Stricker: You don't know what's happening, I didn’t eat for two weeks

American Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker is recovering from a health scare that saw him hospitalised for two weeks and lose 25 pounds. 

The 54-year-old had a sore throat but tested negative for Covid and, a few weeks later, went deer hunting.

“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. “That night I had the sweats and all of a sudden, my temperature was 103.”

He then had a likely reaction to an antibiotic which saw his throat begin to close and his lips, glands and tongue swell. Then things went south and he was hospitalised for a fortnight.

“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,” he said.

Furthermore he had jaundice, his urine was the colour of cola and his heart started fluttering, at one point his heart rate was 160 beats per minute for two hours.

He came out before Thanksgiving but was then back in three days later feeling even worse.

"It wasn’t fun. You don’t know what’s happening. You don’t know where this road is leading to. I never thought that I’m not getting out of there kind of thing. But I didn’t eat for two weeks.

"I didn’t have any energy or appetite to eat. I had a hard time just getting up and walking because of the heart. I took a few steps to the bathroom in my room and I’d be out of breath. I was pretty sick, from what they tell me.”

It could be six months before he competes again.