Stricks puzzled as anyone
over his new good pal Tiger
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Tiger calls him “Stricks.” Tiger likes to make nicknames of guys he likes. He calls Roger Federer, the tennis star, “Feds.” (It’s not known that he calls Phil Mickelson, “Micks” – but seriously folks …) Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker kind of – to use the current vernacular in the wonderful world of sports – bonded at the Presidents Cup last fall. They were the collective Avenging Angel against all those who thought that Americans teaming up in match play were much like a drunk riding a unicycle. “Stricks hit a great drive,” Woods would say, or words to that effect, so warm and familiar had the pairing become. The notable point about all this – even the remarkable point – is that Woods hadn’t really shown definable signs of bonding. It was more like tolerating, and so to anyone with antennae up, this was a historic moment.
And now we come to Augusta National Golf Club and the 2010 Masters, where Woods is making his return from his shameful self-banishment for over four months, after the mysterious wreck in his driveway and the exposure of all his painted ladies. He returned to Augusta on Sunday, to an incredible outpouring of interest and wonder and attention, the magnitude of which tended to make one forget it was Someone Else who was resurrected on Easter Sunday.
Stricker came to the Masters press center for an interview Tuesday, and the awe and light that still surround Tiger Woods is such that one journalist began his question, “Obviously, the No. 1 player in the world has kind of a turbulent existence right now …” As though lightning might strike the questioner dead for uttering that name in such a sleazy context.
Of course, there could have been some contempt in there, too. Hard to tell. Anyway, the question was, “Do you ever count yourself fortunate to be No. 2 – that you can lead a pretty normal life and be under the radar a little bit.”
Yes, Stricker allowed. He’s a pleasant and soft-talking guy, with a gentle air of innocence about him. Yes, it was nice to be No. 2 in the world, to have won $6.3 million last year, and still be able, as he put it, “to play golf out here for a living and go back to basically obscurity in Wisconsin. I can go around town and really not too many people know who I am and take my family out and … and there’s no real cameras following me around.”
Which carries a real blessing, in that nobody’s asking how does it feel to be No. 2 to Tiger Woods’ No. 1? And more important, as a rare and recent bondee with Woods, how does it feel to see “the Tiger thing” unfold over the last four or five months?”
“I guess a lot of emotions,” Stricker said. “Right when it first happened, I went from thinking, ‘Oh, my God, is he all right? Is he going to die?’ [Meaning the SUV into fire hydrant and tree, just to clear up a point.]
“The first report I heard [was] that he’s in serious condition in the hospital. So you go from one extreme to the other, and reports start coming out and you start hearing all of the things that happened …”
Stricker clearly was confused. Something didn’t jibe here – the wondrous Tiger Woods he knew on the golf course, and then this other person, apparently ducking into this clinic and that around the country, doing mea culpas privately on worldwide TV, and stuff like that.
Stricker was halting then, probing himself for the right word, the right memory.
“You know,” he said, “I was – I don’t know if I was a little bit hurt. Maybe that’s not the right word. But maybe a little bit – I don’t know. There were a lot of emotions. We all went through them, I guess. Couldn’t believe it at times, what was coming out. It’s been a wild, emotional ride, I think, for everybody that’s been involved with the game.
“You know, it was great to see him the other day, it really was. It was great to see him back, and hopefully,” he added, it a statement of disappointment, faith, admiration and expectation, “we can all put this to rest and move forward and go on like normal.”
Stricker didn’t seem to be sure what to make of Woods’ apologizing in his resurrection press conference Monday.
“I think that was nice,” he said. “If it was necessary or not, I don’t know. A lot of us golfers, everybody on tour, has had to try to answer the questions. I’m in the dark. Everybody’s in the dark. We’re all speculating. We don’t know anything. He doesn’t give us a lot, which is up to him. It just a tough subject,” he said, adding with a nervous little laugh, “That’s why I’m having a hard time about it now.”
There was a pleasant thought of the future that was clear, however. The notion that Corey Pavin, captain of the American Ryder Cup team, would surely pair Stricker and Woods next fall. And how would that feel?
“I would love it,” Stricker said. “I hope I’m part of that team. I would love that opportunity again. We had such a great time at the Presidents Cup. We had a good time out there and we felt very comfortable with one another.”
It would be wonderful just to be Stricks again.
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