Steve Stricker, playing a third week in a row on the PGA Tour Champions after being knocked down for six months due to mysterious illness, is back in the winner’s circle.
Stricker led the Regions Tradition by three shots after 54 holes at Greystone Golf & Country Club and never let up Sunday.
After a birdie on No. 17, he stood on the 18th tee box at 20 under, five shots clear of the field. He would tack on another birdie on the par-5 closing hole to get to 21 under and win by a whopping six shots.
It’s the fifth major championship on the senior circuit for Stricker, who has a tie for second and a tie for 10th to go with this latest win in his last three weeks of competition.
“It’s a hard day, it’s been a long time, I hate crying, but where I was last November even to a couple of months ago. To come full circle here and come out and get a W it means a lot,” he said after his win. “I’m looking forward to getting stronger and healthier and keeping this train rolling.”
Steve Stricker poses with the trophy after winning the 2022 Regions Tradition at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
Stricker was runner-up in this event a year ago to Alex Cejka, but Cejka was disqualified following his third round Saturday. According to the tour, he was found to be using a “yardage book that had not been approved for the competition by the PGA Tour Champions Rules Committee.”
Also DQ’d this week: John Daly got the boot after the second round Friday after he failed to sign his scorecard.
Padraig Harrington birded his last two holes to earn a solo second finish at 15 under.
Steve Alker, who had two wins and a runner-up finish in his last three starts before this week, bogeyed the 18th to fall into a five-way tie for third at 14 under. Alker now has 14 top-10s and 10 top-5s in just 17 starts since joining the Champions tour last summer.
Ernie Els, Rodney Pampling and Stuart Appleby also tied Alker at 14 under.
The Champions tour is off next week and returns to action May 26-29 with the KitchenAide Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores Resort in Benton Harbor, Michigan.
