In 1990, Stricker turned professional. He began his career on the
Canadian Professional Golf Tour, In 1998, Stricker played himself into contention in the final round of the
PGA Championship at
Sahalee Country Club near
Seattle.
PGA Tour veteran
Vijay Singh bested Stricker down the stretch thanks to a back-nine surge and claimed a two-stroke victory. This runner-up finish remains Stricker's best result in a
major championship to date. Stricker has finished inside the top-20 six times at the
U.S. Open, with his best finish a fifth-place in
1999 at
Pinehurst No. 2. He won his third and most prestigious PGA Tour title at the
WGC Match Play Championship in
2001, where he defeated
Pierre Fulke 2 and 1 in
Australia to earn the $1,000,000 prize. This remains as the only time that the WGC Match Play Championship was played outside of the United States. Stricker lost his tour card in 2004. At age 39 in
2006, relying on sponsor exemptions, he managed seven top-ten finishes and was voted the tour's Comeback Player of the Year. In
2007 he won his fourth PGA Tour title at
The Barclays on August 26, ending an 11-year victory drought on American soil, although he had previously triumphed down in Australia in 2001. This run of success earned him a spot on the
Presidents Cup team in
2007. At the
Bob Hope Classic in January 2009, Stricker shot third and fourth round scores of 61 and 62 at the PGA West Palmer and Nicklaus courses to set the 36-hole scoring record on the PGA Tour at 123, beating a record that
Pat Perez had held for only two days. (This record fell in October when
Troy Matteson shot 61-61=122 at the
Frys.com Open.) His four-round total of 33-under-par in the five-round event also set the PGA Tour record for lowest score relative to par for 72 holes, exceeding Ernie Els' total of 31 under par in the 2003 Mercedes-Benz Championship at Kapalua. The third-round 61 was Stricker's best score on tour to that point, but a 77 in the final round dropped him into a tie for third. He won again in July at the
John Deere Classic in
Silvis, Illinois. After the second round was rained-out on Friday, the field was forced to play 36 holes on Sunday. Stricker shot an afternoon round of 64, which included a hole-out wedge shot for
eagle on the 6th hole, and by three strokes over runners-up
Zach Johnson,
Brandt Snedeker, and
Brett Quigley. He also matched his career low round on tour with a second round of 61 (−10). Stricker's third win of 2009, and seventh overall, came in September at the
Deutsche Bank Championship, the second of four playoff events. He began the final round tied with
Retief Goosen and
Sean O'Hair, and birdied the final hole to win by one stroke over
Jason Dufner and
Scott Verplank. It was Stricker's second FedEx Cup playoff win, a win that also vaulted him ahead of
Tiger Woods to the top of the
FedEx Cup standings and vaulted him to No. 2 in the
Official World Golf Ranking, his highest ranking achieved during his career. Stricker has been called "Mr. September" due to his success in the
FedEx Cup playoffs, where he has never finished outside the top-25 in his first ten career starts. In February 2010, Stricker won his eighth tour title at the
Northern Trust Open with a 16-under-par 268 winning total. With this win at
Riviera, he passed
Phil Mickelson and regained his ranking as World No. 2. In July, Stricker shot a career-low 60 (−11) in the first round of the John Deere Classic. However, a 59 shot by
Paul Goydos incredibly put him one stroke back of the lead. He followed with rounds of 66 and 62, for a total of 188, to set a tour 54-hole scoring record. He then shot 70 on Sunday to win his ninth PGA Tour, two strokes ahead of Goydos. In June 2011, Stricker won at the
Memorial Tournament in
Ohio, his tenth tour title. He opened with 68 and bettered this with 67 in the second round. However, this was made special by the hole-in-one he recorded at the par three 8th hole to hold a three stroke advantage at the halfway stage. Remarkably, he then opened round three with two eagles in the first five holes to open up a six-shot lead midway through round three, but some uncharacteristic mistakes on the back nine saw him fall back towards the rest of the field. He held on to the 36-hole lead to eventually win by one stroke over runners-up
Matt Kuchar and
Brandt Jobe. With this victory, Stricker became the highest-ranked American in the
Official World Golf Ranking, at fourth in the world. For the first time in his career, 44-year-old Stricker was ranked higher than all other American golfers, including
Tiger Woods and
Phil Mickelson. Stricker played the tournament at −20 for the front nine, a record by 6 shots, versus +4 for the back nine. In July, Stricker gained his eleventh tour win at the John Deere Classic, sinking a birdie putt at the 72nd hole, one stroke ahead of runner-up
Kyle Stanley. Stricker bogeyed the 15th and 16th to fall two strokes behind Stanley in a commanding position throughout most of Sunday's round. He then bounced back with a birdie on the par five 17th while Stanley made bogeyed the 18th. Stricker, tied for the lead at this point, drove into a fairway bunker off the tee and then played his second shot just over the back of the green, but holed the putt from the fringe for the victory. This was Stricker's third straight victory at the John Deere Classic becoming just the 10th golfer since World War II to win a tournament three straight times. He missed the cut in May at
The Players Championship, his first since the
2009 PGA Championship. It ended a streak of 49 consecutive cuts, which was the longest on tour. At the start of the
2013 season, Stricker announced he would cut his schedule "in half," hoping to play just "10 or 12" tournaments. As the defending champion, he finished runner-up at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions despite suffering from a herniated disc. He then reached the quarterfinals at the
WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, his best performance since his victory in 2001. In April 2021, Stricker won the
Chubb Classic for his sixth win on the
PGA Tour Champions. In May 2021, Stricker came close to defending his title at the senior major, the
Regions Tradition. Stricker birdied the last hole in regulation to force a playoff with
Alex Čejka. Čejka won the playoff with a birdie on the first playoff hole. In June 2021, Stricker won his third senior major at the
Senior Players Championship at
Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. Stricker led by eight strokes going into the final round. He shot an even-par 70 in the final round and won by six strokes over
Jerry Kelly. In May 2022, Stricker won his fourth senior major title at the
Regions Tradition in
Birmingham, Alabama. Stricker shot a 4-under 68 in the final round for a 6-stroke victory. It was his first victory since he had to take a leave of absence for health reasons after the
2021 Ryder Cup. In August 2022, Stricker won
The Ally Challenge and in September 2022, he won the
Sanford International in South Dakota in a playoff over
Robert Karlsson. This brought him to 10 career PGA Tour Champions victories. In October 2022, Stricker won the
Constellation Furyk and Friends by two shots. In January 2023, Stricker won the
Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai on the
Big Island of Hawaii by six strokes. In May 2023, Stricker won the
Regions Tradition, his 13th PGA Champions Tour win, third Regions win, and fifth senior major. Two weeks later, Stricker won the
KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in a playoff over
Pádraig Harrington. This marked his 14th PGA Champions Tour win and sixth senior major. In June 2023, Stricker won the
American Family Insurance Championship in his home state of
Wisconsin and he followed it in July with a third 2023 major victory at the
Senior Players Championship. In September 2023, Stricker won the
Sanford International in
South Dakota for the third time. This marked his sixth title of the year on the Champions Tour and set a new record for most money earned in a single season at just shy of $4 million. Stricker clinched the 2023 season-long
Charles Schwab Cup with two weeks left in the season. His lead of more than two million points over
Steven Alker meant that Alker could not catch him even if he won the last two tournaments of the year. This title comes with a $1 million annuity from Charles Schwab. ==Personal life==