News
Steve Stricker ‘lucky to be alive’ after spending weeks in hospital with serious illness
Steve Stricker has said he feels “lucky to be alive” after being hospitalized for weeks with a severe illness described as a “mysterious ailment.”
As reported by WisconsinGolf’s Gary D’Amato, Stricker came down with a sore throat and heavy cough on Oct. 23, about a month after captaining the U.S. to victory at the Ryder Cup. The 54-year-old took antibiotics and felt better for a couple of weeks, but then his health issues quickly deteriorated.
Speaking to the publication, Stricker said:
“I came home from hunting one night and I was like, ‘I don’t feel good. My side hurts. I just don’t feel right. That night I had the sweats and all of a sudden, my temperature was 103. I went back to my primary and got amoxicillin, a heavier antibiotic. And I think I had a reaction to that. My throat started to close up, my lips got puffy, my glands got puffy, my tongue got puffy. It was like an allergic reaction. I was still having these 103-degree temps.”
Stricker revealed that his white blood cell count shot up, liver numbers got worse, and he was diagnosed with jaundice.
“So, I went into the hospital about two weeks before Thanksgiving and they kept me in there. That’s when the s— hit the fan. My liver numbers started getting worse. My white blood cell count was jacked up really high. I was fighting something, but they couldn’t find out what it was. My liver was going downhill. I got jaundice. I was yellow and peeing out Pepsi-colored pee.”
Stricker tested negative for COVID and was discharged from the hospital 11 days later, just before Thanksgiving, but he ended up back in the hospital three days later.
“You don’t know where this road is leading to. I never thought that I’m not getting out of there kind of thing. But I didn’t eat for two weeks. I didn’t have any energy or appetite to eat. I had a hard time just getting up and walking because of the heart. I took a few steps to the bathroom in my room and I’d be out of breath.”
The former World Number 2 is back in Florida with his family after being discharged from hospital for a second time at the end of last year. He is currently on several medications and still unable to consume solid food.
“My heart is in rhythm now. It was jumping in and out of rhythm from Thanksgiving all the way to Christmas Eve. So, knock on wood. And I’m on less medication. The inflammation number that they can find out with blood tests is saying that my inflammation is going down. And it must be, because I’m feeling better. I’m walking around a little bit. I’m starting to be a little bit more active and building a tolerance a little bit better. So, things are definitely better.”
Stricker has lost 25lbs in weight while fighting the illness and described his skin as “hanging” as he continues his recovery.
“I’m down 25 pounds. I’m freshman-in-high school weight. I lost all my muscle. I look like an 85-year-old man, dude. My skin is hanging.”
The Wisconsin-native has started to hit a few chip shots at his home in Florida, but per his cardiologist, it may be six months before he can tee it up again on the PGA Tour Champions.
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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?
Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.
When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.
To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.
Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.
“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.
“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”
Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.
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Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.
This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.
Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.
The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.
Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
…The Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.
Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.
Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.
Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.
According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.
He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.
Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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Steve B.
Jan 28, 2022 at 6:02 pm
I have no idea of SS had a vaccine reaction or not. But I do know this, and it comes from the experience of selling pharmaceuticals for over 20 years.
After carefully reviewing the vaccine information in 2020, I declined to enter the Moderna trial, based on the information available at the time, which was the survivability rate of 99.7%, the availability of a number of cheap drugs that when used appropriately, adequately address the disease.
With the information now available at the Vaccine Adverse Events Reaction reporting system, I’m glad I did not enter the trial. Since then I had Covid and recovered with Ivermection and Hydroxycholorquine, as have hundreds of thousands of other patients, despite governmental efforts to hinder their use.
If many patients do not have a reaction to these drugs, that is great, but over 20,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of adverse reactions have already been recorded on VAERS which is a passive reporting system. What does that mean? That probably only 1% of all deaths and adverse reactions have been counted as a direct result of the new vaccines. Which is not good because the deaths attributable are more than all other vaccines combined since the records have been kept, since 1990.
So, as a person who follows the real data and science, I would not discount the possibility of an adverse reaction to a great athlete like SS. Dozens of soccer players in Europe have collapsed dead with sudden heart attacks, and my next door neighbor also died suddenly after his 2nd Moderna shot. Of course that is anecdotal, but the other part of the equation is the locking up of data for another 55/75 years, which is highly irregular and very suspicious.
That isn’t conspiracy folks, it’s fact.
Stanley Poopshooters
Feb 18, 2022 at 12:09 pm
I tried an ivermectin enema. Didn’t work. I had a full release.
Joey
Jan 17, 2022 at 1:23 pm
VAX causing an autoimmune response. Not that uncommon. People need to accept the fact that you took a risk out of fear mongering without all the facts. Hate to hear it but accept responsibility and tell the truth about the risks of the vax so people can have a more informed decision of things.
Tyler Durden
Jan 22, 2022 at 2:26 am
You “did your own research” right moron?
Joey
Jan 22, 2022 at 4:19 pm
Not much of an argument there Tyler, sorry.
Luke
Jan 9, 2022 at 8:06 am
Instead of going to the hospital he should have posted his symptoms on the internet so all of the a-hole geniuses could have diagnosed it
Holdin Tudiks
Jan 9, 2022 at 2:03 pm
Chucy the groomer seems to know just about everything. He also has a sign in his front yard signaling all of his virtues, including but not limited to his medical history, his wife’s escapades with the neighbors (while he watched), and which lives matter to “him”. That is the way of a true beta male.
Chucy
Jan 9, 2022 at 10:42 pm
I didn’t speculate on what Stricker’s disease was.
I simply asked, “What was the differential diagnosis?” There’s no hospital record that is ever completed without at least a differential diagnosis, if not a presumptive diagnosis.
Meanwhile, we had these GolfWRX infectious diseases experts:
Manny – “autoimmune hepatitis.”
Mike C – “Lyme disease.”
richie – “Mono.”
Jeff Monik – “Hepatitis.”
I don’t mind their speculation; but let’s just be clear that I wasn’t engaging in their sort of explanation. All I did was ask for a clearer report on the actual differential diagnosis, and a clear, unequivocal statement as to his vaccination status.
I’m tired of all of the weird garbage tossed out by so many of anti-vax athletes. Djokovic. Kirk Cousins. Kyrie Irving. Aaron Rodgers. Carson Wentz. Patrick Reed. Bryson DeChambeau. I hope Stricker is not one of those guys. If he provided any sort of a clear and categorical statement, that alone would set him apart from the foregoing names.
And again, I am not buying any “it’s private” defenses. Stricker has talked in great detail about his hospitalization and illness. He didn’t have to, but he did. My questions about his differential diagnoses and vaccination status are no more intrusive than what he’s already volunteered.
paul mcloughlin
Jan 17, 2022 at 10:35 am
Lime Disease?
Alex Jones
Jan 8, 2022 at 10:10 pm
Take the vax, pay the tax!
joe
Jan 17, 2022 at 11:27 am
post the chit, prove to be a nitwit
Alex Jones
Jan 22, 2022 at 4:18 pm
Sorry that you took an experimental injection pal. Don’t worry, check out the lab results for MRNA shots during the early 90’s on mice! It did wonders for them!
Manny
Jan 7, 2022 at 8:11 pm
White blood cell count and liver numbers both going in the wrong direction, dark colored urine, jaundice, cannot keep solid foods in your system… sounds like what I was suffering from about 3 years ago (well before the China Virus). I was finally diagnosed with Autoimmune Hepatiitis.
Anthony
Jan 7, 2022 at 7:26 pm
That’s what happens when our mystery vax ruins your immune system.
Sorry Steve. We have other plans for you. You are not in our club.
Mike
Jan 8, 2022 at 11:53 am
Wow, anti vax nonsense seems to be everywhere , good luck with this crappola.
Antivaxxer
Jan 19, 2022 at 8:56 pm
Let us know how you are in a few years. Lol
Mike Tooktheshotandnowregretsit
Jan 22, 2022 at 4:21 pm
Not an argument Mike.
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Jan 7, 2022 at 7:15 pm
Who cares. Someone does every half second in this world.
Mike C
Jan 7, 2022 at 5:34 pm
Sounds more like Lyme disease.
richie
Jan 7, 2022 at 5:29 pm
sounds like mono
John Krug
Jan 7, 2022 at 2:40 pm
Get well Steve.
Jeff Monik
Jan 7, 2022 at 11:58 am
Hepatitis
Clue. Out hunting and not washing him or whoever did the cookin
Jack R
Jan 7, 2022 at 4:19 pm
Yeah hunting def rings alarm bells
Chucy
Jan 7, 2022 at 9:49 am
I recall the hospitalization of Patrick Reed, and the confusing and frankly incredible statements by Reed about how and when he was tested for COVID. Reed never answered the clear and simple questions as to whether he had in fact been vaccinated before that hospitalization, and whether he was treated as a COVID patient during that hospitalization.
So now we have this story with Steve Stricker; the simple questions that are unanswered by this story are (1) was Stricker vaccinated last summer, when he was eligible, and (2) have Stricker’s doctors said what their differential diagnosis was?
Because whether it is Patrick Reed, or Steve Stricker, or any other patient in a US hospital, the diagnosis is never “mysterious disease.”
Dixon Diaz
Jan 7, 2022 at 10:43 am
Or maybe its none of our business, Chuy.
Terry
Jan 7, 2022 at 11:07 am
Sorry to hear about Steve, what A difficult time. I think it is “our business” once the article is published, with quotes from Steve. It’s the price of fame. Yes, what is the diagnosis?
Chucy
Jan 7, 2022 at 7:54 pm
All the ant-vaxxers say, “It’s private.”
But that can’t be true; Stricker is saying all sorts of “private” stuff about his hospitalization. All kinds of private treatment information. Everything he wants to say, that is.
I’m not stating that Stricker has to answer every health care and vaccination question. I am saying, he should be asked. And having been asked more specific relevant questions, after already speaking at length to the details of his hospitalization, Stricker could hardly justify a refusal to answer.
Gagootz
Jan 7, 2022 at 9:34 pm
It’s probably the vax that caused this you meatball.
Livininparadise
Jan 8, 2022 at 7:59 pm
Gagootz, yeah right. Jacka$$
Chucy
Jan 8, 2022 at 8:57 pm
That’s hateful nonsense, Gagootz.
Tyler Durden
Jan 14, 2022 at 8:51 pm
Steve violated “HIPPA” against himself ?
Chucy
Jan 24, 2022 at 12:37 pm
HIPAA, is what it is.
Brooks
Jan 7, 2022 at 12:11 pm
Ya, people aren’t treated with antibiotics for a virus… COVID doesn’t cause jaundice, also, it doesn’t matter what the differential diagnosis was. Someimes a “mysterious disease” does happen, you treat infections and sometimes they get worse then it clears up with the right treatment.
Medicine is called a “practice” for a reason.
Lastly, who cares what they had or did not, not your business.
Doc Brown
Jan 7, 2022 at 7:22 pm
Mystery disease. Only cured by being hooked up to gigawats.
Jay
Jan 7, 2022 at 1:39 pm
Clearly they are hiding the fact that they were vaccinated (both were)…
Chucy
Jan 8, 2022 at 8:49 pm
I’d be very interested in any clear, authoritative statements on exactly when Reed and Stricker were vaccinated.
It’s like the easiest question in the world. “Were you vaccinated, and boosted?” Answering,“Yes,” and some dates.
This story didn’t have that info on Stricker. And the previous reporting on Reed never made it clear either.
Brandon
Jan 7, 2022 at 7:13 pm
Remember all of human history before 2019 when people got sick and went to the hospital for things other than Covid? Those things still exist.
Sisted Twister
Jan 10, 2022 at 2:42 am
Brandon is correct. The comments about this being caused by the vaccine are fake news and absolutely ridiculous. I’ve been vaccinated for many things in my life, including 3 for cov, and none has caused me any harm. Nor hundreds of millions of other people.
Stricker is lucky, though, that he was able to be treated. Anti-vax, anti-mask, anti-smart people are clogging hospitals nation-wide with serious cov illness. Maybe once we reach 1M dead in the US, a few more will take it seriously?
Bob Pegram
Jan 10, 2022 at 3:18 pm
The Covid shots AREN’T vaccines! They are gene changers.They could have screwed up his system so bad that he became suseptible to something he had previously had no problem with. Did that happen? Who knows. The “vaccine” can cause all sorts of weird reactions depending on a person’s inherent weaknesses. It could be unrelated to the Covid shots. We are not given enough info to know. The comments by others who have had hepatitis with similar symptoms sound relevant at first glance. Could the shots have aggravated a pre-existing systemic weakness he had? Again, who knows?
Herman Cain
Jan 18, 2022 at 10:03 am
Yes, who knows? Clearly you don’t know, so stop spreading false information about things you are completely ignorant about.
Chucy
Jan 24, 2022 at 12:41 pm
I don’t care what sort of public forum it might be; social media, a message board, a comments page…
A comment like the one you posted should not go without being challenged and called out as a lie. Dangerous misinformation which harms public health.
ClubFoot
Feb 18, 2022 at 12:12 pm
Yep. After the 2nd Moderna I had to change my jeans 4 times. Just can’t clench my butt like I used too.
This here injection is definitely jean changer.
Jerome
Jan 10, 2022 at 5:00 pm
It is funny how you belittle those who do actual research.
Dave
Jan 12, 2022 at 8:25 am
Agreed…….dude is brainwashed
Tyler Durden
Jan 14, 2022 at 8:53 pm
Going on the internet while you take a dump is not “doing your oe\wn research”
Stefan Molyneux
Jan 22, 2022 at 4:24 pm
Tyler, not an argument.