Those of us in Wisconsin know that native son Steve Stricker is usually a little more on the quiet side publicly. But as US Ryder Cup Captain Stricker? Maybe he'll be a little bit bolder in his predictions.
"We are super excited about these six individuals as I look at them there on the screen. I talked to each and every one of them a couple of days ago," Stricker said Wednesday. "And they are extremely excited and happy and fired up to be a part of this team. All a great fit for Whistling Straits. And they all told me they can't wait to get here and to do one thing, and that's to bring the cup back where it belongs."
As for the players? They know that Stricker is the real deal, Holyfield.
"There's no fakeness to Steve Stricker," Jordan Spieth says. "What you see now and every time you talk to him is who he is. He carried me big time the first 9 holes of that President's Cup. He'll probably throw that off, but he put me on his back. He kind of put his hand around and said 'I gotcha until you know, just settle in. You're good. No worries.' And he was the father influence for me on the course even though we were teammates."
"And then being able to play for him as well? No different. He's just got a lot of wisdom. He's seen a lot in this game. He's experienced pretty much everything this game has to offer. And so you trust what he has to say and he says it with such a lightness and with such influence that, it kind of takes a lot of the stress away."
The oldest member of Team USA? Dustin Johnson at 37 years old. The oldest Ryder Cup captain pick? Harris English at 32. It's truly a youth movement for the Americans.
Anybody that knows anything about the Ryder Cup knows that the first tee is where the energy is with the fans going crazy. U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Steve Stricker knows that you Wisconsin types, need to bring it.
"Yeah, I'm going to just tell everybody to get here early, you know to get a seat, because usually, those seats fill up really quickly," Stricker says. "And you want to experience that first tee at some point in time during the Ryder Cup because it's a magical place."
But does Stricker even need to tell Wisconsin fans what to do on that hole, or will they know?
"Yeah, you know what? They'll know," Stricker says. "And there's always pros in the stands you know that kind of get everybody going in the right direction, and get the chants and the cheers and the singing and all that going, so it's a cool place for sure."
"I'm going to be who I am," Stricker says. "And I'm pretty reserved. But you know, there's a lot of energy that has gone into this event, to make sure our guys are going to have a wonderful experience. So yeah, you know, I'm sure there will be some emotions as we get going with this."
