Bobbi Stricker didn’t start playing competitive golf until after she’d graduated from high school. She’d always had a club in her hand, a self-described 80s shooter who played golf on family vacations and headed to the range in the dead of winter in Wisconsin because there was little else to do.
Now she’s at the first stage of LPGA Q-School with dad Steve Stricker on the bag and in prime shape to advance.
“I’ve been picking his brain in a way that I probably never have,” said Bobbi of her dad. “It took him four tries to get through the whole thing.”
Steve Stricker, of course, has a dozen victories on the PGA Tour and is the current U.S. Ryder Cup captain. Caddies get to use a cart in the desert heat at Mission Hills Country Club, and the Strickers have a stocked cooler.
Bobbi sits at even par and in a share of 61st at the midway point in Rancho Mirage, California. A minimum of 95 players and ties will advance to Stage II out of a field of 339. She opened with a 73 on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club followed by a 71 on the Pete Dye Resort Course. Today she’ll play Marriott’s Shadow Ridge Golf Club, just three miles down the road in Palm Desert.
It had always been a dream of Bobbi’s to follow in the footsteps of her mom, Nicki, a four-year letter-winner on the Badger women’s golf team where grandfather Dennis Tiziani was head coach from 1989-2003. Tiziani also coached the Wisconsin men’s team from 1977-2003.
Bobbi kept thinking she’d switch to golf in high school, but all her friends played tennis and her doubles team was among the best in the state. She was too good to quit, but not quite at the level needed to get a scholarship to play Division I tennis.
So after high school, Bobbi walked on the golf team at Wisconsin and watched her scoring average drop from 79 to 74.6 by her senior year. Earlier this summer, after graduating from Wisconsin, she won the Wisconsin Women’s Amateur Championship with her mom on the bag.
“I’ve tried not to put a ton of pressure on an outcome (this week) because I don’t really know what to expect,” said Bobbi, who is enjoying the mountainous desert scenes.
That’s really the most important question she asked her dad before they got started: What should I expect out of myself?
Dad’s response: This is just a great experience for you.
“Him not saying anything but that,” said Bobbi, “it kind of put me at ease, you know, starting this whole thing. Nobody else is expecting anything of me. Why should I put this pressure on myself?
“I’ve never played with girls of this caliber before, ever.”
Bobbi has relied on her dad on the greens — especially in the desert — noting that she’s found reading the grain to be somewhat tricky. The pair have similar personalities, she said, but he likes to know more information than she does.
Mom and dad, Bobbi said, have never put a ton of pressure on her and younger sister Izzi.
Bobbi now likes golf more than tennis, probably because she’s on a steep upward trend. This week is just another step toward answering the question: How good can she get?