'S--t Hit the Fan.' Steve Stricker Reveals He Was Hospitalized After Ryder Cup With Heart Ailment

U.S. Ryder Cup captain developed a mysterious illness that sent him to the hospital twice and will likely keep him out of competition for six months.

In 2021 Steve Stricker appeared to have a dream year, as he captained the U.S. Ryder Cup team to a runaway victory over Europe in Wisconsin, his home state. But Stricker revealed this week that he fell ill shortly after the Ryder Cup, and has only recently been released from the hospital.

According to a report from Wisconsin.Golf, Stricker, who will turn 55 in February, developed a sore throat and heavy cough on Oct. 23, about a month after the Ryder Cup. He took antibiotics and felt better for a couple of weeks, but then his health issues morphed into something more serious.  

“I came home from hunting one night and I was like, ‘I don’t feel good. My side hurts. I just don’t feel right,’” he said in the interview. “That night I had the sweats and all of a sudden, my temperature was 103. I went back to my primary and got amoxicillin, a heavier antibiotic. And I think I had a reaction to that. My throat started to close up, my lips got puffy, my glands got puffy, my tongue got puffy. It was like an allergic reaction. I was still having these 103-degree temps.

“So, I went into the hospital about two weeks before Thanksgiving and they kept me in there. That’s when the s--- hit the fan. My liver numbers started getting worse. My white blood cell count was jacked up really high. I was fighting something, but they couldn’t find out what it was. My liver was going downhill. I got jaundice. I was yellow and peeing out Pepsi-colored pee.”

He tested negative for COVID, but soon his heart was jumping out of rhythm. He was in and out of the hospital twice. Stricker says he is feeling better these days. 

“I’m still on no activity. I’m still dealing with inflammation around the heart,” he said. “That part is getting better, though, all the time. They took an MRI right before Christmas and it was still there, this inflammation, but it’s going down. I’ll have another MRI on the 20th (of January). If it’s gone, then I can start to do things.

“I’m down 25 pounds. I’m freshman-in-high school weight. I lost all my muscle. I look like an 85-year-old man, dude. My skin is hanging.”

Stricker has begun hitting chip shots, but his cardiologist said it could be six months before he's able to compete again on the PGA Tour Champions.