STEVENS POINT, Wis. — Wisconsinites were showing a lot of love for Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly as they entered the final day of the U.S. Senior Open on Sunday.
Teague Racine is a Madison resident who has been following Stricker for his entire career.
Racine made his way to Stevens Point on Sunday with his family to root on Stricker and Kelly, and he was happy to see hundreds of others doing the same.
“Even watching it on TV you can tell the Wisconsin guys Stricker and Kelly, really doing a good job and how many fans are following them, which is great as you can see,” said Racine.
On Sunday, the two Wisconsin legends were fighting to catch up to the leader, Bernhard Langer, who ultimately won.
Kass Schope, a Wisconsin native, said they had what seemed to be the entire state of Wisconsin supporting them.
“I mean what do you expect when we are in Wisconsin for the U.S. Senior Open and those two are on the top of the leaderboard, they have a good following and it is going to help one of them pull out the win [Sunday],” said Schope.
Kelly and Stricker were definitely noticing the large support base they had out on the course.
“Talk about energy,” said Kelly. “What a great reception. What a great show-up for all the people from Wisconsin and all over. They’ve been nothing but fantastic. It definitely sends chills up the back of your spine.”
While Langer was able to win the U.S. Senior Open on Sunday, the fans did everything they could to stop that from happening.
“It’s going to be difficult,” said Langer, about facing a Wisconsin crowd rooting for Kelly and Stricker. “I remember playing against Fred Couples in Seattle … and if there were 30,000 people, every one of them [was] cheering for Fred, and the only one for me was my caddie, who was my son at the time.”