Positive COVID-19 result forces Steve Stricker to withdraw from Senior PGA Championship
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — One of the top storylines for the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship won't take place this week when the tournament begins its fifth visit to Jack Nicklaus' acclaimed design, Harbor Shores along Lake Michigan.
Steve Stricker of the United States and Padraig Harrington of the European team, who matched strategic wits last fall at the Ryder Cup matches 118.2 nautical miles to the northwest near Sheboygan, Wisconsin — the U.S. triumphed 19-9 Sept. 26, 2021 — will not match their playing skills again after the 55-year-old Stricker withdrew Tuesday following a positive test for COVID-19.
"Super bummed that I tested positive for COVID on Friday and have to withdraw," Stricker said in a tweet. "Just a small setback and will look forward to getting back after it when I feel strong again! Good luck to the players, especially my brother in law."
► More: Everything you need to know about the Senior PGA championship at Harbor Shores May 26-29
► More: Shot heard round golf world that wasn’t really a shot at all: Nicklaus’ 102-foot putt
Mario Tiziani, Stricker's business agent and a former PGA Tour member, is the brother of Stricker's wife and occasional caddy, Nicki, and he's in the field of 156 players this week.
Stricker won the 2019 U.S. Senior Open at Notre Dame's Warren Golf Course with a record-breaking, 19-under-par 261 total that included just two bogeys in four rounds. He won his fourth PGA Tour Champions senior title May 15 at the Regions Tradition May 15 at the Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama.
The 50-year-old Harrington, a native of Dublin, Ireland, finished runner-up at the Tradition by six strokes. A stroke behind Harrington were South African Ernie Els, Australians Rod Pampling and Stuart Appleby, Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez and New Zealand's Steven Alker. All of them are in the field at Harbor Shores.
Stricker was fourth on the PGA Tour Champions money list, his $600,400 in earnings coming in just three events since he returned from a mysterious illness which kept him away from competition until the Insperity Invitational in The Woodlands, Texas, April 29-May 1.
He tied for second in that event behind Alker, and Stricker then tied for 10th in the Mitsubishi Electric Classic in Duluth, Georgia, May 6-8 before his victory at the Tradition.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Senior PGA Championship loses Steve Stricker after positive COVID test
