Stricker Holds Serve in Maui

Though it wasn't easy, Steve Stricker ended the third round of the $5.6 million Hyundai Tournament of Champions the way he started it. The 44-year-old from Wisconsin shot a 4-under 69 to go to 19-under 200 and maintain his five-stroke lead through 54 holes of the PGA Tour's season opener, which will have a rare pre-scheduled Monday finish, .

After a perfunctory birdie and bogey on the front nine at Kapalua Resort's Plantation Course on Maui, Stricker reeled off five straight pars on the back nine before concluding his round with four consecutive birdies.

He leads defending champion Jonathan Byrd, who carded a 67 on the par-73 course Sunday, Scotsman Martin Laird (67) and Webb Simpson (69), who began the day tied for second with Kevin Na. Na shot a 71 to share fifth at 208 with Bryce Molder (67).

After a ho-hum first 14 holes, Stricker's birdie on the 15th got him rolling. A chip-in from in front of the green on the par-4 16th helped assure that he'd get to the clubhouse in good shape.

"It was pretty stagnant out there for me today," Stricker said later. "I was not doing anything very special there for the first, I guess, 14 holes and then just, you know, hit a couple good shots at 15, the par-5, and kind of stole a birdie at 16 after spinning it off the green and chipping it in.

"After that chip shot, kind of felt like I got a little momentum, even though there was a couple holes to play. I got aggressive off the tee at 17 and hit a good iron approaching there, and hit two good shots at 18. So it was definitely a good finish. That was key, key to finish that way. Looking forward to tomorrow." (See below for Stricker's full post-round interview.)

After two bogeys in his first three holes, Byrd reversed his fortunes with a birdie on No. 4 followed by an eagle on the par-5 fifth. Another birdie at No. 9 gave the 33-year-old a 2-under 34 at the turn. On the back nine, he carded four more birdies for a 67. Byrd will be paired in the final group with Stricker.

"Today, to start off with a couple of bogeys, could have gotten frustrated and could have let it go, but made a birdie and an eagle right back after those two bogeys and that was huge," Byrd said. "Really played solid all day. Gave myself a lot of good opportunities and hit a lot of good shots, and drove it well.

"You know, really had a great chance on the last three holes to finish a little bit better. Kind of finish the way kind of Stricker has, and maybe be two shots back or so, but . . . oh, well. It looks like I got in the last group, and that's kind of a feat in itself, being three or four groups back."

Playing in Sunday's last group with Stricker, Simpson posted four birdies through 12 holes but had only a birdie and a bogey - the latter coming on the par-4 16th - the rest of the way. Despite some inconsistencies in the third round, the two-time winner in 2011 is enjoying his first time in the event, whose entry is assured by only by the previous year's winners.

"I love this tournament already, my first time (in Hawaii) and I don't want to leave and at least we get one more week to play next week," said the North Carolinian of the Sony Open, which starts Thursday in Honolulu.

After a 66, Harrison Frazar moved up to seventh at 209, while tied for eight at 211 are Ben Crane, (68), Rory Sabbatini (68), Chris Kirk (70) and D.A. Points (71).

The shot of the day was made by Molder, who eagled the par-4 14th after his wedge from 70 yards landed beyond the hole and spun back downhill into the cup.

Of his eagle, Molder said, "Every day I've hit my tee shot right where I'm looking and I just had a small little 75-yard sand wedge from there and actually kind of pulled it and hit it a little harder than I wanted to. Happened to go in. You hit a lot of good shots you don't get rewarded for and that was certainly - it was a decent shot that I got extremely rewarded for. It came back and went in the hole."

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After signing his card, Stricker sat down with reporters and discussed his day and position heading into Monday's final round.

MODERATOR: Steve Stricker joins us, not a lot going early in the round, but that's the way to finish the round. Talk about the last four holes.

STEVE STRICKER: Thanks, John. It was pretty stagnant out there for me today. I was not doing anything very special there for the first, I guess, 14 holes and then just, you know, hit a couple good shots at 15, the par5, and kind of stole a birdie at 16 after spinning it off the green and chipping it in. After that chip shot, kind of felt like I got a little momentum, even though there was a couple holes to play. I got aggressive off the tee at 17 and hit a good iron approaching there, and hit two good shots at 18. So it was definitely a good finish. I think - did I maintain the five-shot lead? That was key, key to finish that way. Looking forward to tomorrow. Sets me up for some Momentum going into tomorrow.

MODERATOR: Pretty tight there for a while. Were you watching the board today?

STEVE STRICKER: I guess it got down to one. I thought it got down to a couple of shots. I just kept telling myself that I had the lead still and just to be patient. Things were not really going the way I had hoped, but I just kept telling myself to hang in there, I've got some birdie holes left. I was frustrated but still trying to be patient.

Q. You're 13 under on 15 through 18 this week. How much confidence does that give you going into tomorrow?

STEVE STRICKER: And you're still wearing that Ducks hat, aren't you. I'm just kidding you. (Laughter). Hopefully I don't have to wait to the end like I did today and the first day. You know, it's comforting know that I played those holes well. Hopefully I can get off to a little better start tomorrow, make some birdies early, get my comfort level in a little bit better position than what it was today. That's hopefully what I'm going to do.

Q. Coming here now, a couple of years in a row, and I think you've had Top 10 finishes in the two years prior to this. In your lead-up to being here this year, does your game feel the same as previous years, or is it even better? How do you compare the last four years here?

STEVE STRICKER: I feel like I'm a little further along this time around, which is a good thing. It wasn't much of an off season, but that's why I feel like I'm further along. We had the Presidents Cup in November, and I tried to stay with my game after the Tour Championship leading up to The Presidents Cup. I tried to at least hit balls a couple of times a week or play a couple of times a week, but never really set the clubs down like I normally do for a six or eight week period of time, and then a couple of times in December. I feel like I've worked on my game quite a bit the last month; so I feel like I'm a touch further along than I am normally here.

Q. Everybody obviously concentrates on how well you putt and the stats bear that out, you're leading in putting after two rounds, but do you think that maybe the other parts of your game have been really, really good, too? Like today, it's really the putting that got you going.

STEVE STRICKER: No, I think my overall game is pretty solid and I actually felt like I was hitting it pretty good today, until like 1, 13, 14, that little stretch of holes, but I just really never got anything going in those first, you know, 11 holes. And a couple little funky things where I laid up on the par 5s, I put myself kind of in bad position. Didn't even get them on the greens. Didn't even get a birdie putt, look at birdies on 5 and 9. So I felt like things were kind of slipping away, when you're not birdieing those holes. But you know, I drove the ball well again. I hit more fairways than I have in any of the days. I'm given myself some opportunities, not today as much, but my overall game is pretty sharp I think. And I worked hard on my putting the last couple of weeks and that seems to be paying off.

Q. What happened today to bring the birdies?

STEVE STRICKER: What happened?

Q. What changed?

STEVE STRICKER: I don't know. Just being patient I guess. I hit two great shots on 15. I hit probably my best 3 wood of the week. I had to kill it to get it there and got it there right underneath the hole. Finally I got it under par for the day, and you know, I think the chip in at 16 was a huge turnaround. I go from - it's a tough up and down there, too. And Webb didn't get it up and down. Just really uphill, up into the grain. I knew I had to hit it hard, and you know, it's like stealing one when you chip in there like that. And really, 17 is, too. It's tough to get it close there. But it's just, you know, things got a little momentum at the finish.

Q. The Commissioner was in here earlier and he said, "There was nobody I would rather watch play golf than Steve Stricker, personally as a fan." Your reaction to that?

STEVE STRICKER: Tim said that? (Laughter) Oohh. He did, huh? That's nice of him. I'm on that policy board and I've gotten to know Tim and a lot of the other senior staffers at the PGA Tour, and you know, that's very nice. I've gotten a lot of nice compliments from him over the years and he's been very good to me and he's done a lot of good things for us, too.

Q. Does knowing how well you've played the final few holes here keep you from feeling too frustrated after 14?

STEVE STRICKER: I really didn't think about it. I really didn't look ahead. I really didn't. I was trying to make birdie at 15. I mean, that was my goal, get it under par. And I told Jimmy, I'm like, as we're walking down to our 16 shot at 15, I'm like, let's get two, at least, on the way in. I figure if I can get two or three, and salvage the day and have a two- or three-shot lead, that would be all right. But like I said, we stole one at 16 and it was a good finish.

Q. What was the club on 17?

STEVE STRICKER: 9 iron.

Q. Why did you chip it on 5?

STEVE STRICKER: I don't like putting it through a lot of fringe, and I thought I needed to spin it a little bit. And really what happened there, the wind when my ball got about halfway, it turned straight downwind and it just picked up speed and just - I knew I had to barely just land it on there and check it and let it run down there. I've done that there before. You're afraid of leaving it short, because I've done that, too, with practice rounds. Just chip it barely on it and it stays about ten or 15 feet short. So it's a really fine line. Either get it short but I think the wind kind of switched on me there and got me going straight downwind and just carried that ball right off the green.

Q. You didn't hit it bad, but you didn't look terribly comfortable out there, is that a fair assessment?

STEVE STRICKER: I didn't feel comfortable. I didn't hit it bad but I didn't feel as aggressive at times. I got that way coming in, but again, you know, you're playing with a five shot lead. It's a tough situation. I've been there before, and it's hard. I find it very difficult. You're in a position where you don't want to screw up, but yet you're on a course that birdies can be made and guys can come from a ways back. You know, you need to make birdies. It's kind of that fine line. This course is a fine line, and it's easy to come from behind here; I've done it here, too, and I've also been up around the lead, and it's difficult.

Q. The last thing, the most frustrated you looked was after the tee shot on 12, was that just because of the tee shot, or was it just an accumulation of all the day?

STEVE STRICKER: A little bit of both. I just tried to chip that 3 wood down and get it up there in that top corner by that bunker and just pulled it a little bit. You know, I didn't want to run down where Webb was, where I was the other day, even though he just chipped it up there to a gimmie. That hole is giving me fits to try to figure out where to hit the ball. I've been in the bunker up by the green. I've been down to the right with no shot. And today, I hit a really good sand wedge out of that bunker. I thought I was looking at a bogey there for a little while but ended up having a good birdie putt at it, but yeah, I was frustrated at that point.

MODERATOR: Thank you for your time and play well tomorrow.

The transcript for the above interview is courtesy of ASAP Sports.

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