Courtesy photo Pictured is Bobbi Stricker, soon to be participant of the Island Resort Championship at the Sweetgrass Golf Club in Harris June 24-26.

ESCANABA — Bobbi Stricker is part of golf royalty but is now setting out on her own path.

The daughter of Ryder Cup winning captain Steve Stricker, the former University of Wisconsin golfer will play in the Island Resort Championship at Sweetgrass June 24-26, with a tourney record $212,500 up for grabs from a field of 156 players.

This year’s champion will receive a record $31,875.

The field has again been expanded from the normal group of 144 to highlight the importance of its international aspect, with six players coming from the Taiwan LPGA. That is a portion of the new partnership on the Epson Tour, which has succeeded the long-standing Symetra Tour.

Stricker is one of two exemptions in this 11th edition, joining New Zealand’s Laura Hoskin.

Stricker earned conditional status on the LPGA’s top developmental circuit by making the 54-hole cut at the first stage of qualifying school near Palm Springs, Calif. She turned pro in January and is playing in the Wisconsin Women’s State Open at fabled Lawsonia this week.

A three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, Stricker had a unique summer job last year, playing at some of the state’s top courses as one of two interns promoting Wisconsin golf.

“That was really cool,” she said in a telephone interview recently, while driving to the State Open. A journalism major who also “loves photography and loves to write and play golf” said the position enabled her to “kind of regroup” after completing college.

She was a walk-on with the UW golf team after qualifying four times for the Division I WIAA tennis tournament at Waunakee High School.

Stricker said she grew up playing tennis because “so many friends played, and I just wanted to be there.”

She played doubles, finishing third and fifth in two state tournaments.

“I was really passionate about tennis,” she said.

That desire to play tennis as a youngster easily describes how little pressure was presented from her golfer-parents-family.

“There never was (pressure to play golf),” she said. “The whole time I played tennis, I was (also) always playing golf. I always had a club in my hand. I had a deep down dream; I just knew I wanted to play golf in college. My parents always said ‘do what I wanted to do.’ They were so supportive.”

Her mother, Nikki Tiziani, spent many years serving as her husband’s caddy. Grandfather Dennis Tiziani was Wisconsin’s golf coach for many years, and his son Mario is now playing on the Senior PGA Tour, with Bobbi serving as caddy several times for her uncle.

Mario Tiziani played in the Canadian Open at Wild Bluff Golf Course in Brimley several years ago, once finishing second.

Once she decided to pursue golf, she said her dad told her, “If you’re really going to do this, you have to be 1,000 percent into this thing. There was never really a pressure (to play golf) but always encouragement. Teaching and encouragement and what a good golfer always consists of, always practice, that little shove in the butt.”

She admits there is pressure because of her name.

“That has been creeping in lately, my name and where I come from,” she said. “It doesn’t really define me by a golf score, but it always creeps in once in a while. My family is so good with helping me with that. They don’t care what I shoot; they want me to love what I’m doing.”

It also gave her the opportunity to see the Ryder Cup from behind the scenes, the dinners, festivities, opening ceremony, the little things.

“I knew how much it meant to my dad and my mom,” she said. “How the players reacted was really cool. I take a lot of pride in my family and my dad. He did it exactly how I thought he would do it. It is so true to who my dad is.

“The (Ryder Cup) win for sure was really cool. It went by so fast. I am really proud of what he did.”

She played at Whistling Straits before the Ryder Cup as part of her internship.

“It was like being on the shore of California,” she said.

As she shifts to her own blossoming golf career, Stricker said, “My first goal is to get into a handful of (Epson) tournaments. I’ve been patiently waiting since January. Internally, I do have some goals I would love to see achieved, improve that (qualifying number) that I have. I don’t want to put a ton of pressure on because I haven’t played in one yet. I am out there for fun. It is the tour I want to be on. Deep down, I want to have fun, enjoy the whole thing, and learn.”

She said, “The pressure is a little different than college. It is different mentally; I have different expectations of myself.”

Serving as a caddy for Uncle Mario has been beneficial. “I have picked up on a lot of things,” she said. “Everybody helps me with my golf swing. There is so much knowledge around me since I’ve turned pro. It is a huge blessing. I definitely don’t take it for granted.”

She needs work on her short game, chipping and wedges.

“I’m trying to stay in the moment, in the present, stay patient and trust my ability,” she said. “I have a lot of people in my corner pushing me.”