Steve Stricker - Media Day 2012 John Deere Classic

Stricker Makes The Putt Again

Relives 2011 John Deere Classic

By Brian Weis

Steve Stricker returned to the scene of his winning putt at last year's John Deere Classic - and made it again!

During media day on Monday at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill., Stricker again performed in the clutch as he tapped the 25-foot downhill putt from the back right fringe of the 18th green and watched it roll gently into the hole. A gathering of junior golfers - several of whom had tried the putt and missed - media, staff and board members cheered as the ball disappeared into the cup. Stricker emulated the fist pump he displayed last July.

"I watched them do it," Stricker said of the youngsters. "The putt I had last year went a little to the right; this one went to the left. I got to watch a lot of putts before I made mine."

When he returns to TPC Deere Run the week of July 9-15, Stricker will be trying to become only the fifth man in championship golf history to win four consecutive tournaments at the same course. The others were Young Tom Morris (British Open, 1868-70 - no event in '71 - and 1872), Walter Hagen (PGA Championship, 1924-27) and Gene Sarazen (Miami Open, 1927-30), and Tiger Woods (Bay Hill, 2000-2003 and Buick Invitational in San Diego, 2005-08.

They're calling it the "Stricker Slam."

"It's a unique opportunity," Stricker told reporters on Monday. "It's hard to do. It's hard to repeat let alone win for the third time...Just to win a golf tournament is hard let alone four times in a row. But I'm excited about the challenge, excited about the opportunity to try to do it. It would be a lot of fun. The anticipation for me is there already."

Although the winning putt gets a lot of attention, Stricker said it was the 184-yard 6-iron from the fairway bunker on No. 18 that immediately preceded it that was the shot of a lifetime. The ball was below his feet and had to carry the water on the left of the green.

"[The bunker shot] is at the top of my list," Stricker said. "It seems like a guy like Tiger does it when he wins every time he wins, or every other time. For me...it was a do-or-die situation. I made up my mind that I was going to get it back there [to the back pin position]...My caddie said why don't you just take a 7-iron and try to hit it in the short part of the green and try to get it up and down. I said, 'No, give me the 6, I'm going to try to get it all the way back there...I had it in my mind to try to make 4. To make that putt was icing on the cake. Yeah, the bunker shot was the tougher shot, probably, of the two."

Stricker said he looks forward to coming back to the John Deere Classic and he loves it.

"I mean, it's the Midwest," he said. "It's the type of golf course that I've grown up on. I can drive from home. It's comfortable surroundings. I'm comfortable here. I enjoy the course...I guess when you like to come to a place and you've had some success in the past and had good vibes going into the tournament, that shows a lot of what it can do for your game...I don't know what it is about here. I just enjoy coming here and enjoy the people and the tournament."

Watch the amazing putt!

Revised: 06/06/2012 - Article Viewed 32,863 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.