Who is Steve Stricker, Madison-based golfer and host for AmFam Championship?
Madison’s Steve Stricker has been a prominent name in the national golf scene and is regarded as one of Wisconsin’s favorite sons. He’s the host for the American Family Insurance championship that begins Friday in his hometown at University Ridge, part of the PGA Tour Champions (for golfers age 50 and older). Get to know him a little better:
How old is Steve Stricker?
As of June 2023, Stricker is 56.
Where is Steve Stricker from?
Stricker attended Edgerton High School, which is about 30 miles southeast of Madison in Rock County. He attended college at the University of Illinois.
Who’s in Steve Stricker’s family?
Stricker has been married to his wife, Nicki, since 1993 and has two children, Bobbi and Izzi Stricker. The latter served as his caddy when he won the Senior PGA Championship in late May.
Nicki earned four letters for the University of Wisconsin women’s golf team and took fourth at the 1991 Big Ten championships. Her father, Dennis Tiziani, was UW men’s golf coach from 1977 to 2003 and women’s golf coach from 1989 to 2003. Her brother, Mario Tiziani, also played for the Badgers, played on the PGA Tour and will compete in the AmFam event. Dennis Tiziani was Stricker’s swing coach. Bobbi Stricker golfed for the Badgers as well, though she played tennis in high school and reached the state tennis meet with Waunakee four times. She didn’t play competitive golf until the summer after her senior year and walked on at UW.
Izzi Stricker is herself an accomplished golfer and just won the WIAA state individual championship in 2022 as a junior, golfing for Waunakee.
What are Steve Stricker’s biggest wins in pro golf?
Stricker has been a professional golfer since 1990 and, though he never won a major on the PGA Tour, he did finish second in the 1998 PGA Championship and won 12 PGA Tour events. His most recent PGA Tour win came in 2012 when he won the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, following up with two wins in 2011 and two in 2010.
He has 14 wins on the PGA Tour Champions (essentially the senior tour), including six majors (all since 2019; there are five majors on the PGA Tour Champions circuit). He just won back-to-back major championships by taking the Regions Tradition and PGA Championship titles in May 2023. He’s now a three-time champion of the Regions Tradition and winner of the past two.
So, he’s basically on fire, huh?
It has been indeed been a wild run for Stricker, who recovered from an illness in 2022 and has competed in 13 tournaments since, finishing outside the top five only once and outside the top two only four times. It’s been absurd. He already has three wins in 2023 after winning four in 2022.
Stricker is finding the fairway with regularity (16th in driving accuracy at 78.9 percent and 16th in driving distance with 287.0 yards this season), and he’s second in greens in regulation (80.0) and second in putts per green hit in regulation (1.681).
The illness he battled, though, was pretty scary
Jaundiced and admitted twice to the hospital, Stricker said the illness he endured scared him, especially because it was a near-total mystery. Symptoms included an irregular heartbeat, reduced blood-cell count and reduced liver function. UW doctors were stumped, but he made a full recovery.
Before he got sick, he led the Americans to victory at the Ryder Cup
Stricker was the team captain (non-playing) for the 2021 U.S. Ryder Cup team, which competed in his home state at Whistling Straits in Haven. The Americans dominated Team Europe, 19-9.
Three other nuggets to know about Steve Stricker
Nicki Stricker, his wife, has often caddied for Steve.
Stricker has also played in three Ryder Cups, winning with the American team in 2008.
Stricker had a hand in redesigning the TPC Wisconsin Course, where the AmFam Championship will take place starting in 2025. That course is owned by Dennis Tiziani and will be the first TPC Wisconsin course in Wisconsin. It was formerly known as Cherokee Country Club.
