Steve Stricker becomes fourth player with three senior majors in a season
2 Min Read
He joins Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Bernhard Langer on the mantle
Steve Stricker has dominated on PGA TOUR Champions this season, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Stricker won his third senior major championship of the 2023 season at the Kaulig Companies Championship, carding 11 under at Firestone Country Club (South) for a three-stroke win over David Toms.
The Wisconsin native becomes just the fourth player in Champions Tour history to win three majors in the same year, joining Hall of Famers Gary Player (1988), Jack Nicklaus (1991) and Bernhard Langer (2017).
Steve Stricker wins third senior major title of 2023 at Kaulig Companies Championship
So how does Stricker’s season compare to those? Let’s have a closer look:
Gary Player, 1988
Age that season: 52
Majors won: Senior PGA Championship, U.S. Senior Open, The Senior Open Championship
Other victories: 2
Total events: 20
Top 10s: 16
Notable: Beat Bob Charles in an 18-hole playoff at Medinah for the U.S. Senior Open crown.
Jack Nicklaus, 1991
Age that season: 51
Majors won: Tradition, Senior PGA Championship, U.S. Senior Open
Other victories: None
Total events: 5
Top 10s: 4
Notable: Beat Chi Chi Rodriguez in an 18-hole playoff at Oakland Hills Country Club for the U.S. Senior Open title. Became the first player to win USGA titles in five different decades.
Bernhard Langer, 2017
Age that season: 59-60
Majors won: Regions Tradition, KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, The Senior Open Championship presented by Rolex
Other victories: 4
Total events: 22
Top 10s: 16
Notable: By winning the first two majors of the year became the first player to win consecutive senior majors since Kenny Perry in 2013.
Steve Stricker, 2023
Age that season: 56
Majors won: Regions Tradition, KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, Kaulig Companies Championship
Other victories: 2
Total events: 13
Top-10s: 13
Notable: Won the Senior PGA on the first playoff hole to edge Padraig Harrington.
The skinny: It’s difficult to compare eras on PGA TOUR Champions. Fields were smaller in the 1980s and '90s and had nowhere near the depth that the circuit does now. There’s no disputing Player had a fine year, but The Senior Open Championship wasn’t recognized as a major at the time.
Nicklaus played more events on the PGA TOUR (eight) in 1991, and he had four top-25s.
The best comparison is between Langer and Stricker. Stricker’s 13 events already are a high-water mark for his PGA TOUR Champions career for a single season. It will be interesting to see how many more times he plays this year. Assuming he runs the total up to at least 20, it’s easy to believe he could match Langer’s win total of seven from 2017.
The odd thing about Stricker is he never has elected to play in the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs. Langer won two Playoffs events in 2017.