NAPLES, Fla. – With Old Man Winter fast approaching and COVID-19 cases quickly rising in his area, Steve Stricker accelerated plans to head for warmer climes, so he and his family left his home state of Wisconsin in mid-November for their part-time residence in Naples in the Sunshine State.
The U.S. Ryder Cup captain, however, is far from finished with making changes to his itinerary as he heads into 2021.
Stricker, who thought he’d be playing a full schedule on the PGA Tour Champions circuit in the upcoming year, has to adjust his travel plans and accompanying Ryder Cup duties due to the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in the Badger State being postponed to Sept. 24-26 in 2021.
If it’s played, that is. We’ll get to that in a moment.
“Well, I’m the captain for another year and that changes things up a bit,” Stricker told Golfweek earlier this month during the QBE Shootout at Tiburon Golf Club near his winter home. “The whole year will be much different than I thought it would be. But I’ll adapt.”
Stricker thought he’d either still be celebrating his team’s victory or lamenting his troops’ loss these days, but instead he’s working out his itinerary for the new year. Basically, he has to decide what he’ll do the next nine months before his 12 red, white and blue charges and their European counterparts arrive in Wisconsin.
Hanging over all the plans, however, is the COVID-19 global pandemic. While vaccines and subsequent injections are rolling out, there is no guarantee the Ryder Cup will be played next September.
Remember, the 2020 biennial bout was postponed in part because the global pandemic forbid spectators and their boisterous vocal cords from attending the biennial tussle, one of the main earsplitting calling cards for the U.S.-Europe match. While limited numbers of fans have been allowed at a few PGA Tour events recently and are expected in the new year, a limited number of fans or the possibility of a spectator-less Ryder Cup is a different beast.
Thus, the question remains: Will the Ryder Cup be played if no fans are allowed or a limited number of fans are allowed?
“There has been no talk of contingency plans,” Stricker said. “I would imagine we’re at the point where we would play no matter what, I would think.
“We just can’t postpone it again.”
You would think. Especially seeing as three majors were played in 2020 without fans and all delivered memorable contests. And the 2023 Ryder Cup is set to be played in Italy, so it seems highly unlikely there would be a 2022 Ryder Cup.
But cancellation of the 2021 Ryder Cup is on the table, according to Kerry Haigh, chief championship officer for the PGA of America.
“We are talking about an event with an atmosphere like no other. So our hope and expectation is that we will be able to play it in a manner it deserves, with full crowds and full support,” Haigh told Golf Digest. “You would think things would be better for everybody by September, but if the situation exists that is not going to allow that, I guess it likely would not be played.”
Stricker, though, will plow forward with the week in September circled when he hopes the U.S. will regain possession of the Ryder Cup trophy. Europe resoundingly won in 2018, its seventh victory in the past nine contests.
“The first part of the year I’ll just be watching the players and watching my game,” he said. “Once we get closer to the Ryder Cup, my attention will shift entirely to the Ryder Cup and the guys that will be on the team by then and thinking about captain’s picks and talking to the assistants and getting ready to face Europe.”
Stricker said he might begin the year with a Hawaii double – playing in the Sony Open in Hawaii and then the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai on the Champions tour. Or he might begin at the American Express in La Quinta, California, the third PGA Tour event of 2021. From there he’s unsure, but he’d like to spend as much time as he can on the PGA Tour.
Whatever he’s doing or wherever he’s going, he’ll be busy. But a few mandatory details associated with his captaincy are not on his agenda – the behind-the-scenes obligations associated with the Ryder Cup such as team uniforms, housing, catering, travel, the setup of the team room and other related backstage necessities.
“That’s all been done and that takes a lot off my plate,” he said. “We have to get a couple gifts for people but that’s minimal. I’m going to concentrate on the team and my game.”
Unchanged are his plans to be the great communicator, a captain that is all ears and open to suggestions and advice from those associated with the team. Stricker has played in five editions of the Presidents Cup and three editions of the Ryder Cup and has learned from each of the captains of those teams – Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Fred Couples, Paul Azinger, Corey Pavin and Davis Love III.
Stricker also has been a vice-captain in the Ryder Cups of 2014, 2016 and 2018, a vice-captain in the Presidents Cups of 2015 and 2019, and he captained the U.S. to a resounding victory in the 2017 Presidents Cup.
“I’ll play half a dozen on the Champions tour and play where I can on the PGA Tour,” Stricker said. “Being out there is important. I get to hang out with some of the guys. If a guy wants to talk to me, I’ll be there.
“I’m not a typical captain. I played for Jack and Arnie and you’re intimidated by them when you go there. I’m not in that capacity. I don’t intimidate anybody. I get the respect of the players, but I’m not an intimidating figure and my resume doesn’t intimidate anybody, because most of the players on the team will have won a major. So I want to be there for everybody.
“I want to make sure the communication lines are open on both sides. I don’t want to just show up for the Ryder Cup and say, ‘Hey, what have you been doing? Where have you been?’”
Stricker had four top-10s in five starts on the Champions tour in 2020 and made six of 12 cuts on the PGA Tour, with a tie for 17th in the Mayakoba Classic his best finish. He also teamed with Daniel Berger to finish ninth in the 12-team field in the QBE Shootout.
What he has seen up close and from afar this year has him pleased for the most part. That would include the play of youngsters like Berger, who won the Charles Schwab Challenge, the first tournament after the COVID-19 break. And reigning PGA champion Collin Morikawa, and Matthew Wolff, who tied for fourth in the PGA Championship and finish second in the U.S. Open.
Add Bryson DeChambeau and his gun show and Dustin Johnson and his green jacket and Justin Thomas and his iron play to the list of things that made Stricker smile.
On the other side of par, however, the play of Rickie Fowler, three-time major winner Jordan Spieth and four-time major winner Brooks Koepka, all regulars on recent teams in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, has caught Stricker’s attention, too.
“The young guys, like Morikawa, Wolff, Berger, are on my radar,” Stricker said. “And there have been guys on my radar who haven’t played well. Jordan, Rickie, and quite honestly, Brooks. I know Brooks is still in the top 6 but he hasn’t been the Brooks we’re accustomed to seeing. But at Mayakoba, he told me he was healthy and I expect a full turnaround.
“We have this whole year for those guys to right the ship.”
On Stricker’s voyage to September, there are three mates onboard – vice captains Zach Johnson, 2018 Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk and 2012 and 2016 Ryder Cup captain Love III. Stricker also said he will likely name two more vice captains to the team.
Stricker said he’ll lean on them a lot, especially when it comes to filling out his team. The top 6 in the points standings automatically make the team. Currently, the top 6 are Johnson, DeChambeau, Thomas, Koepka, Morikawa and Xander Schauffele. The qualification period runs through next year’s BMW Championship, the second event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs which is the last week of August.
Stricker would then make six discretionary selections following the Tour Championship the first week of September.
“I want input from all people associated with the team,” Stricker said. “Azinger was one of the first, in my opinion, to open the communication lines early in the process. I was a captain’s pick for his team (in 2008) and he immediately asked me who I would like to see on the team. He told me the whole premise of what he was doing and that, I believe, makes everybody buy in. They feel like they are a part of the team, they feel like they have some ownership in the team.
“We’re all in this together, so why not ask everybody for their opinion. I’m going to be the guy that will ultimately get hammered or get people saying good job, but I’m not going to be alone in arriving at my decisions.”
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