Aug 23, 2008 - 7:56 PM
0 shoutsPARAMUS, New Jersey (Ticker) - Kevin Streelman spent his first few days at Ridgewood Country Club researching his New Jersey roots.
On Sunday, Streelman when tees off as the 54-hole leader at The Barclays, the 30-year-old will find he has become something of a hometown hero.
Streelman, whose parents came from nearby Glen Rock before leaving for Chicago 30 years ago, discovered his paternal grandparents were buried in Washington Cemetery, just a 9-iron over the fence from the seventh hole at Ridgewood
"My caddie and I have talked about that a little bit," Streelman said following a third-round 68 that gave him a one-shot lead over Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh and Mike Weir.
"It means a lot. My dad was approached by a gentleman yesterday, which was really neat. He said, 'You found Streelman?' "And he says, 'Yeah, I used to know this guy named Happy Streelman. We used to call him Hap, because he was always happy', and that's my dad's father.
"We've run into different people and neat stories and situations like that, so it's kind of cool for them."
Streelman, who is ranked 269th in the world, had known this New Jersey stop on the PGA Tour would make an impression on his parents, but he was not sure until the tournament began to unfold just how big of an impression.
"My parents ? had always seen it on the schedule as the Paramus event," he said, "and it didn't hit us until a week ago, and the more they looked into it, my uncle used to be a member here before he moved. My grandparents are buried in Washington Cemetery and my cousin came and watched me last week and told me. I was like, well, that's kind of cool.
"I wasn't planning on it being as meaningful of a week as probably as it came to, but any week I can share with my parents and friends and as many friends that are in this area. ... That's what it's all about. The win, second place, third place, it's great and all but the end of the day, that's all we have is our families and friends and that's what's most important to me."
Tour rookie Streelman, without even a top-five finish to his name this year, is intent on enjoying himself Sunday as he plays in the final pairing with world No. 5 Singh and bids to secure his maiden PGA Tour victory.
"It will be a fun day for me," he said. "I'm interested to see how I kind of react to it, and that's what I've been working for my whole life. This has been a culmination of many, many hours and years of hard work, and a lot of miles traveled around many tours around the whole country and even world.
"Hopefully it's just the beginning of many years of this, but for many it's kind of my first - as of right now, clubhouse lead going into Sunday, and if it goes well, great, and if not, I'm going to try and learn, much like I did the day with Tiger (Woods) and try to get better tomorrow evening than I am right now."
That day with Woods came back January, when Streelman experienced big-time galleries for the first time as he played the third round of the Buick Invitational in the final group of the day with the world number one, an excellent dry run for his big day at The Barclays.
"That day with Tiger was the greatest preparation I ever could have managed," Streelman said. "I know it will be crazy tomorrow but I guarantee you it won't be quite as big as that day in San Diego with Tiger, which was amazing.
"It will be great preparation for me and if it works out tomorrow, great, and if not, I'll try to get myself in this position as many more times as possible. If it goes great tomorrow, awesome. Either way I'm going to learn a lot tomorrow, whether I shoot 85 or 65."
