FRISCO, Texas – Steve Sticker is yet again a major winner on the PGA Tour Champions.
The 2021 Ryder Cup captain took down Padraig Harrington on the first playoff hole of the 83rd KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship to take home his sixth major on the senior circuit.
The win is also his second major title of the season after claiming the 2023 Regions Tradition earlier this year. With Joe LaCava Jr. on his bag that week, Stricker opted to keep it in the family this week at Fields Ranch East.
Stricker’s youngest daughter, Izzi, looped for her pops like a pro in her debut. Never caddying for her dad before, both Strickers admitted they had some nerves coming down the stretch, but they never let it get in the way of the special moment.
“She did well,” Stricker told reporters. “Both of us, we got a little, we clammed up a little bit coming in. I think we were both – I had my head down grinding and trying to figure out how to get it in the hole at times…But all in all, after it’s all said and done, it was a lot of fun.”
The rising high school senior shared a similar sentiment.
“Yeah, I was pacing,” Izzi told Golfweek. “Like he (Stricker) said, we were kind of clammy, we didn’t really talk much but I knew if I kept my focus, we would give off similar vibes and I needed to keep my head down as much as he did.”
Team Stricker with some post round thoughts.#SrPGAChamp pic.twitter.com/B70QiyCL6A
— KitchenAid Senior PGA Champ (@seniorpgachamp) May 28, 2023
So what was the coolest part of the week for Izzi?
“I have always watched him outside the ropes and this is a whole different experience,” she said. “I learned so much about his mental game, too. I see his physical game all the time but I never really get to see him that close in a major championship so I learned a lot on the mental side.”
For Stricker, the win also holds a special place in his heart.
“This means a lot,” he said. “I said it in there when I was toasting the people inside there that I spent a lot of time with the PGA of America during the Ryder Cup. I got to know a lot of people. We spent basically three years, two and a half years because of the COVID issue and I developed a lot of friendships. John Lindert from Wisconsin as well and just special people to me and our family. I mean, they gave me an unbelievable opportunity to captain a Ryder Cup team in my home state.”
For Padraig Harrington, his chance at a wire-to-wire victory came and went a handful of times Sunday.
After losing the lead to after a Stricker birdie on No. 11, the 51-year-old had a day of what-ifs.
“I look back to the two shots I look back on that with a bit of regret is how I played my second shot safe on 14,” he told reporters after losing in the one hole playoff.
Playing it safe proved not to be the move as he hit his approach into the hole through the green and into the rough.
“That’s the one that I’ll look back on and go, you know, I shouldn’t have bailed out. Maybe I shouldn’t have bailed out there. That’s – but I thought I was fine. I thought I would have had a reasonable eagle chance from there.”
Trailing Stricker by a stroke on the par-3 17th, he squandered another opportunity to force the issue. Luckily for him, both he and Stricker made bogey and made their way to the par-5 18th.
Needing a birdie to tie, Harrington used his PGA Tour Champions-leading length to get on the green in two for a 30-foot eagle putt to win. He’d walk away with a birdie, forcing a playoff with Stricker and another chance to seal a wire-to-wire victory.
First to play, Harrington pulled driver, looking to apply pressure on Stricker but left the drive well out to the right. In the penalty area, Harrington tried to advance the ball but caught it on the hosel, keeping him in the hazard and forcing a drop.
What followed was one of the best shots of the week. From 272 yards out, his 5-wood never left the flag and nestled behind the hole to about 10 feet.
“If I hole the putt we could say it was one of the best shots I ever hit. The fact that I didn’t hole the putt we’ll forget about it.”
He laughed. “Golf is cruel.”
Low PGA pro
PGA Professional Mark Brown had one goal in mind coming into Sunday’s final round: earn his wife a new kitchen.
As part of the winnings for low PGA Professionals at the Senior PGA Championship is a kitchen suite courtesy of title sponsor, KitchenAid. Having been co-low pro at the 2019 Senior PGA at Oak Hill, Brown reaped the reward but has since moved, now residing in Florida.
The 56-year-old PGA Teaching Professional at the Yacht & Country Club in Stewart, Florida, had the outright lead by three as he stood on the 17th tee. A quick bogey still gave him a two-shot cushion over Tim Weinhart who finished at 6 over and had already left the property.
Disaster very nearly struck Brown as he crawled away with a double-bogey on the par 5 18th.
Mission failed successfully.
The double kept him from having the solo honor but nonetheless, he’ll keep his wife happy with a new kitchen suite making its way to Hobe Sound, Florida.
As for Weinhart, the 53-year-old PGA Director of Instruction at Heritage Golf Links in Tucker, Georgia, was still shocked that he had played himself back into it. He left the course and was halfway through a double-double at In-N-Out when he heard he tied Brown.
Not in the field to start the week, Weinhart was an alternate and a late addition to the field.
“Monday we played a practice round and we’re like, well I hope we get in,” he told reporters. “I got a known call late Monday night or not late, 6:45. 7 o’clock. I was grateful.”
While the pair did not finish high enough for an exemption into the 84th KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, the duo put a nice bow on a historic two week stretch for PGA Teaching Professionals that began with Michael Block in Oak Hill.
The 84th KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship heads to Michigan in 2024 where Harbor Shores Golf Club in Benton Harbor, Michigan, will play host.
