Healthier, confident Stricker eyes successful 2012

With his neck more stable and his arm stronger, Steve Stricker said Thursday he looked forward to a winning season in 2012.

"I've played so well over the last six years that there's no reason that I can't continue to keep playing well," Stricker told reporters on the eve of this week’s PGA Tour season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. "There's no reason why I can't continue on to do what I've been doing."

Stricker, who has for several months battled a neck injury that weakened his left arm, said he had a second cortisone shot before Christmas and that he was feeling "pretty good" after six physical therapy and massage treatments.

"You look at the way I felt a year ago compared to now," Stricker said, "I’m in much better shape."

Steve Stricker says his neck is healthy and he's ready to win in 2012 (Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

The 44-year-old from Wisconsin may be one of the older-somethings teeing it up with the likes of PGA champ Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, and Friday’s first-round playing partner Gary Woodland. Stricker even admitted he was unfamiliar with a few of the new wavers vying for the win this week on the Plantation Course at Kapalua.

“Do I have to name them?” he asked. “Brendan Steele I didn't know too much about. Chris Kirk is here, too, isn't he? I didn't know too much about him.”

Stricker further acknowledged that the window of opportunity may be closing on him -- especially with the competition from the younger guys who are brimming with “confidence and talent.

“It makes it harder [to win],” he said. “It makes it harder to compete out here for sure.”

Noting that he’ll turn 45 next month, Stricker confirmed that he considered the possibility that his chances for success were diminishing.

But he did not dwell on such thoughts, as the 11-time tour winner who’s No. 6 in the world was not about to concede the field to anyone just yet. He may have been one of only a handful of players in their 40s to win last year, but Stricker observed that several golfers -- including Vijay SIngh, Kenny Perry, Jay Haas, and Loren Roberts -- played well long into their 40s and he expected the same of himself.

“There's no question you look up to those guys and see what they're trying to do and believe that it can be done,” Stricker averred. “So yeah, there's no doubt I looked up to those guys...as I got closer to that age.”