Steve Stricker cites fatigue and a busy schedule for pulling out of PGA

Steve Stricker decided Sunday to withdraw from the PGA Championship at Valhalla, citing the difficulty of the 57-year-old playing four times in a span of five weeks. Stricker was eligible by winning the Senior PGA Championship last year. Stricker, John Daly and Phil Mickelson are the only players to have competed at Valhalla each of the previous three times the PGA Championship was held there.

Stricker, the PGA Tour Champions player of the year in 2003 when he won three of the five majors, tied for third in the Regions Tradition in Alabama on Sunday. He will be defending his title in the Senior PGA the week after Valhalla, and then hosts his American Family Insurance Championship in Wisconsin two weeks after the Senior PGA.

“Fatigue,” Stricker said when asked why he withdrew. “I just can’t play four out of five week.” He was replaced at Valhalla by Alex Smalley. Rory McIlroy winning the Wells Fargo Championship means S.H. Kim gets in the 156-man PGA field as an alternate.