This season, before the Barclays, Stricker had a handful of chances to win but never could cash in, leading more than a few wags to conclude that he was simply too nice a guy to close out a tournament.
On Sunday, Stricker played with more cutthroat intensity, notably on 17, where he stuck a fearless approach to three feet to take a one-stroke lead over playing partner K.J. Choi.
Stricker's fellow Wisconsinite, Tour veteran Jerry Kelly, stood behind the 18th green to watch his buddy come in. Kelly was so nervous he nibbled on his thumbnail and took the kind of deep breaths usually reserved for Lamaze class.
"I've got chills, man," Kelly said. "Nobody deserves it more. All he's been through. . . ."
Stricker capped the two-stroke win with a deft up and down from the fairway for one last birdie. He, too, was emotional afterward, and not because he's now first in FedEx Cup points.
"Obviously winning the tournament is foremost," Stricker said. "Everything that comes after that is icing on the cake. I wasn't thinking about FedEx Cup points out there."
Easy for him to say. While Stricker was playing for glory, a concurrent drama was taking place further down the points list, as a motley band of journeymen were playing for their survival.
The Tour calls the FedEx Cup a playoff because the field is reduced each week. In all 144 players qualified for the Barclays, and after the full complement of 50,000 points (and $7 million) was distributed to those who made the cut, the top 120 in cumulative points moved on to this week's event.
The saddest of those who didn't advance might have been Jason Dufner, who has bounced between the Nationwide and PGA tours since 2000. He came into the Barclays 128th in points. After birdieing the 17th hole on Sunday, he had played himself to the precipice of the top 120, and CBS cut to him as he played the 18th hole, projecting that a birdie would assure him a spot in the Deutsche Bank. In the end, Dufner's fate came down to a four-foot birdie putt.
He yipped it, and that was that.
While the FedEx Cup moves on to Boston in search of more traction, Dufner was left to slink home to Alabama.
"It's not the first time I've left a tournament feeling disappointed," he said after his closing 69, but his final thought, one week into the FedEx Cup, said so much more. "I wanted to be a part of it," Dufner said, "even if I'm still not sure I understand what it all means."
