Streck OK with role as forgotten Okie

By Jenni Carlson

Published: May 24, 2006

EDMOND - Ron Streck patted the bulging manila envelope that looked about two sizes too small for its cargo.

So went his answer to the question of how many of his friends and family will be at the Senior PGA Championship this week. Crammed inside the envelope were more than two dozen tournament passes.

"If nothing else," he said, "at least I'll have 25 people in the gallery.

It's fitting that Streck has a posse.

He's not in The Gang, after all.

Streck is an Oklahoman through and through. He's lived in the state all of his life, growing up in Tulsa, playing college golf at Tulsa, then staying in Tulsa when he joined the PGA Tour. Yet even at a major championship in his home state, Streck is an afterthought to most of his fellow Oklahomans.

He is the forgotten Okie.

Then again, Streck has no membership in The Oak Tree Gang, that group of seven pro golfers who live in the course's surrounding neighborhood. He is the only Oklahoman playing in this week's tournament who lives outside the gilded gates. That means no spot in that cowboy-hats-and-boots photo with The Gang. No spot on those posters that seem to be plastered every few feet. No hoopla whatsoever.

"They can have all the galleries, Streck said. "They can have everybody they want.

"I'll just go out and shoot 65.

Streck chuckled. He was joking.

Sort of.

"I'm not out here to walk around a golf course, he said. "I'm out here to compete.

The Champions Tour has given Streck a chance to do that again. He spent more than two decades on the PGA Tour, notching a pair of victories and claiming more than $800,000 in winnings. He even had one of the best weekends in tour history. He shot a 63 in the third round of the 1978 Texas Open, then followed it up with a 62 in the final round.

That two-day total was in PGA Tour history until Mark Calcavecchia bested it five years ago with a two-day total of 124 at the Phoenix Open.

A PGA Tour career that started with so much promise became a struggle the last decade or so.

A knee injury altered the course of Streck's career. He was playing racquetball during the winter of 1984, and while going after a shot, he jammed his knee against the wall. His ACL snapped.

A botched rehabilitation kept him from ever being the same.

Streck eventually had to go onto the minor-league circuit, then known as the Nike Tour, now known as the Nationwide Tour. He played for several years, even won an event in 1993, but he could never return to form.

After starting a family and opening a water-treatment business, Streck cut back his competitive schedule. In 1998, he played no events for the first time since he turned pro. He played in just eight tournaments during the next five years.

Then in 2004, he became eligible for the Champions Tour. He decided to give it a try.

"If I was not playing well enough to compete, I just wouldn't do it, he said. "I would do something else.

"But I did play well enough.

He won almost half a million dollars during the past two years and scored his first professional victory in more than a decade at the Commerce Bank Championship last year. Now, he plans to play full-time until he's sick of it.

"I don't feel like I have to be playing golf, Streck said. "I don't wake up trying to figure out where I'm going to go play golf.

He has plenty of other things going on, including raising three children, the youngest of whom is 7 years old. Even now, Reagan struggles to understand what his dad does when he's gone for weeks at a time.

"Are you going somewhere today, Dad? he asked Streck on Tuesday morning.

"Yeah, Streck told him, "I'm going to Oklahoma City.

Streck is driving back and forth this week from Tulsa to Edmond.

"Weren't you there yesterday? Reagan asked.

"Yeah, I was there for a little bit, Streck said. "I'll be back tonight.

Of course, Streck will be joined later this week in Edmond by the entire family. And then some, actually. With that many people following him around, his posse will draw some attention.

"People will be looking, Streck said. "They'll be like, Who's that guy?'

He shrugged.

" Some old guy.'

Streck might be an afterthought now, but if this week goes the way he hopes, he will be the forgotten Okie no more.

Jenni Carlson: 475-4125, jcarlson@oklahoman.com