Stricker's Lumberyard Scare

KAPALUA, Hawaii--The best new anecdote I heard in the pressroom Tuesday at Kapalua--and this was a hard act to follow after Boo Weekley's tale of forgetting he left two bullets in his carry-on bag at the Pensacola Airport--was Steve Stricker talking about his days working for lumber company in his home state of Wisconsin.

As Stricker, the back-to-back Comeback Player of the Year, tells it, he could have lost his right arm.

"I have a scary story," said Stricker, "and I still think about this to this day. It could have ended my career."

Stricker was asked in an interview at the Mercedes-Benz Championship on Tuesday what was the last job he held prior to becoming a professional golfer:

Stricker: It was probably at Nelson Young Lumber in Edgerton when I was in college. I worked at a lumber company during the summers. My brother works there now in the office, and I would just deliver lumber. He was nice enough to let me go and play in golf tournaments when I needed the time off, so it wasn't like a full-time summer job or something.

So you worked at a lumberyard?

Stricker: Lumberyard delivering lumber. It was good fun. [Laughter.]

Some hazard in that, isn't there?

There was some hazard. I have a scary story, and I still think about this to this day. It could have ended my career without question. I still don't know what I was doing. But I'm waving the guy back. I usually rode with the driver, they didn't let me drive very much. So we're delivering to a brand-new house, and I'm waving him back. Now he's coming back and I'm up on the front stairway, and now I get off the side of the stair but I'm still right behind the truck waving him back like this.

He's looking at me, and all of a sudden he's coming too close. Now I'm pinned up against the back of the house which is right here. So I'm like, stop, and I go like this. The back of the flatbed pushes my arm right into the new siding. Now I'm a little bit pinned right there. I finally unwedge it and leave a dent in the new siding, but I still cringe at that to this day. I didn't do that again. I was off usually on the side of the truck. [Laughter.]. That was dumb.

--Tim Rosaforte