Golf is a family affair for Steve Stricker's family and that includes wife Nicki

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Steve Stricker is a 12-time PGA Tour winner and captain of a Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup team that won by a combined score of 38-20. His oldest daughter, Bobbi Maria, has had limited Epson Tour status. His youngest, Izzi, is the Wisconsin State Golf Association amateur of the year.

Just don't forget about mom.

Nicki Stricker played at Wisconsin, was an assistant for her father, Dennis Tiziani, for a year at Wisconsin and then got married and raised two daughters.

With a little more time, a little more practice, she qualified for the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur two years ago, her first USGA competition since the 1992 U.S. Women's Amateur. She looked at the the golf schedule this summer and noticed the Wisconsin State Women's Four-ball Championship.

Nicki needed a partner and didn't have to look very far.

“I told her, ‘I want to do something golf-related and competitive with you. Let’s do the Four-Ball,” Izzi said. “So we ended up winning.”

This wasn't a case of mom leaning on her daughter, a sophomore at Wisconsin. Nicki Stricker made seven birdies, including the final three holes.

Why the renewed interest? She's not sure.

“I was hitting a lot, not playing a lot,” she said. “I think just to see how I could do, put myself out there. Clearly not competing against them (her daughters) or feeling like, ‘Oh, everybody else is doing it.’ I hadn't done it for a while, and just seeing what would happen.”

They are among the most athletic families. Bobbi concentrated mostly on tennis — her mom thinks she could have played Division I doubles — and shifted to golf midway through high school. She twice made it to the second stage of the LPGA Q-Series, giving her some Epson Tour status.

Stricker is remarkable in his own right, nearly winning a major, losing his card, then returning to reach No. 2 in the world. He dominated the PGA Tour Champions two years ago and won the Charles Schwab Cup without having to play in the postseason.

Nicki Stricker always stayed involved, mainly as her husband's caddie early in their marriage and and more lately now that their girls are grown. But she kept playing.

“Not competitively,” she said. “I'd hit some, go out and play, shoot 75, no big deal. But these last few years, it's like I got worse. The expectations got unrealistic. Watching these guys, it was like, ‘Wait, now I’m putting in the time and effort and I'm worse.' I had to define what it is I wanted to get out of it before I know if I'm getting it.”

What she got out it this summer was the rush of competing again in a year when her husband played only four times because of a back injury that led to surgery. Nicki also tried qualifying for the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur. She played in the state Senior Women's Amateur, along with the Wisconsin Women's Amateur.

“That was the one she won,” Nicki said, looking over at Izzi. “She kicked my (butt).”

One thing the Stricker family rarely does is compete against each other. They are a competitive bunch, and the vote was unanimous that Nicki handled losing the worst.

“We stay away from the family competition for the most part because there's a couple people in the family that don't like to lose. One of them is not here today,” Stricker said at the PNC Championship on a day when his wife stayed at their winter home in Orlando, Florida.

“So we just go out and try to have friendly games and try to keep it good between the four of us.”

The tech-infused TGL indoor league got off to a rousing start this weekend, and for all the changes, what stayed the same was Billy Horschel making a big putt to lead Atlanta Drive to a win.

One of the changes was obvious — the use of alternates.

Atlanta is led by Justin Thomas, who is recovering from back surgery. Patrick Cantlay and Lucas Glover were late scratches. Horschel was joined by Scottish Open champion Chris Gotterup and Corey Conners of Canada.

The next match is Friday, Boston against Los Angeles. Boston has Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama. But the latter two won't make it because of scheduling problems. Boston said it has signed Michael Thorbjornsen as its designated alternate.

TGL has a process in place to add a designated alternate if a team can't field three players. Alternates must be PGA Tour members in good standing.

The elbow injury that drove Nick Price from the PGA Tour Champions a bit earlier than he had planned turned out to be the best thing for him.

Few other players have crushed it when it comes to retiring from the golf.

He played the PNC Championship with his son, Gregory, his only real competition of the year. The swing that carried Price to three majors, No. 1 in the world and the Hall of Fame is still evident because he plays about 25 rounds a year, mostly with friends.

Otherwise, he's traveling with his wife, Sue, and enjoying life like never before. He was in Iceland to fish for Atlantic Salmon. He hit all the national parks in the western U.S.

“I went all over the place when I was playing,” he said, “but I never got to enjoy those places.”

He and his wife will hop over to the Bahamas to fish. He also likes “wing shooting,” particularly dove hunting in Argentina. And he loves quail hunting with a shotgun.

“If you shoot like I do, the bird has a good chance,” Price said. “It's great fun. It's like a golf trip but no one cares what you shoot.”

Retirement also gives him more time in his home country of Zimbabwe. Price turns 69 in January, and he says age — and personal history — adds to the appreciation of what he gets to do.

“For me, it goes back to my roots when I was in the military during the Rhodesian days, where I saw guys' lives cut short when they were 17, 18, 19 years old,” he said. "And my dad dying when I was young left a determination in me to live my life to the fullest, because you never know when it's going to stop.

Forty-four of the top 50 players in the final Official World Golf Ranking of 2025 are either Americans or Europeans. ... Now that Golf Channel is no longer part of NBC as it has spun off under a new company called Versant. That means a new logo, which looks a lot like the logo it used before connecting with NBC. The difference is a modernized font. ... Yuvraj Sandhu won the final tournament of the year, the Tata Open on the Professional Golf Tour of India. Sandhu won for the second time in three weeks. The victory moved him to No. 420 in the world ranking.

Africa is the only continent that does not have a player among the top 60 in the world ranking.

“I thought when he was 18 I could beat him. He got to 22 and I thought, 'Wow, this (stuff) has changed pretty fast. No one I’ve ever seen hit the ball like Tiger.” — Fred Couples.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf