The last 12 months have been something of a whirlwind for Steve Stricker, with the 12-time PGA Tour winner enjoying the thrill of captaining the American Ryder Cup to victory immediately followed by a health scare that left the Wisconsin native emaciated.
But Stricker, who said he lost considerable weight while suffering from a condition that caused inflammation around his heart, is slated to return to action next week at the Insperity Invitational, the Houston stop on the PGA Tour Champions.
Stricker spent 11 days at UW Hospital last fall with an ailment that simply started as a cough.
“I’m down 25 pounds. I’m freshman-in-high school weight. I lost all my muscle. I look like an 85-year-old man, dude. My skin is hanging,” he said back in January, soon after the incident. “I kind of have a feeling that (the Ryder Cup) could have had a part in it. It’s a letdown, right, after that happens? And then your immune system is probably down. It probably played a role in it somehow.”
“My heart is in rhythm now. It was jumping in and out of rhythm from Thanksgiving all the way to Christmas Eve.”
Steve Stricker's comeback begins next week!
He's committed to play @InsperityInvtnl. pic.twitter.com/t2W4mlVPPJ
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) April 22, 2022
Stricker’s cardiologist originally said it could be six months before he could return to competition, but the University of Illinois product appears to be shaving about a month off that timeline.
And although a former golf coach suggested he simply sit on the sideline and enjoy this phase of his life, the 55-year-old Stricker — who has seven Champions tour victories, including three majors — said that simply didn’t sit right.
“That’s not my style, you know?” Stricker said. “I like to work at things.”
Stricker captained his U.S. to a 19-9 victory over Europe at Whistling Straits, in his home state of Wisconsin. Soon after, he took trophies from the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup, the other biennial match-play event between the U.S. and an international team, to a Champions event in Jacksonville.
Stricker became only the third man to captain winning U.S. teams in both competitions, joining Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.
