Mark’s Kaddy Korner

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Sony Open – Predictions, Facts, and Stories

Just after John Houston waylaid Waialae with his sister on the bag in 1998 Seth Raynor’s track has been quite daunting. The PGA Tour mandated changes, now fairways are difficult to hit, the rough is basically unplayable, the 30-40 mph crosswinds wreak havoc with club selection and putting the grainy greens treacherous. Newcomers think they are going to enjoy the Hawaiian sun and tear up this short layout. They’ll get a nice tan, only the veterans shoot numbers in the teens.

Robert Garrigus, Good Guy – Cub Fan

He didn’t win it this weekend but he didn’t whine, cry, or blame others when he jammed his tying putt through the break late Sunday afternoon. When he finished his round he didn’t go hide waiting for the playoff, he stuck around, signed autographs, tousled kid’s hair, kissed his baby and hung out with the crowd. He blew a big lead on the last hole in Memphis last summer; there weren’t any excuses then either. The last tournament of the year he needed a bunch of money to keep his card; he won it. A few years back he was abusing himself with drugs, alcohol and anything he could get his hands on. A late night infomercial convinced him rehab was the answer and four years later he was hovering around the PGA Tour.

2011 PGA Tour Crystal Ball

Seems like this time of the year every golf pundit, prognosticator, fan, player, and caddy are making their predictions or telling everyone, “I’m sure this or that is going to happen.” Picking golf scores or tournament winners is a lot like predicting the weather. There’s a lot of scientific knowledge available for analysis but if too many putts lip out instead of dropping it’s going to be a long season for anyone inside the top echelon. In the mid-90’s Peter Jacobsen went from 88^th on the money list to just outside the top five the next year. Johnny Carson asked him late one night, “What was the difference?”

I hope everyone had a happy holiday season and all are looking forward to a wonderful New Year. Since my last Kaddy Korner I’ve acquired a new hip, spent the last three weeks slowly rehabilitating the muscles surrounding the titanium blend ball in my hip socket and making sure the plate bolted to my femur didn’t twist or break. Just after surgery, December 7, carrying a bag seemed like a long way off.

Flying back from Florida last week I stumbled into an amazing person. We literally fell against one another as we were boarding the plane. I was limping toward my seat and he was doing the same heading for the seat next to me. My condition is temporary; he’d been living with his disability since he was twenty years old and left for dead in Vietnam.

 Jon Hovde was missing his right arm and leg but not his smile and zest for life. We chatted for awhile and I forgot how tired I was. The northern Minnesota native told me bits and pieces but promised he’d send me his recent book Left for Dead: A Second Life after Vietnam. It’s waiting for me in Florida and the first I’ll read after surgery.

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Champions Tour Q-School, TPC at Eagle Trace, Coral Springs, FL

Driving across Alligator Alley Saturday morning I was thinking about the 7 or 8 Q-Schools I’ve attended over the years and only successfully graduated from one. There were three final stages on the PGA Tour, two on the Champions Tour, and a few second stage visits. I wouldn’t consider myself a grizzled vet at these things but seen enough to know no one really wants to be here. They are a necessary evil for struggling tour pros and a glimmer of hope for club professionals and low handicap amateurs.

Caddying Comes Full Circle

Next week I’m heading for TPC at Eagle Trace in Coral Springs, FL. Twenty-two years ago last March I was pulling into a parking lot ready for my first job on the PGA Tour with Phil Blackmar. There were no houses, no trees, and not many roads, nothing surrounding Eagle Trace except the Everglades to the west. I haven’t been there since 1991, I’m sure things have changed but thinking about that first week sure conjured up memories.

AT & T Championship – Champions Tour – San Antonio, TX

Albert Warren Tillinghast created Oak Hills CC in the early 20’s, back then it was perched on a hill about ten miles north of San Antonio. The city has grown up around it but his masterpiece is still one of the finest courses the Champions Tour visits. The traffic is horrific but once behind Oak Hills’ walls and shady oaks lining the tight fairways the golf is exquisite. The PGA Tour played the Texas Open on this short, shot-makers course until 1994 when it out grew the track and sponsors enticed the tour to move to LaCantera, a resort course most caddies despised.

Kaddy Korner – Administaff Classic – The Woodlands, TX

The day and half Houston drive was relaxing and uneventful; those new tires are nice now it’s time to get the air conditioner fixed. I was looking forward to the week at The Woodlands. Bob was playing good, I was going to shack up with Todd’s (Watson’s caddy) brother Paul, watch a bunch of baseball, and play our way in to the Schwab Cup tournament. Bob only needed about $80-90,000 for the top thirty money winners event and I liked our chances.