MADISON — Steve Stricker still has goals and dreams, but more and more these days, they have little to do with golf. “Probably getting in a fishing boat and fishing a little bit more,” he said Thursday, on the eve of the American Family Insurance Championship, the PGA Tour Champions event that he hosts at University Ridge. “Those are my dreams. It’s maybe not as much golf-related anymore.”
Really, what’s left for the 57-year-old Stricker to accomplish? He won 12 times on the PGA Tour. He’s won 17 times on the Champions tour. He’s won seven senior majors. He captained U.S. Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teams to record-setting victories. Last year, he won the AmFam Championship by five strokes and with a record 18-under-par 198 total. It was one of his six victories in a record-setting year and perhaps his last remaining big goal in golf.
In recent weeks, he has hinted on several occasions that his desire is “waning” and that his career is “winding down.” Before the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, he said, “I feel like there are times I want to just go away and enjoy other things. I’m getting close to that point. I don’t know when that point will be.” Then, at AmFam Championship media day on May 6, he said, “It’s more about having that desire to be competitive still, to go through the process and practice. I still enjoy that part. It’s waning. I can see the end coming.”
Stricker set Champions tour records for earnings ($3.96 million) and scoring average (67.54) in 2023 and won the Charles Schwab Cup before the playoffs even started. But he has not won yet this year. “It’s not as sharp as I would like it to be,” he said of his game. “Last year was a special year and this year I’ve come out a little flat, I would say. Just trying to find my way into contention on Sunday.”
It’s not as if he’s fallen off the face of the earth. He’s finished in the top 10 in five of six starts this year, and 25 of his last 27 starts dating to August 2022. But earlier in the season, he admittedly lacked motivation. “Some days it’s harder to practice when I’m at home trying to get ready for tournaments,” he said. “It’s been harder to get going and motivated to practice. I think last year what I did and winning the Schwab Cup, that was a dream and a goal of mine and then doing it, I’m like, OK …
“Winning majors would be a lot of fun. Winning this tournament would be a lot of fun. But there’s more important things and that’s spending time with (wife) Nicki and the kids (daughters Bobbi and Izzi), watching them and helping our girls get better.” Bobbi is a young golf professional and Izzi, a two-time WIAA state champion at Waunakee High School, will be starting her college career at the University of Wisconsin later this summer.
While Stricker played in his pro-am round Thursday, he checked scores on his phone from the U.S. Girls’ Junior qualifier at The Oaks in Cottage Grove, where Izzi was competing. She did not advance to the national championship.
Stricker has always been a family-first man and undoubtedly the death of his father, Bob, in January caused him to re-examine what’s important in his life. Stricker also lost an older brother, Scott, in 2014.
“And then, just yeah, I’ve had a lot of golf in my career,” he said. “I don’t fish enough and I don’t hunt enough and those are the things that are starting to catch my attention. “And how much do I want to continue to play? I don’t know what that even looks like anymore. … Shoot, if you would have asked me a couple months ago, I was ready to say I’m done. But I think I just need to get away at times and get that desire back, do some other things. Then I seem to come back a little bit stronger and fresher.”
It would not be surprising to see Stricker cut back on his schedule in the next couple of years. But there’s no way he will walk away from the game anytime soon. Next year, the AmFam Championship moves to TPC Wisconsin (formerly Cherokee Country Club) on the north side of Madison. Stricker lives on the course, helped re-design it and obviously wants the tournament to be a success there.
Then there is the Steve Stricker American Family Insurance Foundation, which helps funds charities through the AmFam Championship. It’s a great source of pride to Stricker and he becomes emotional just talking about it.
Finally, Tiger Woods turns 50 on Dec. 30, 2025. He would be eligible to play in the AmFam Championship in 2026 and has hinted that he would tee it up in Champions tour events, at least occasionally. Stricker and Woods are close.
“Hopefully, we can get him here and coming back,” Stricker said. All that being said, Stricker probably will continue to play in the AmFam until he no longer can do it physically. In the meantime, he’ll try to win title No. 18 on the Champions tour.
“I still have aspirations of playing well and dream of winning again,” he said. “You never know when your last one’s going to be … I still dream about winning again, winning majors out here again. That’s what keep me motivated and working on my game.”
