Steve Stricker is quietly going about his business of playing golf and he may just be the best player at his craft.
Tiger Woods isn’t playing, so he currently doesn’t count, and Phil Mickelson isn’t playing to his level of expertise.
Lee Westwood is failing to make putts to win tournaments, as he did Sunday in Dubai, and Padraig Harrington opened his 2010 season by missing the cut at Riviera.
There are plenty of other names to consider, certainly, but none would equal Stricker’s start to the year, which is actually a carryover from the last.
In his three starts to open 2010, he’s logged a T10, a third and a first which came Sunday at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. It’s February and he’s already bagged nearly $1.7 million and he’s No. 1 in FedEx points.
Possibly the best indicator is the fact Stricker has moved past Mickelson and now occupies the second slot behind Woods in the Official World Golf Ranking.
His win Sunday shouldn’t come as a big surprise, either.
Stricker was second in the Northern Trust last year and he won three times in 2009 and was in the top 10 a total of 11 times. Stricker has yet to win a major, but he was tied for sixth at the Masters a year ago and has a total of seven top 10 finishes in the majors in his career.
Plus the guy will be 43 in a couple of weeks and put his swing back together a few years back by hitting balls out of a heated trailer and into the frozen tundra of his native Wisconsin.
All of which reflects Stricker’s march into the best-player discusssion.
His moment may have been stolen by the 37th hour of Super Bowl pregame coverage, but J.B. Holmes reached the 17th at Riviera in two and rolled in his eagle putt for a T3 finish at the Northern Trust on Sunday. For those scoring at home, that is a ridiculously fantastic shot. At 590, it’s not out of the wheelhouse of the longer players but it’s uphill, there is little roll at Riviera because of the kikuyu grass and the course was wet.
Ernie Els put forth another solid effort with a T10 at the Northern Trust.
Following his T5 from a week ago, Els now has a pair of top-10s in three starts and he hasn’t shot a round out of 12 over 70. Els is skipping the AT&T in Pebble Beach for some family time in Florida, but will return to the West for the World Golf Championships near Tucson in two weeks.
With Mickelson’s T45, the tournament that was once simply the Los Angeles Open still has not had a player claim the title in three straight years. Mickelson was the two-time defending champion. Woods is the last player to enjoy such a streak, winning the Buick Invitational in San Diego from 2005-08
Jim Herman won the Nationwide Tour’s Moonah Classic in Fingal, Australia with a playoff victory over Chris Kirk. It was the first Nationwide victory for Herman, whose previous high on the circuit was a third last March in New Zealand.
No Tiger at the WGC match play event would be a bonus for Chris Wood, who is currently No. 65 on the OWGR.
Woods is not expected to play in the 64-man field and that could open a spot for Wood. Russ McGowan also could benefit. He was 65th entering the weekend but missed the cut at the Dubai Desert Classic while Wood finished 20th. Kevin Na and Scott Verplank played their way into the WGC field with a T10 and a T20, respectively, at Riviera.
Mike Scarr is the editor of Golflink.com and can be reached at golflinkeditor@demandmedia.com. His 25-year career spans the coverage of golf, baseball, beach volleyball, hockey, football and international sports as both a reporter and editor.
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