What they said: Steve Stricker

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MORE INTERVIEWS: Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial transcript archive

CHRIS REIMER: We want to welcome our defending champion here at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Also your first tournament back here since The Masters. So I think you are probably excited on a couple of different fronts. Talk about being here at Colonial.

STEVE STRICKER: Yes, I'm obviously excited to be back to Colonial and great memories from last year. Going around the nine holes in the practice round today I remember a lot of the things that happened last year and it's just good to be back. Yes, I haven't played since Augusta, had a little injury. I have been home spending some time at home and excited to be playing again.

CHRIS REIMER: Questions for Steve?

Q. Just wanted to ask as far as you are feeling, how the shoulder is doing right now?

STEVE STRICKER: It's a lot better. I mean I don't feel any pain. There is still some tightness or stiffness to it, a twinge here and there. But it was going to be a hard decision to stay home this week and give it another week of rest. It's a lot better. I don't know if it's totally healed yet, but I'm swinging without any pain which before was, when I was trying to play at Zurich, it wasn't much fun playing and a lot of pain. I'm doing that, swinging without any pain, and excited to be here.

Q. Was it just rest you did? You didn't do anything surgically to repair it?

STEVE STRICKER: No, just rest and some physical therapy on it. Mainly just rest, taking some anti-inflammatory. The SC joint right where the clavicle meets the sternum, it got really inflamed. I don't know how I did it either. That's the puzzling part. I don't know how it happened. It just progressively got worse. Probably just my body's way of showing that I needed a little bit of rest.

Q. You mentioned this morning you were feeling things, remembering things, how did you feel playing the 18 holes as you played out?

STEVE STRICKER: I just played 9, I played the front. My game is rusty to say the least, but it's great to be out here. like I say, I remembered a lot of the things happen in the last round or two last year. Yes, it brought back a lot of fond memories and a lot of great memories kind of where my year really got off to a great start from here on forward is where I really played some good golf.

Q. What's the toughest thing about coming back after a long layoff; your short game or anything like that, or is it not having been in contention?

STEVE STRICKER: I think everything. You know, everything, you know, is a little bit tougher. I haven't been able to practice really too much at home. They were telling me to take it easy and not hit a lot of balls, so I ended up playing more than actually hitting balls. This is the first time I've set foot on a range in six weeks really. Like I say, I've been practicing at home by playing. But the part of hitting balls, I haven't been doing. Everything, my putting is rusty. My chipping is rusty. Everything is a little bit rusty. At some point you got to make that decision to get back at it and get going again. We got the U.S. Open right around the corner. I want to make sure that my game is ready and sharp at that time. So at some point I got to come back and start trying to get things in order.

Q. Steve, did you ever actually get a doctor's diagnosis on what the situation was, or did you go see somebody?

STEVE STRICKER: Yes, I went to see an orthopaedic the day after I withdrew from New Orleans. They took some X-rays. Structurally everything looked fairly good. My clavicle is a little out of whack, it's a little higher than my left side. We don't know if that's what's causing the inflammation. But they didn't do an MRI on it. They just said it was a strain of that joint. There is not much you can do there. They didn't give me any shots, or anything like that, just because of where it is on my body and there is a lot of arteries and stuff right behind there, so there is not a lot of things they can do there except just rest and taking in some anti-inflammatory medication. Other than that, it was pretty much not try to overuse it.

Q. Steve, if you weren't the defending champ here this week do you think you would have taken another week off, or is that a tough one to gauge?

STEVE STRICKER: That's a tough one to gauge. Like I say, it's feeling better. I kind of wanted to give it one more week, but doing what I did here last year, and being the defending champion, I felt somewhat of an obligation to be back here, and I wanted to start playing again, and I wanted to come here. But if I hadn't won here, it might have been another week.

Q. Do you believe in that wounded golfer theory, beware of the wounded golfer? Secondly, with good vibes around this place, can that kind of lift a guy, if you are not feeling your best, if you have good memories to draw on?

STEVE STRICKER: No question you can draw on all of those memories from years passed wherever you're at. Especially when you won the prior year, you know you have some good feelings going around here. I've got a lot of work to do. My game needs to come a long ways. But you never know, you get underneath the gun, and you can turn it up a notch sometimes, too. I will just put in some work the next couple of days. I won't try to overdo it and try to come back and do it sensibly and cautiously, I think, and just try to get my game going that way.

Q. Steve, you're coming back as 2009 champion. But we also have Phil coming back as the '08 champion. Just from a player's perspective, last year, the pink out, and everything that went on with that, and obviously, they're doing it again. Talk about what that means from the perspective of another player and what do you think it means for Phil to come back here in the situation that he's in?

STEVE STRICKER: I can't speak for Phil, but as a player and seeing him comeback, and having gone through the things and still going through the things that he is going through, I think he will have a great reception here. I think he will be very excited to be here. He is almost the defending champion as well this week. I thought it was the greatest feel good story in golf when he won at the Masters, and seeing Amy there, and being friends of both of them, and seeing Amy breakdown the way she did was pretty cool. Like I say, a great feel good story for their family and all of golf. The pink out is going to happen again this year. I think he is going to be tough to beat here too. I think he will be coming back here with his game in shape and winning here a couple of years ago obviously he's got some good vibes too. It's a great story in how everyone pulls together and rallies behind Phil, and breast cancer, in general, so it should be good.

Q. Steve, does the quality of the field this week, or the fact that Phil has got a chance to go to No. 1, some of the peripheral things that drives some interest with the fans, does that add extra buzz with the player, or is a week a week, or just another week out here?

STEVE STRICKER: Well, I think coming here is a little bit different, I think. I think players view this as a special event. It's been on our TOUR schedule for a lot of years. The list of champions here, you can look at that wall and it's a pretty impressive list. So I think players hold it in a little bit higher regard. I don't really think they are really thinking about Phil becoming No. 1. But, obviously, for the fans, you know, the golf, the casual golf fan watching at home on TV, and people that watch it, I think adds a lot of interest to it. So it's not a bad thing. It should be good. The field is good. It should be an exciting week. The weather looks hot and humid. It should bring some people out, too.

Q. What were your emotions and your mindset during those six weeks where you couldn't go on a range, or fears, or just run us through what was going through your head as a pro athlete at a high level not being able to perform?

STEVE STRICKER: There was a lot of different thoughts. At first I'm like, hey, this isn't going to be too bad, I can spend some time at home and be with the family and the kids. Actually it was, it was very hard to leave yesterday. Everybody knows I like to be at home. When I'm home for an extended period of time it gets even harder to leave as you probably all know too. It got to the point where I really enjoyed the time being at home, and then the last probably week, knowing that I needed to come back out here and get things going again, then I started to feel that extra little bit of pressure to try to get my game going, get this injury behind me. Last week it kind of flared up again on me. I went to see the doctor again. They told me to take it a little easier. I was going up and down. If you asked me last Thursday, and Dave can attest to this, I didn't think I was going to be coming here. It just felt rotten again on Thursday and Friday. But I got some medication in me, and the greatest thing about medication, it heals you fast, I guess. I just went through a whole bunch of ups and downs as far as golf goes, but it was a great time to be at home and spending type with the kids and my wife.

Q. What's it like to see your name on the wall of champions?

STEVE STRICKER: Yes, it's pretty special. Like I alluded to earlier, it's a great list to be associated with. The rich history of this event, especially Mr. Hogan winning here a few times. It's an honor to be a part of that and to be a part of that select group and be on that wall.

CHRIS REIMER: Anything else?

Q. Steve, obviously you got the skill set to win any time you tee it up, especially a course like this, do you have those same expectations that you would have in a normal week, or given the physical limitations do you have extra an question or two that you might not have in a normal week?

STEVE STRICKER: Yes, I got a little extra question or two. There is no doubt. It's the first time since Augusta playing. It's almost like the length of the time period that I take off in the Fall, but this time it happened right in the middle of the season. You know, my game is not horrible. It's not as sharp as it would be this time of year probably. But my mind is fresh and I'm relaxed. I'm ready to go in that regard. So that's always a good thing too, when you're fresh and relaxed and your mind is sharp. So that accounts for a few shots here and there, too. But I will just keep working at it and keep working at it the next couple of days and hopefully improve a little bit every day.

CHRIS REIMER: Steve, best of luck this week.

STEVE STRICKER: Thank you.

Transcript courtesy of ASAP Sports.