want to continue to play, I've got to do certain things so I can. So I think it's just guys that are a little more dedicated and want to continue to play and it is still a great opportunity for us.' Stricker has finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in his two starts in the Galleri Classic at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club. As he prepares to play in the third Galleri event March 26-30, Stricker admits the battle to stay healthy is tough. Stricker has been fighting a bad back the last year and a half, even going to New York recently for a treatment where white blood cells are taken out of a person's blood, medicine is added and the blood placed back into the body. Stricker isn't sure he'll be able to play in the Cologuard Classic in Arizona this week, but he's committed to play in the Galleri Classic. Not only is Stricker an ambassador for Grail, the company that developed the multicancer detection blood test Galleri, but he appreciates the chance for the senior tour to be playing in the Coachella Valley. More: Past winners Retief Goosen, David Toms lead early commitments for Galleri Classic in Rancho Mirage 'It's just the community, the demographics out there. I would imagine it is a little bit higher age population out there,' Stricker said. 'We grew up you know watching the Dinah Shore (the LPGA major championship played on the course for 51 years) being played out there. It's just the (senior) tour has come here over the years. It's just a great spot. 'The course is very, very good for us,' Stricker added. 'It's just a great setup. It's a lot of fun. We are treated well. The weather is great. And you add all of those things together and it's a good cause. The detection of early cancers is very important. I did it last year, I took the blood test and I'm going to continue to do it. You put all of that together, the players love to come.' Stricker will be one of 78 PGA Tour Champions players in the Galleri field, including defending champion Retief Goosen and players like 2024 player of the year Steven Alker and major champions like Ernie Els, David Toms, Fred Couples, Colin Montgomerie and newcomer to the event, Stewart Cink. With the exception of Couples, who lived in the desert for years and played the Shore Course regularly, no one has more knowledge of the Shore Course than Stricker. That's because he comes to the desert each August to caddie for his daughter in LPGA first-stage qualifying on the course. 'It's always good to go around a course as much as you can. I don't know, the greens are so much different that when we play in March,' Stricker said of what he's learned as a caddie on the course. 'They are really slow and it's 100 degrees when we are there in August, and it's quite the opposite when we are there in March. So the green reading I probably don't learn that much. But places to hit it, places to miss it, places where you can take some risks where opportunities may present themselves.'
