Steve Stricker's daughter Izzi caddying at Senior PGA

Steve Stricker entered the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship on a streak of 45 consecutive rounds at par or better, a PGA TOUR Champions record.

He has established himself as the Champions Tour’s preeminent force of late, and this week his daughter Izzi will see that form firsthand.

Izzi, who won this past fall’s Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 1 girls' golf state title as a high school junior, will caddie for her dad for the first time at Fields Ranch East in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

Stricker wasn’t home for Izzi’s recent birthday, and he called asking if she’d like to caddie at the Senior PGA as a late birthday present of sorts. “This is a cool present,” she laughed early this week.

Izzi has committed to play collegiately at the University of Wisconsin, following in the footsteps of her mom Nicki and sister Bobbi, each who played college golf for the Badgers. Nicki is no stranger to caddying for her husband through the years; Bobbi now competes on the Epson Tour, the LPGA’s Korn Ferry Tour equivalent.

“She always tells me, ‘Keep up, show up, shut up,’” Izzi quipped of her mom’s caddying advice.

When it comes to her own game, Izzi has developed plenty of confidence through the years, and she has seen firsthand what it takes to compete at the highest level – Stricker has won 25 TOUR-sanctioned titles and captained the U.S. Team to victory at the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in their native Wisconsin. One of these wins came at last fall’s Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS; three days later, Izzi won the state title. “What do you want on your pizza,” Stricker tweeted in congratulations.

Stricker has also shown how to rebound from adversity, having lost 25 pounds during a bout of illness in fall 2021 that led to two separate hospital stints.

Now Stricker is back, and his game has been peaking for some time. In 20 starts on PGA TOUR Champions since returning from that illness, he has won six times. His last over-par round came Saturday of the 2022 U.S. Senior Open.

This week, Izzi has a front-row seat.

“It means a lot,” she said of the caddying experience. “Growing up, I never really went on a ton of trips with them, so spending quality time like this with golf around us … we do it all the time, but this means a lot more.”

Just one drawback: The week might not offer the easiest walk.

“I am being humbled out here,” Izzi laughed. “My body is not in shape for this.”