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JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

July 15, 2018

Steve Stricker

Silvis, Illinois

Q. Three straight birdies; nice tournament for you.
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, it was, you know, close all week kind of thing. Never really got any momentum going.

But that was a nice way to finish. I hit some really good quality shots today. To birdie 18, I don't think I made birdie there since -- from the bunker to the back of the green to the putt back in whenever that was, so it was a nice way to finish.

Q. Great course for you; a lot of memories; fans still love you. Is this a place you think you're going to keep coming back to year after year?
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah. We'll see how it goes next year and how the schedule falls. You know, there is a little shake-up with the scheduling.

But it wasn't a hard choice to come here this year. To miss a major on the Champions Tour to be here was a little bit of a no-brainer for me because of what's happened for me here over the years and how fond I am of this place and how special it is to me.

So I plan on coming back.

Q. What's the plan going forward schedule-wise?
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, I don't know. I feel tired still. I took a couple weeks off and still a little bit drained. I don't know why. The weather is tough here this week, but I have played a lot in a short period of time.

I may take a couple more off. I may go to the Senior British, I may go to Canada, I don't know. I'm going to take one week off for sure and assess how I feel and where I'm going to go.

Q. How draining is it -- I think you mentioned last year every year it gets harder to walk this course. Did you feel that...
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah.

Q. ...the first few days? Does that weigh into coming back here in the next few years?
STEVE STRICKER: No, no. You put up with the walk. It is a tough walk here, and especially with the 95 degree temperatures we had one or two of the days.

Even today there was not a lot of air moving. Very humid. Seems like we're constantly walking uphill here. So it is a tough walk, but it's an enjoyable walk. It's fun to be here.

Got a better crowd here today, and they always show me a lot of love and support. It's really nice to be here.

Q. When you have a delay like yesterday and you have to stop and come back and you look at a guy like Michael and what he's doing, it's really a feather in his cap.
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, and I think he's only had one top 10 out here on TOUR in all his starts, so for him to hold it together, to come out today and - I think he birdied 1 and 2 and I just saw he hit a good shot in at 3 - to have that kind of poise and calm about him going after his first win is very impressive.

Q. He's in the class of 2011, which obviously has all the overachievers, Spieth and Thomas and Xander and Berger. How fair do you think it is to be compared to those guys? He just turned 25 and hasn't won. It's weird what the standard is nowadays.
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, it is. You know, our standard out on TOUR has gotten much younger, too. We expect these young guys to come out firing. That's in part to Justin and Jordan, Rickie, Niemann now coming out at 19 and getting his Tour Card without going to Tour School.

So we're seeing a lot of that lately. Seeing a big turnover I think in age on the TOUR. I think it's pretty cool to see. I think it's unfair to put every player like that with that label that he should come out and tear it up, because it's hard and it's challenging and they're seeing the courses for the first few times, for the first time maybe. He's probably been here three times, two or three times already.

But still, there are guys that have played here forever, and that's an advantage. There is a learning curve there, and so I think it's a little unfair to say that he's not doing any good because he hasn't won, you know.

He could fix all that today.

Q. How confident are you that that car is going to get back to Madison after everything?
STEVE STRICKER: It's got to go to Chicago first. My daughter is playing in the Illinois Open starting tomorrow. We're going to go over and watch her play for three days. I get to put a different hat on and watch and not have to play.

I get to critique her for a change.

Q. Where is it?
STEVE STRICKER: Mistwood.

Q. Where in Illinois?
STEVE STRICKER: I'm not sure. I think it's down south, southern part of Chicago.

Q. What's her name again?
STEVE STRICKER: Bobbi, B-o-b-b-i.

Q. First time she's ever done that?
STEVE STRICKER: First time in the Illinois Open, but she's on the University of Wisconsin golf team, so she's trying to get her game in shape and get it going and getting ready for next year.

Q. Hardly surprising that she's got a little bit of game, too.
STEVE STRICKER: She can putt.

Q. Apparently it's in the genes.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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