Mark’s Kaddy Korner

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Thursday at the John Deere Classic I bumped into an old friend, D.J. Gregory. Remember the guy with Cerebral Palsy who walked every hole of the 2008 PGA Tour? He was featured in every local newspaper on tour, ESPN, and too many local stations too mention. He never missed a hole and is still walking PGA courses in 2010. Now he has a Walking for Kids Foundation and he’s raising money for disabled kids through his weekly treks.

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My brother Dan, caddying for Tamie Durdin this week, moaned about the greens, rough and weather. The long hitter “Durds” was struggling in the practice rounds but fired a two opener and made the cut tied for 36th. “There’s no reason for the standard bearers to carry any red numbers after the first day” he said. “Absolutely the toughest U.S. Open track he’s ever been on in his 25+ caddy years, someone could hurt themselves out here,” he sighed.

A weekend off was kind of what I needed, it had been awhile since I worked five straight weeks. “Mighty” Misun Cho, all 5’ 2’’ and 110 pounds wanted me to meet her Monday morning before the pro-am for a little practice. I skirted the tornadoes and nasty weather driving from Chicago to Toledo Sunday evening and checked into the lovely Knight’s Inn about 20 minutes from Highland Meadows in Sylvania.

Sorry about last week folks, I was brain dead, out of touch with the Internet and stuck in Illinois for a couple of days. I was supposed to take off for New Jersey Sunday afternoon right after our round in Springfield but for reasons beyond my control my departure was postponed until late Tuesday afternoon. Luckily, Rachel understood. She was in the Tuesday pro-am and as long as I found her a caddy I could show up Wednesday noon. My buddy, George Assante, a Champions Tour caddy living in New Jersey filled in for a $100 and all was well.

The PGA of America chose the Colorado Golf Club for the Senior PGA less than two years after it officially opened. I’m sure there are some folks regretting that decision. The course is magnificent but a bit difficult for spectators. Someday there will be an opulent 30.000 square foot clubhouse but this week there are open receptacles, the dining area is unfinished forcing the players and families up the dusty path to a small cottage with few tables. Usually folks like to see a little grass around the clubhouse but the sod was taken back after bills went unpaid. With the high winds this week it has actually been dangerous walking around the clubhouse area. The blowing dirt and gravel permeated my old skin a few times.

It’s very frustrating leaving a tournament site when you arrive with high expectations. Birmingham held a lot of special memories, Jim had been working hard, plus his best friend and instructor were planning on a little celebration Sunday night after the win. The best I could do was laundry Sunday evening and then a long rainy drive home Monday. There were no special plans for the week off and when I left Jim he wasn’t sure if was playing the PGA the next week. Sunday afternoons are like that after a smooth 79.

The Regions Charity Classic played at Ross Bridge Resort and Spa used to be the Bruno’s Memorial Classic at Greystone Country Club and back then it was the strongest field with the largest galleries on the Champions Tour. These days the field is weak, the fans gather around the four or five holes surrounding the resort hotel and rarely venture out on the course, and there isn’t the buzz around Birmingham like there used to be. There were a lot of “remember when” stories about Greystone floating around the practice tee; everyone would love to go back.

The Mississippi Gulf Coast Classic was added to the schedule last December, nobody knew much about the area or the course we would be playing, Fallen Oak. All we knew was the course was about twenty miles north of the Gulf Coast in the middle of nowhere plus the local casinos were offering players and caddies special room deals. That’s usually not a good omen for some caddies but there were no reports of anyone reporting M.I.A and only a couple reported late for duty.

Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf

Whispers, the first tee starter, greets every player and announces to the crowd, “Let’s give them a sweet Savannah welcome” and everyone does just that all week. Savannah opens its arms, homes and restaurants, the hospitality is unbelievable and the Liberty Mutual Legends of golf has been coming here since 2003. Doug Tewell was the defending that year and it was nice to be back together, the golf wasn’t very good but the reminiscing was fun.

Another week off but a lot going on and I tried to follow the Tiger parade through Augusta as much as possible. The cabin was still intact, Zach chased a few critters from the shed, and when we left on Thursday snow was collecting on the deck. Everywhere I went folks wanted to know my thoughts about Tiger. How would he finish at the Masters? What was going on in his personal life? Would Stevie keep his job? What did you think about the press conference on Monday?