Steve Stricker lost a ball and a big lead at sun-baked Ridgewood Country Club, leaving Kevin Streelman atop the leaderboard and more than two dozen players in the Barclays title chase on Saturday.
After fading his drive into the rough on the par-4 12th, the American approach shot from a tough angle skipped along the far side of the left rough and into a tangled mess of shoulder-high grass, bushes and weeds.
Despite TV replays and a large search party, the ball couldn’t be located and Stricker — four strokes ahead after 10 holes — took a penalty stroke and trudged back to the spot where he hit the costly shot.
The winner last year at Westchester Country Club, Stricker advanced the new ball 40m short of the green, hit his fifth shot 30 feet past the hole and two-putted for a triple-bogey seven to drop to seven under — a stroke behind Sergio Garcia.
“I got off to a good start, then I made two stupid plays in a row on 11 and 12,” Stricker said.
“The one at 12 was one of the dumbest plays I ever made trying to do what I did out of the rough there. From that point on, it was a struggle to get in,” he said.
By the time Stricker signed for a six-over 77, he was four strokes back at four under in a 12-way tie for 11th.
On Friday, he shot a 7-under 64 in perfect morning conditions to take a three-stroke lead over Hunter Mahan in the FedEx Cup playoff opener.
Stricker was 12 under through six holes, then dropped a stroke on No. 7 to end a 23-hole stretch without a bogey.
He also bogeyed the 11th, made the triple on 12 and dropped three more strokes with bogeys on 14, 16 and 17.
“I just stunk it up,” Stricker said. “I’ve got to try to regroup.”
Streelman, a 29-year-old in his rookie season on the US PGA Tour, took the lead at eight under with a 25-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the par-4 16th and parred the final two holes for a 68 and an eight-under 205 total.
“It will be a fun day for me,” Streelman said. “I’m interested to see how I kind of react to it. That’s what I’ve been working for my whole life.”
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