Does Stricker have another comeback left?

Steve Stricker is used to making comebacks. After faltering badly on a Sunday earlier this season, does Stricker have another comeback in him this Sunday at Augusta National?

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Maybe this is what Steve Stricker needs. Maybe he doesn’t need to be in the lead coming down the stretch of a golf tournament. Maybe he needs to be lurking just far enough off the lead for no one to notice him.

Stricker, who has dusted himself off more than a 4-year-old in a sandbox, matched the day’s lowest round Saturday with a 4-under 68 on Saturday that moved him from 3 under to 7 under and within four shots of the lead. It leaves him just out of a spotlight that’s focused on Kenny Perry trying to become golf’s oldest major champion and Tiger Woods trying to make golf’s biggest comeback in the final round of a major -- at of all places the course where one of the biggest final-round comebacks took place more than a decade ago.

When Stricker sat down on his bag in the fairway of the 72nd hole of the 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer in February -- shoulders slumped, head down -- it looked like it would be a while before he recovered from that final-round 77.

Then Stricker went out and shot a 67 on Sunday of the Northern Trust Open a month later. He finished second that day, too. However many ways there are to win a golf tournament, Stricker has lost just as many ways -- a 77-71 weekend finish at the 2008 Barclays and a 3-over finish to fall short at the 2007 Wachovia Championship are among the more recent ones. No wonder he’s a former Comeback Player of the Year.

Can Stricker, who hasn’t even played the Masters four of the last six years, and who missed the cut here each of the last two years, make one more comeback, this time to win his first major? If ever there was a way, this is one that Stricker has rarely experienced.

Here’s a look at other contenders and their chances:

TODD HAMILTON: He’s made just two of nine cuts this season and had zero expectations coming to Augusta National. But his game has been sharp. Saturday, he birdied the second hole to get to 7 under before eventually giving it back, but he’s been a major champion before and said he feels really comfortable physically and mentally. He’ll need to call on that again Sunday to have a shot. He’ll also need to at least match his lowest number of the week, a 68, and hope the leaders back up some.

SHINGO KATAYAMA: It was a crazy back nine for the man from Japan. Katayama bogeyed No. 11, made back-to-back-to-back birdies on Nos. 13 through 15 and then bogeyed the 18th to fall to 6 under with Hamilton. Before this week, Katayama had never broken 70 at Augusta National. Only twice had he even shot 70. This week, he’s done both. Still, it would be stunning if he won. Katayama’s best finish in a major came at the 2001 PGA Championship, where he smiled and joked his way to a T4.

RORY SABBATINI:
The South African already has three top-5 finishes in just eight PGA TOUR events this season and he’s positioned for another this week if he can play like he has the last two days. If he can play better than that, he could become the second straight South African to win here, which would be incredibly fitting given this was Gary Player’s final Masters. Sabo tied for second here just two years ago, but that was more of a back-door runner-up thanks to a final-round 69 after scores of 73-76-73 the first three days.

TIM CLARK: It’s a good year for South Africans with Clark right behind Sabbatini on the leaderboard, but if the 2006 runner-up is going to win his first major, and for the first time on the PGA TOUR, he’s going to have to match the biggest final-round comeback in Masters history, which was Nick Faldo’s six-shot comeback against Greg Norman in 1996. Clark might not have been a major winner like Hamilton, but he feels equally comfortable when it comes to being in contention at one.

If there’s one advantage that all of the above players have, it’s that they could post a number early and put the pressure on the leaders, something that could be critical with Nos. 9, 10 and 11 playing as the three toughest holes on the course through the first three rounds. You know the saying: The Masters doesn’t start until the back nine on Sunday.