AP

Column: Stricker returns to competition after mystery virus

Apr 26, 2022, 12:36 AM | Updated: 12:38 pm

FILE - Team USA captain Steve Stricker poses with the trophy after the Ryder Cup matches at the Whi...

FILE - Team USA captain Steve Stricker poses with the trophy after the Ryder Cup matches at the Whistling Straits Golf Course, Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021, in Sheboygan, Wis. Stricker returns to competition this week on the PGA Tour Champions after a mysterious virus hospitalized him late last year. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)

(AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)


              FILE  -Steve Stricker hits off the second tee during the final round of the John Deere Classic golf tournament, Sunday, July 11, 2021, at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill.  Stricker is playing the PGA Tour Champions this week after being out six months with a mysterious virus. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
            
              FILE - Team USA captain Steve Stricker poses with the trophy after the Ryder Cup matches at the Whistling Straits Golf Course, Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021, in Sheboygan, Wis. Stricker returns to competition this week on the PGA Tour Champions after a mysterious virus hospitalized him late last year. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)

Steve Stricker was back on the golf course for the first time in six months, walking 18 holes for three days and feeling optimistic as ever after a fifth-place finish.

The result belonged to his daughter, Bobbi Maria, who competed on the East Coast Women’s Pro Golf Tour at Rio Pinar last month.

Stricker was her caddie.

“I pushed her cart around,” Stricker said Tuesday. “I was fine. I made it three days in a row. I’m thinking everything will be OK. But this will be a little different.

The real test starts Friday outside Houston at the Insperity Invitational, where Stricker returns to the PGA Tour Champions after a mysterious illness that hospitalized him, scared him and caused him to lose so much weight his skin was starting to sag.

He said doctors still don’t know what caused his white blood cell count to spike, his liver count to plunge and the inflammation around his heart that caused it to pump out of rhythm.

He said they haven’t ruled out a reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine — he was vaccinated about a month before the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits — because Stricker says he is steadfast when it comes to annual bloodwork and he has never been on any medication.

“All of sudden, my liver is on the fritz, I turn yellow,” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense that I could get that sick.”

The timing of it put a damper on what otherwise was a glorious moment. Stricker devoted three years as Ryder Cup captain — the matches were postponed one year because of the pandemic — and it culminated at home in Wisconsin when his young and fearless American team handed Europe its worst loss ever, 19-9.

“I never won a major, but this is my major right here,” he said that September day.

A month later, Stricker came in from bow hunting and didn’t feel right. His side ached. His temperature rose to 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius). Stricker was hospitalized for 11 days, getting out in time for Thanksgiving, only to be admitted again. His weight plunged to 163 pounds (73.9 kg).

Thus began the slow road back, and Stricker now is looking forward.

He turned 55 in February. He doesn’t need golf, and it doesn’t define him. But that’s his passion, and his wife and two daughters are just as excited about him playing again. So it’s a family affair. That defines him.

Stricker tried taking a few swings on his simulator in their basement in Wisconsin in December. They headed to Florida — they are building a small house in Isleworth — and he began to chip and putt.

His winter home previously was in Naples — Stricker spent a Sunday morning packing boxes after the house sold, and Sunday afternoon winning the Chubb Classic — but Isleworth gives him more games and more family involvement.

He has played in recent weeks with Retief Goosen and Andy Zhang, who qualified for the U.S. Open at Olympic Club when he was 14. Stricker’s wife, Nicki, is taking lessons from Grant Waite, and that’s where she was on Tuesday morning.

“I can’t help her anymore. No matter what I say, it’s wrong,” Stricker said with a laugh.

He said he is about 10 pounds lighter than before he got sick, and he is still working to gain muscle and endurance. Stricker has never been away from golf this long. Even when he had surgery on his back at the end of 2014, he returned for the Masters in April.

Six months feels like a lot longer, and it some respects, it has recharged him even as he tries to get back to full strength.

“I have a little different look on things from where I was,” he said. “I’m excited for the opportunity to get out and play. I’m going there feeling like I can complete, but also knowing I’ve got a way to go. My cardiologist said I probably won’t feel right for a year from the time I was in the hospital.”

His plan is to play three straight weeks on the PGA Tour Champions — The Woodlands, the TPC Sugarloaf outside Atlanta and then the first senior major of the year in Alabama.

He might consider the Memorial if he’s playing well and doesn’t feel as though he would be taking a spot from someone in the field. Stricker made the cut in six of the nine PGA Tour events he played last year, his best a tie for fourth in the Phoenix Open.

What matters is he’s playing, and that looked a long way off at one point. His wife will be on the bag at The Woodlands this week. His daughters are coming along.

The tour posted a video of Stricker over the weekend when he decided to play the Insperity Invitational. He spoke of a recent conversation with Ed Beard, his golf coach at Illinois, in which Stricker said he was “all in” whether it was golf or family, hunting or fishing.

“It’s giving me the opportunity to … get stronger again, to have this focus on getting back all in to the golf,” he said. “And, again, my family wants it, too. I mean, Nicki is excited for us to get back out there. My kids are antsy for me to play events again. So it’s a family thing and they’re excited for me to get back after it.”

___

More AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

Associated Press

Ex-Packer Guion gets 1 year for domestic violence assault

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Former Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Letroy Guion was sentenced to one year in jail after pleading no contest in a domestic violence assault at his home last fall. Brown County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Walsh also ordered Guion on Tuesday to serve three years’ probation and complete a domestic […]

1 year ago

Joe Jarzynka...

Associated Press

Durant eager for Suns debut vs. Hornets after knee injury

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kevin Durant has been through quite a bit during his 15-year NBA career — but joining a new team midway through the season is a new one for the 13-time All-Star. The 34-year-old Durant doesn’t seem all that worried. Durant makes his highly anticipated Phoenix Suns debut on Wednesday night against […]

1 year ago

FILE - Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores stands on the sideline during the second half of an N...

Associated Press

Judge: NFL coach can press discrimination claims in court

NEW YORK (AP) — NFL Coach Brian Flores can pursue some of his discrimination claims against the league and its teams in court rather than through arbitration, a judge ruled Wednesday. The written decision by Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan was issued months after lawyers for the league tried to get the lawsuit moved to […]

1 year ago

Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Alex Stalock cools off in the first period during an NHL hockey game ...

Associated Press

Kane trade reinforces hard reality of Blackhawks rebuild

CHICAGO (AP) — After days of speculation, the harsh reality of the Chicago Blackhawks’ situation was reinforced by one move in a flurry of transactions ahead of the NHL trade deadline. Showtime is over, at least in Chicago, and a seemingly bright future is, well, way off in the distance. The reverberations of Chicago’s decision […]

1 year ago

FILE -  Yves Jean-Bart, president of the Haitian Football Federation, wearing a protective face mas...

Associated Press

Disgraced ex-Haitian soccer president announces he’s back

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s former soccer federation president whose lifetime ban from sport over sexual abuse allegations was overturned last month announced Wednesday that he is reclaiming his position. Yves Jean-Bart’s defiant announcement could lead to a standoff with FIFA, which already has appointed an emergency management committee to lead the Haitian Football Association […]

1 year ago

FILE - Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers walks off the field after an NFL football game against the ...

Associated Press

Rodgers says decision on future will come ‘soon enough’

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers says he will make a decision on his future “soon enough” as the four-time MVP quarterback ponders whether to play next season and if his future remains with the Green Bay Packers. Rodgers, 39, discussed his future while speaking on an episode of the “Aubrey Marcus Podcast” that […]

1 year ago

Column: Stricker returns to competition after mystery virus