Steve Stricker reacts after winning the 2023 Kaulig Companies Championship at Firestone CC in Akron, Ohio. | Photo by Tracy Wilcox/Getty Images
Steve Stricker dominated the PGA Tour Champions circuit in 2023, clinching the season-long Charles Schwab Cup with two events to go.
He did it with ease.
For the first time in his career, Steve Stricker will win the Charles Schwab Cup, the season-long award on the PGA Tour Champions, similar to the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour.
The Wisconsinite unbelievably locked up the title with two weeks to go, thanks to his nearly 2 million point lead over Steven Alker in the Charles Schwab Cup standings. With only 1,756,000 points up for grabs over the final two events, Stricker will take the week off and rest up for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix, scheduled for Nov. 9-12.
Stricker, who captained the victorious 2021 U.S. Ryder Cup team, won six events on the PGA Tour Champions throughout 2023, earning close to $4 million in winnings already—a record on the circuit for players 50 and older.
By taking home the Charles Schwab Cup, he will receive another $440,000.
Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
Steve Stricker plays a shot at the 2023 Constellation Furyk & Friends.
“This has been a goal of mine,” Stricker said recently of the Charles Schwab Cup, per Golf Digest. “I’ve wanted to win this, and I’ve put every effort into trying to play well.”
Not only did Stricker win six events, but of the 16 tournaments he played this season on the PGA Tour Champions, he finished outside the top-10 just once. That came at the Constellation Furyk & Friends—Stricker’s most recent appearance—where he tied for 15th.
Stricker also won three major championships in 2023, something he unfortunately did not accomplish during his 28 seasons on the PGA Tour.
He won the Regions Tradition in Alabama in May, carding a 7-under 65 during the final round to win the tournament by seven strokes over Ernie Els.
Photo by Ryan Lochhead/PGA of America via Getty Images
Steve Stricker smiles with his daughter Izzi while standing next to The Alfred S. Bourne Trophy after winning the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.
Then, two weeks later, Stricker defeated Padraig Harrington in a thrilling playoff to capture the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Ranch Fields East in Frisco, Texas.
His subsequent victory came in his home state, the American Family Insurance Championship. Then he won the Kaulig Companies Championship at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, in July—another senior major.
Tiger Woods, Stricker’s close friend, famously won at Firestone a record eight times. But Stricker’s three-shot win this year at Firestone marked his second victory on the Northeast Ohio layout. It was also his seventh senior major title.
He won the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship—now the Kalug Companies Championship for sponsorship reasons—once before, in 2021.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
