This will be a big year for Steve Stricker regardless, what with the Ryder Cup approaching this fall. But Captain Stricker could make 2021 more memorable this week if he can hold on at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Sunday to win the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.
The 54-year-old Stricker will take a one-shot lead into the final round.
“I struck it nicely today. I putted it nicely,” Stricker said. “Couple bogeys I made just kind of some wrong clubs. I hit a 4-iron at the 6th hole and kind of just flagged it, penetrated right through the wind, went over the back, didn’t get that up-and-down. And another one too, I hit it in the middle of the green and 3-putted. But, yeah, it’s a tough place and it’s, it gets your attention on a lot of shots. So it’s a great test and I feel good about what I did today.”
Stricker’s score has dropped with each round, with a Saturday 67 being his lowest yet. He made three consecutive birdies from Nos. 3-5 on Saturday but gave one back with a bogey on No. 6. He played the back nine in 1 under and after 54 holes is 6 under.
That’s one better than Alex Cejka in second and three better than Mike Weir in third. Weir lost ground on Saturday with a 4-over 74.
“I mean, sure, I’m not happy with the way things turned out today, but, yeah, I have a good chance tomorrow and it was one of those days,” Weir said. “It was a little bit of bad golf, a little bit of misfortune, the wind was difficult and I seemed to – there’s a little bit of guessing out there and I seemed to guess wrong quite a bit. But all in all I feel good about my game, I was a little bit off, missed a few short putts and just got to do a little better job tomorrow to have a chance and Strick’s playing great so I’m going to have to play well to catch him and so is Alex, he’s playing well too.”
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