'I've got this': Former UW golfer Bobbi Stricker owns her outcome, joins current Badger Chloe Chan in clearing first LPGA Q-School hurdle (2024)

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif.— It was one of those tangential father-daughter moments Sunday that resulted in Steve Stricker — yes, that Steve Stricker, the one who once captained a U.S. Ryder Cup team—getting out of the way.

As Bobbi Stricker prepared to address her downhill lie in a greenside bunker left of the 14th green on the Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills Country Club, her father was ready to empty his brain of every bit of knowledge that might come in handy for a shot to a green with a watery penalty area on the other side. The daughter hit the pause button before the father could even begin.

"She just looked at me and said 'I've got this,' " Steve Stricker said.

Indeed she did. Bobbi Stricker angled her club just right, committed to her follow-through and splashed her bunker shot onto the green, watching it run out to about 6½ feet. Her par putt curled under the cup and missed to the right, but that's not what was important about that moment— it was that Stricker walked away with a bogey and not something potentially worse.

Four holes later, the former University of Wisconsin golfer signed for a final-round 72 at the pre-qualifier for the LPGA/Epson Tour Qualifying School and, at 1-under-par 287 in a tie for 70th place, joined current Badger Chloe Chan (T-42) in advancing to what is being called the qualifying round for the LPGA Q-Series. Getting to that point assures Stricker and Chan of no worse than conditional status on the Epson Tour in 2025 and leaves open the door to greater feats with the momentum and confidence they gained this week.

As she worked her way backwards from No. 18, where she made a ho-hum par to finish her week, Stricker breezed through clutch up-and-down pars at Nos. 16 and 17 and a two-putt par at No. 15. Once she arrived back in that bunker on No. 14, Stricker described a confidence that showed how far her game has come this year playing on the Annika Women's All-Pro Tour.

"I know what it is and I know what I have to do," Stricker said of the downhill lie in the bunker. "I didn't need to talk about it anymore. I know I need to get in there with the slope, commit to releasing (the club) because if you don't release it, you're skulling it into the water or leaving it in the bunker.

"I knew what I needed to do, I didn't want him to talk me through it because I knew what I needed to do. It was one of those things where I just got in there and hit it and gave myself a legit (chance at par). He told me a couple of holes after that, because I was still kicking myself, he said 'Honestly, that's a really good 4. You gave yourself a par putt, which is what I wanted you to do.'"

Managing one's game was half the battle during Sunday's finale. Managing one's emotions, for both Stricker and Chan, might've been the difference.

"I think that's been something I've been working on, just because staying constant is my happy zone," said Chan, who will be one of four seniors on a Badgers team that welcomes Stricker's sister, Izzi, to the fold this fall. "Just making sure my emotions don't go all the way up if I make a birdie and all the way down when I make a bogey. It really helps accepting whatever happens."

It was easy for Chan to accept the results Sunday to close out her Q-School debut.

After an early bogey on the uphill par-4 fourth hole, she bounced back with birdies on both of the par-3s on the front nine (Nos. 5 and 8) to turn in 1-under 35. Chan bogeyed the only hole where she was slightly out of position off the tee, the par-4 13th hole, and parred all the rest to finish five shots ahead of the cut line.

"There were obviously a lot of missed opportunities and also a lot of mistakes," said Chan, whose 14 pars marked the third time in four rounds this week she had that many (she had 11 in a second-round 67 that featured six birdies and one bogey). "I'm just glad that I handled myself out there and played even-par. It could have been a lot better and it could have been a lot worse but, yeah, I'll take this."

Stricker, who had a scorecard similar to Chan, couldn't have been happier with her 72. She also had two birdies, two bogeys and 14 pars in finishing off her fourth trip through the first stage of Q-School three shots ahead of the cut line for advancing, the second time she's reached the second stage.

"I'm still very shaky at the moment," Stricker said with a chuckle some 15 minutes after holing out on No. 18. "It's nerve-wracking the whole, entire week. I felt really good at the beginning of the round (Sunday), just really confident, and then you start to think about it when you get to the end. But I'm really proud of how I hung in there."

So, too, was her father, who skipped this week's event on PGA Tour Champions— the Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc, Mich., an event he won in 2022— to caddie for his daughter in what has become an annual father-daughter bonding weekend complete with daily trips to Starbucks and, at least two nights this week, dinner at Cheesecake Factory.

"This last year has been a great learning experience for her," Steve Stricker said. "Traveling on her own. Learning about herself. I think that's the big part, learning about yourself while you play and how to handle the down times when you're not playing. Grinding to make cuts. She always seemed to be on the cut line this year and that proved to be important because I think she handled it great today.

"It's a tough day; I've been there when you know what kind of score you need to shoot. It's hard."

As she looked back on a rewarding day at the end of a rewarding week, Bobbi Stricker laughed as she talked about what might have been the toughest part of such a tough day— telling her dad that "I've got this" as she strode into the bunker next to the 14th green to hit her toughest shot of the day.

"I've gained a lot of confidence from (last year) until now," Bobbi Stricker said. "I play the WAPT and I do it all by myself. It's only me so you're the only one that's giving any input to what's happening. And I've been playing well, so you build confidence because you're making the right decisions when you're on you own.

"I've taken a lot of ownership over what I'm doing. That was hard for me, in the beginning, because he is Steve Stricker and he is really good and he knows what he's talking about. ... But in golf, you can play a shot a million different ways. Sometimes, he's going to play it differently than I do, but I need to own what I'm doing and what I'm thinking. We had a lot of fun this week. I always appreciate him coming here. He is skipping an event this week to be here and it means a lot to me."