Steve Stricker is thankful to be back on course and hosting American Family Insurance Championship after serious health scare

MADISON - Steve Stricker sat on a stool Tuesday with a crisp, white American Family Insurance hat perched on his head, sporting a rich tan and a major championship glow after winning the PGA Tour Champions' Regions Tradition over the weekend in Alabama.

The 55-year-old Edgerton native was ready to talk about hosting and playing in the American Family Insurance Championship June 10-12 at University Ridge Golf Course. But there were few questions about the popular senior circuit event, which will be back to full capacity after some COVID restrictions last year. There were no queries about the celebrity pro-am, which will feature Brett Favre and Andy North against Derek Jeter and women's golf legend Juli Inkster.

Most of the questions fielded by Stricker concerned the dramatic year that the Wisconsin golf legend endured. In September, Stricker reached the zenith of a remarkable career by captaining the United States' Ryder Cup team to a victory at Whistling Straits in his home state. But then there were mysterious heart and liver issues that flared up in November and left him hospitalized. He returned to PGA Tour Champions competition three weeks ago and rolled to his fifth senior major title at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama.

Stricker answered everything with forthrightness, but he was ready for what's next.

"Yeah, it's been a little bit of an up-and-down road," he said. "But I feel really good where I'm at right now. The Ryder Cup was one thing, it was something very special to me and my family and my career and our team and the state of Wisconsin. All that put together.

"Then a month later that wasn't so good. But I'm kind of focusing now on moving forward. It was kind of the same message that I gave to the Ryder Cup team. It was, like, we can think about how we got our butts kicked these last few Ryder Cups but let's not. Let's think about moving forward, thinking about what we need to do to come out and win and and play good golf."

After losing almost 30 pounds during his scare, Stricker still looks skinnier than he did during his golfing prime, which included 12 victories on the PGA Tour. But he's glad to be back on the course.

"I'm still getting some blood work done on a monthly basis," Stricker said. "Just leading up to a July MRI still. They just want to make sure, the cardiologist.

"Really the whole scare came from my heart, myocarditis and inflammation of the heart, and that was what took so long. The liver issues I got past. That continually got better. But this inflammation of the heart just lasted for such a long time. We have to be careful with that because it can come back and that was the last thing I really wanted is for it to come back. And I was on a lot of medications for it to be thwarted and kept at a reasonable level.

"So that's why I couldn't work out, really. Eating was a challenge, that's why I lost all this weight. So leading up to the July MRI, the last one I had was in April and I was all clear. So they just want to do one more check, since I've been playing, to make sure nothing was going on. I'm wearing this WHOOP thing (electronic monitor), just to make sure that everything is good there. Like I said, everything's been great. Off of all medications. I feel great."

Stricker also feels incredibly thankful, especially after proving with his wire-to-wire victory at the Regions Tradition that he could still play at an elite level.

"This last one probably means more than the Ryder Cup at this point," Stricker said. "Just from where I was in November and December. January I was hitting it 220 (yards) in the air.

"So there was a lot of things that I had to get better (at) before I could get to the point of just what happened on Sunday. It was a long, long journey. But one that I wouldn't trade because I got to spend an incredible amount of time with (wife) Nicki and the kids and I was all in with them."

Even while focusing on his health, Stricker stayed involved with his duties as host for the American Family Insurance Championship, which will be held for the sixth time.

"When you look at the foundation work that we do for the charitable giving, and our charitable grants and scholarship winners we offer," tournament director Nate Pokrass said, "Steve and Nicki are highly engaged in that process and have always been a phone call away. Even as he was working through his time, he was accessible."

The event has also grown in popularity in the area thanks to Madison native Jerry Kelly, who has won the last two titles at University Ridge. Kelly beat out Stricker and Retief Goosen in a playoff in the 2019 tournament.

Now that Stricker is feeling better, he wants to get the best of his old friend Kelly, against whom he has played since junior golf.

"It gains a lot of traction in our community," Stricker said. "When you have a guy like Jerry, who lives in the community, who is embedded in this community, is very much a part of all this.

"It's great to have him win. Even though it grinds on me that he won. I'm going to be quite honest, we want to beat up on each other until we're partners. And we've been partners in competition before. But when we're playing separately, we want to beat each."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Steve Stricker hosting American Family Insurance Championship again