Coming back after a
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That\'s been a little more difficult.
Three days after winning on Maui at the Tournament of Champions, Stricker was back to work. He did well Thursday in the Sony Open to open with a 4-under 66 and finish three shots behind Graham DeLaet of Canada. What made it impressive is that Stricker felt as if he were in a daze part of the time at Waialae Country Club.
``A little sluggish at times,\'\' Stricker said.
That\'s nothing new. In the seven previous times that he played the
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after winning, the best he could manage was a tie for ninth in the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2007.
He won the John Deere Classic the last three years, flew across the Atlantic for the British Open and has never been a factor. When he won the Northern Trust Open at Riviera in 2010, he headed over to Arizona for the Match Play Championship and became only the second No. 1 seed to lose in the opening round.
This week\'s trip was only a short hop over from a different island, but it\'s no less taxing.
``I\'m still excited from last week,\'\' Stricker said. ``You turn around and you\'re right back in the competition. You\'ve got to be focused. And I was, for the most part.\'\'
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The Plantation Course at Kapalua is a big walk, and Stricker said he was even more drained from nearly losing five-shot leads on the last two days and fighting off the contenders. Winning itself always takes a toll, so Stricker took Tuesday off, then spent Wednesday in what he described as a pro-am that was cluttered with media requests, not to mention dozens of players stopping to congratulate him.
``It\'s a nice problem to have,\'\' he said
But he\'s back to work, now, and in the first full-field event of the PGA Tour season, feels as though he at least gave himself a chance to join Ernie Els in 2003 as the only players to sweep the Hawaii tournaments
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