STEVE Stricker is a 12-time PGA Tour winner and captain of a Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup team that won by a combined score of 38-20.
His oldest daughter, Bobbi Maria, has had limited Epson Tour status. His youngest, Izzi, is the Wisconsin State Golf Association amateur of the year.
Just don’t forget about mom.
Nicki Stricker played at Wisconsin, was an assistant for her father, Dennis Tiziani, for a year at Wisconsin and then got married and raised two daughters.
With a little more time, a little more practice, she qualified for the US Senior Women’s Amateur two years ago, her first USGA competition since the 1992 US Women’s Amateur. She looked at the golf schedule this summer and noticed the Wisconsin State Women’s Four-ball Championship.
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Nicki needed a partner and didn’t have to look very far.
“I told her, ‘I want to do something golf-related and competitive with you. Let’s do the Four-Ball,” Izzi said. “So we ended up winning.”
This wasn’t a case of mom leaning on her daughter, a sophomore at Wisconsin. Nicki Stricker made seven birdies, including the final three holes.
Why the renewed interest? She’s not sure.
“I was hitting a lot, not playing a lot,” she said. “I think just to see how I could do, put myself out there. Clearly not competing against them (her daughters) or feeling like, ‘Oh, everybody else is doing it.’ I hadn’t done it for a while, and just seeing what would happen.”
They are among the most athletic families. Bobbi concentrated mostly on tennis — her mom thinks she could have played Division I doubles — and shifted to golf midway through high school. She twice made it to the second stage of the LPGA Q-Series, giving her some Epson Tour status. AP
MIYU Yamashita of Japan made her first LPGA victory a big one, capturing the Women’s British Open at Royal Porthcawl.
She won again in Malaysia and was easily the LPGA rookie of the year.
During a festive night at the LPGA awards dinner in Naples, Florida, Yamashita sat quietly at her table.
As awards were presented, she nervously looked at the ceiling while mouthing words. She was rehearsing her speech, her first time speaking publicly in English.
At 4-foot-11, her head was barely visible above the podium. She only got stuck one time, but delivered a winner.
Yamashita returned to her seat with a relieved smile and a rousing ovation.
Meanwhile, for more than 40 years, the British Open was the only major that had a person trained in raking bunkers with each group.
It was a perk the caddies enjoyed, and they couldn’t figure out why the British and International Golf Greenskeepers Association (BIGGA) was not invited to Royal Portrush.
“It’s a change for us, but we think a good one,” R&A CEO Mark Darbon said without elaborating what was good about it.
Caddies were not informed, and apparently neither were those responsible for building out the course. One sign outside a portable toilet for players read, “For use by Rules Officials, Players, Caddies, Walking Scorers, Scoreboard Carriers & Bunker Rakers.”
