Former Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker just lately opened up about his terrifying battle with a mystery illness final 12 months that just about claimed his life.
Stricker’s perplexing illness — which medical doctors nonetheless don’t totally perceive — started in October 2021 as a minor sore throat and dangerous cough. He was prescribed antibiotics and given the go-ahead to deer hunt with associates, however later skilled excessive aspect ache and a 103 fever that evening.
Stricker was hospitalized for the primary time a number of weeks earlier than Thanksgiving, the place he was recognized with pericarditis and an irregular heartbeat that at occasions reached 160 beats per minute. Nonetheless, a lot of his signs had been extra seen, and sadly all too acquainted to the 55-year-old.
“My brother had some GI issues and I watched him undergo that very same stuff,” Stricker informed the Akron Beacon Journal. “I watched him flip yellow, his eyes had been yellow and I’m trying within the mirror and I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m taking place the identical sort of highway.’ Though the issues had been totally different, the look of turning yellow, my eyes had been yellow, I’m peeing Coke-colored urine … that was most likely the scariest half.”
Whereas staying at UW Well being’s College Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, medical doctors scrambled to determine what was unsuitable with Stricker, however to no avail.
“Every little thing was going south and so they’re telling me they don’t know,” Stricker stated. “It might have been most likely simpler in the event that they’re like, ‘That is what’s happening.’
“They’re checking for all these massive issues — cancers, liver most cancers, liver issues, and also you’re simply hoping and praying nothing’s going to come back again with a foul studying. They took a biopsy of my liver. There have been a complete bunch of issues.”
Stricker was sidelined from golf for six lengthy months, throughout which he says he misplaced 25 to 30 kilos as a result of his lack of ability to eat strong meals and even stroll to the toilet. Nonetheless, the PGA Tour Champions star was in a position to make a miraculous restoration and return to the game on April 29.
Since returning to competitors, Stricker has garnered a win, two second-place finishes and 5 prime 10s over six Champions Tour occasions. His biggest feat got here on the Regions Tradition on Might 15, the place he shot 21-under-par and picked up his fourth Champions main.
Stricker will look to retain his title on the Bridgestone Senior Gamers Championship, which is ready to start Thursday at Firestone Nation Membership in Akron, Ohio.
