NAPLES, Fla. — Professional golf has been a family occasion for much of Steve Stricker’s career.
His wife, Nicki, was frequently his caddie on the PGA Tour, and was an accomplished player herself, finishing fourth in the Big Ten at Wisconsin as a senior.
His father-in-law, Dennis Tiziani, and his brother-in-law, Mario Tiziani, both played on the PGA Tour, and Mario is Steve’s agent. Dennis Tiziani also coached men’s and women’s golf at Wisconsin, and is Steve’s swing coach.
And his daughter, Bobbi, switched from tennis to golf after her senior year in high school, and walked on at Wisconsin.
This week and next, Bobbi is taking on a different role—but still in golf, of course.
She is assisting the Wasserman Sports team that manages the QBE Shootout, Greg Norman’s PGA Tour event, and the CME Group Tour Championship, an LPGA Tour one, at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort.
“We kind of threw it out there to (Wasserman Sports’) Taylor (Ives) when I went down to Mexico last week,” said Steve Stricker, a part-time Naples resident who played in the Mayakoba Golf Classic. “I just said if you need anymore help, she was looking to kind of learn the business. She does a little bit of stuff with our tournament up in Madison for our Champions (Tour) event.
“It’s kind of the stuff she wants to be around, and involved with — tournament golf, players, management, something like that, I think.”
Bobbi, 22, is working while juggling her classes, which she’s attending virtually, as a senior at Wisconsin. Wednesday was just Day 2 of the journalism major’s journey.
“It’s been very fun so far,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of little jobs, but I’ve learned a lot of how the behind the scenes works. It’s always been an interest of mine, just how to put on an event. I’ve gotten to meet a ton of people, which will only help, and they’re all so cool.”
One of those will be her father’s playing partner this week, Daniel Berger.
This isn’t Berger’s first Shootout, and it won’t be Stricker’s first time getting familiar with him. But it will be a bit different because Stricker is the 2021 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, and Berger is one of those in contention for the team. Still, Stricker and Berger are familiar with one another in those types of roles; Stricker was the Presidents Cup captain in 2017 when Berger played on the team.
“He’s a great kid and he’s a hell of a player, and he’s been playing great golf as of late,” Stricker said. “I’m excited to partner with him, and I’ll ride him hard. He’s got a lot of talent and he hits it a long ways.”
Berger won’t get caught up in trying to impress Stricker this week.
“I’ve always looked up to him as a player,” Berger said. “Just a great time to spend with the Ryder Cup captain and look forward to playing good golf this week. The way I play this week has zero bearing on any Ryder Cup, but it is cool just to play with the Ryder Cup captain.”
Being at and in PGA Tour events is something important to Stricker, so he can build relationships, see what players are up to, and that sort of thing as he prepares for next year, after this year’s Ryder Cup was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m excited to be part of his team and just to hang around him,” Stricker said. “That’s a lot of the reason why I continue to play out here.”
Stricker, who is unsure at this point if he’ll play in next April’s Chubb Classic on the PGA Tour Champions at Tiburón, has been down in Naples with his wife and daughter since mid-November, and the two of them had been here since the end of October.
“We got out of Wisconsin when the getting was good,” he said. “The pandemic up there hasn’t been too good, so we decided to come down here to spend some more time outside.”
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