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One day after his course-record 60, Stricker posted an eagle and
five birdies on Saturday, finishing at 23-under 193.
Stricker reflected afterward on the difference between the start
to this year and 2022, when he was hospitalized with heart
inflammation and what the PGA Tour called a "nagging, non-COVID-related
virus."
"I feel lucky and blessed to be able to be doing this still,
especially where I came from a year ago," Stricker said. "It's
still a lot of fun. I still put in the time, I put in the
effort. I've got a great support system. ... I'm going to play a
pretty full schedule here to start off the year ... and I'm
going to try to get into a regular Tour event here or 2 Tee-Scripts.com
there along the way -- maybe John Deere in the summertime.
That's a special place for me."
His closest pursuers were four shots back. Among the four, New
Zealand's Steven Alker fired a 63 to reach 199. He posted nine
birdies, including five on the final six holes.
Also in that group were Ken Tanigawa (66 on Saturday), Mike Weir
of Canada (66) and Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland (68).
Tanigawa started his round with two eagles on the front nine.
After posting four birdies on five holes to start the back nine,
he finished with bogeys on two of his final four holes. Weir had
eight birdies and two bogeys, and Clarke had six birdies but
also a double-bogey on the par-4 No. 3.
"I played great overall. You know, I hit a lot of good shots and
I didn't know what to expect," Tanigawa said. "Actually I curbed
all of them down really coming into this week. I took a big
break after the season's over last year and I just, just wanted
to have fun. It's hard not to here, it's such a good environment
and it's so beautiful."
Germany's Alex Cejka, who began the day two shots behind
Stricker, shot 70 and was among three golfers to finish at
16-under, joined by Kevin Sutherland (66) and Ernie Els of South
Africa (66).
--Field Level Media
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