1995 77th PGA / RIVIERA : ‘Honey, Do You Mind Getting My Divot?’ : Golf: Steve Stricker and his wife/caddie Nicki make a good team on the course.

When Steve Stricker needs encouragement from his wife, Nicki, after a poor round or congratulations after a good one, he doesn’t need to wait until he gets home.

Nicki Stricker is his caddie, and has been since before he turned professional five years ago. She is also the daughter of the only teacher Stricker has had, Dennis Tiziani, the University of Wisconsin golf coach.

“She carries the clubs, but mostly she helps me with my attitude,” Stricker said after a disappointing finish to what promised to be a hot round Saturday in the PGA Championship at Riviera. Stricker, 28, made five birdies in the first 10 holes and was high on the leader board before making three bogeys on the last five holes to finish 69--208.

“Nicki and I tried to get it to 10 under, but I think I got ahead of myself,” Stricker said.

“Maybe I got too fired up, trying to force birdies. After I hit it in the rough on 17, she said, ‘Don’t worry about it, keep your head up.’

“That’s where she really helps me, keeping me going when I need it most, like after my first round here.”

Stricker shot a four-over-par 75 Thursday but came back with the day’s low round, a seven-under-par 64 Friday, to make the cut.

“That’s been my pattern most of the year, up and down, pretty good one day and pretty bad the next,” he said. “Today I was both. I’m going to have to work on consistency.”

Some tour players would say that Stricker--in his second year on the tour--is consistent already. In 17 tournaments this year, he has not missed the cut while earning $384,780. His best finish was a fourth at the Nestle Invitational.

This is his first time at Riviera.

“I like the course, but that kikuyu grass is tougher than anything I’ve ever seen,” he said. “It’s tough to chip from. It’s tougher than Bermuda because you never know what kind of a lie you’re going to get. Sometimes it sits right up, sometimes it sits down where you can hardly see it.

“I need some consistency on the greens too. I missed a short putt on 16. I guess I made my share today, but I missed my share too. I don’t feel comfortable over short ones. I guess missing my birdie at 16 bothered me.

“When I got to the 17th tee, I tried to hit too big a drive and it cost me. I pulled it in the left rough and I couldn’t get it out and made a bogey.

“We’re too far back [11 shots] to think about winning, but a top-five finish isn’t out of the question. Whatever happens, we’ve come a long way since the first round.”

The PGA is only his third major event. He played in the 1993 U.S. Open at Baltusrol and tied for 13th in last month’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.

“Steve’s got the game to win out here, and I want to be with him when he does it,” Nicki said.

The Strickers met in the summer before Steve’s junior year at the University of Illinois. He lived in Madison, Wis., but went to Illinois to get away from home--before he met Nicki. When he came home in the summer, he went to Tiziani for off-season lessons.

“It was one of those things,” Stricker said of their romance. “I asked her dad about Nicki and she asked him about me, so it wasn’t long before we were dating.”

The dating led to Nicki becoming his full-time caddie.

“It was something to do one summer,” Nicki said. “It was one way for us to spend more time together. I caddied for him when he was an amateur, so it seemed the thing to do when he turned pro and went on the Canadian tour. When he got his tour card, I just came along. I’ll keep doing it as long as he wants me out there.”

Nicki played to a two handicap on the Wisconsin golf team, but her caddie duties have curtailed her competitive play.

“We still play when we’re at home between tournaments,” Steve said. “I give her three [strokes] a side and we have some real tough matches.”