As Steve Stricker prepared for the back nine at Sunday’s AT&T National his thoughts drifted to the last time he won a Washington, D.C.-area golf tournament.
That was in 1996 when Stricker was crowned the Kemper Open champion at Avenel, one of three PGA Tour victories for the 40-year-old Edgerton, Wisc.-native. He arrived at the 10th tee on Sunday tied with eventual champion K.J. Choi at 9-under par. Things quickly went south, however. Stricker bogeyed the 11th, 14th and 15th holes and settled for a runner-up finish with a 6-under par 274.
“It’s a little bit of mixed emotions because being Tiger’s first tournament it would have been special to win it,” said Stricker, who was even-par for the day. “I got off to a good start. But I just didn’t finish off the back side like I needed to.”
It’s been a gratifying recovery for Stricker, who lost his fully-exempt card in 2005 after a third straight year outside the top 150. He rebounded with seven top-10 finishes in 2006 and earned PGA Tour comeback player of the year honors. Stricker already has four top-10 showings in 2007. He was also runner-up to Tiger Woods at the Wachovia Championship on May 6.
Record crowds
Congressional hosted yet another huge gallery on Sunday as 37,211 fans watched the close of the inaugural AT&T National. That brings the week’s total to 139,389, including 5,809 for Tuesday’s practice rounds and 12,384 for Wednesday’s Earl Woods Pro-Am.
“It’s been a pretty amazing week,” said Jim Furyk, who tied for third place at 3-under par. “The organization of this event was incredible … the fan support was unreal. … It had a grand feeling … to say the least.”
Final stats
Robert Allenby recorded the best percentage for greens in regulation at 77.8 percent. Rocco Mediate blistered the course on Sunday, helped in large part by his tournament-low 1.56 putting average. Furyk was the most accurate off the tee. He finished third at 3-under par thanks to keeping the ball in play 46 times out of 56 drives, a percentage of 80.4. Champion K.J. Choi was fifth in fairways hit (41), fifth in greens in regulation (54) and fifth in lowest putting average (1.59).
