MADISON – In the 10th playing of the American Family Championship and the second at TPC Wisconsin under a team format, the hometown favorites of Steve Stricker and Mario Tiziani and Jerry Kelly and Justin Leonard ended the first round as severe underdogs on June 5.
Stricker and Tiziani, who tied for second last season, finished the first round 6-under par, six shots and 23 pairs behind the leading duo of Søren Kjeldsen and Freddie Jacobson (12-under 59). The leaders made 10 birdies and one eagle with no bogeys.
AmFam leaderboard: First round
“We sort of alternated nicely, like one guy made a putt and then the next guy, and Freddie was sort of on fire middle of the round, Kjeldsen said. “We built up that momentum that you really need in this format.”
Two teams are tied for second at 11-under and two more teams are at 10-under.
Kelly and Leonard, who joked on June 4 that they couldn’t do much worse than their tie for 34th last year in which they beat just two teams, replicated the feat with a 4-under to end the round in 34th place.
Unfortunately, slow starts for Stricker and Tiziani and Kelly might have been expected.
Stricker had not played a competitive round since late December following hip replacement surgery, which was followed up with a setback during his rehab. Kelly said he’s been playing through a just-discovered fracture in his T-8 vertebrae, as well as managing rheumatoid arthritis.
Not competing, however, wasn’t going to be a question.
Stricker just wasn’t sure what would happen once he did.
“I don’t know where it’s going yet, but I’m giving it a rip,” he said before the tournament. “It’s coming out of a couple different barrels.”
Despite that uncertainty, the 59-year-old Stricker was excited at the prospect of revving the gas on a PGA Tour Champions journey that had seen him win 17 times from 2018-23.
“It’s been too long,” he said. “Literally, I haven’t played that much in the last couple years. I’m excited. It’s about time, I feel like. My body’s feeling better and just literally just have to keep getting those reps in.”
And Tiziani, who had played seven stroke-play tournaments coming in, acknowledged his game was not the sharpest yet, either.
“I do feel like it’s trending,” he said before round one. “I felt like that all year. Certainly haven’t had any results, but I’ve kind of put every tournament behind me and kind of started over, you know. It’s a crazy game and it doesn’t take much, a little bit of confidence goes a long way.”
In the first round, which was played in the best ball format, Stricker and Tiziani had seven birdies against one bogey. The second round will be played as a scramble, which the duo went 15-under in last year.
“We’re going to have to have something like that again, something pretty low to get us probably maybe even three or four back, two, three or four back if we shoot 14-, 15-under,” Stricker said after round one, noting the importance of the upcoming second round. “We’re going to have to have a special round tomorrow to have an opportunity on Sunday [June 7]. But, you know, Sundays anything can happen. We can play better.”
As for Kelly and Leonard, they made just five birdies against one bogey.
“I built up a little bit through The Woodlands and that gave me some positive moves going into this week where I could swing a whole lot freer than I have in a long time,” Kelly said of his physical condition coming into the tournament. “So I’m hoping I’ve turned the corner and I’m not waiting for the other shoe to drop because I’m feeling stronger and working out and keeping my body instead of winding it up too early, I think I’m hitting the right timing right now.”
Defending champion Darren Clarke is with a new partner this year with Ben Crane, and they shot 9-under and are three shots back with a group of six other teams.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Teams led by Steve Stricker, Jerry Kelly off to slow starts at AmFam Championship
Reporting by Jim Owczarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jim Owczarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
