Mark’s Kaddy Korner

Driving across Alligator Alley early Tuesday morning I was staring directly into the sun and wondering what the week held. Sunday I’d hooked up with Jim Roy, some amateur who played a fabulous final round 66 at the Q-school to get his card. Could he really play? Was this going to be only a job for the week or maybe the year? What kind of guy is he? Is the pay going to be any good? All these questions were running through my head as I cruised into Boca Raton and the Old Course at Broken Sound.

The Champions Tour has been playing here for four years and I worked the first event in 2007. It’s a rather short challenging track with difficult winds, hard fast fairways, and treacherous Bermuda greens. With good tee balls all the par fives are reachable so the guys usually score fairly low. I walked the course finishing just after noon and waited for Jim. It was nice sitting in the lot with a job instead of searching for one.

There was a junior pro-am on the back side so we played a quick front nine. We got to know each other a bit, Jim’s buddy “Killer” tagged along, and we had a good time. First impressions mean a lot. Jim was a good guy and could play; this was going to be a good week and something for the future. During the pro-am Wednesday Jim shot a smooth 68 with a double bogey and we laid out our plans for the week. He was great with the amateurs and everyone had a good old time.

I didn’t realize Jim’s story was that big until Dave Kindred, Golf Digest writer and new inductee into the Golf Writer’s Hall of Fame showed up Thursday asking questions and following us around. There was a picture shoot for the magazine article that will be published in May. This is the first time an amateur has had full time exemption on the Champions Tour and Jim had a lot of Syracuse friends following him along with well wishers who had heard about his feat.

We were the first group off the back side on Friday with another couple of unknowns but we had a rather nice crowd. There was an early birdie on eleven, a stupid bogey on twelve, then he made a bomb on the par three fourteenth. He seemed to have things under control and we were working well together making the turn at two under. After the earth stood still for Tiger’s announcement at 11:00 the crowd rejoined us and I noticed Dave Kindred following along jotting notes; it was time to put on a show.

Jim hit a perfect drive on the par five first hole, knocked his trusty rescue club just short of the green leaving a perfect pitch shot across the Bermuda. Standing along the ropes waiting for our partners to play their third shots we noticed a young boy with his parents. I walked up whispered, “Guess a number between 2 and 4.”

He looked quizzically at me and his mom nudged him. “Between 2 and 4” she said. He responded with a giggle, “Oh, three.” I handed him Jim’s used ball and a couple minutes later Jim pitched in for eagle. Crossing the sixth fairway, a reachable par five we bumped into the kid and his parents again, chatted a bit and proceeded to knock our ball pin high short of the green in two. Again, with the kid standing directly across the green, Jim made another chip shot for three. He took the ball from the cup signed it and handed it to the kid. Talking with reporters after the round Jim introduced his good luck charm to the crowd and told him to be here tomorrow.

Every Friday night there is a Champions Tour fellowship meeting. Church on the move without the church stuff and Bernhard Langer invited everyone over to his home for dinner. The double gated community was very impressive, the Langer’s were gracious hosts, and we stuffed ourselves on flounder, pasta, chicken, and dessert table filled with goodies. There’s a lot more camaraderie on the Champions Tour among players and caddies, everyone had a great time.

We were six under, two shots out of the lead and in the next to the last group Saturday with Tim Simpson and Mike Reid. I could tell Jim was nervous, tried to calm him a bit but our good luck charm didn’t show up and we struggled shooting 73. It’s a learning curve and you have to be in the position a few times before you get comfortable. I have a feeling he’s going to be in position quite a few times before the year is done.

Saturday Jim was asking questions about the next tournament in Newport Beach, wondering about the course, and then asked who I was working for. When I told him nobody he offered me the job and I quickly accepted. I think this is going to be a good match, a little bit of a challenge, and a lot of fun. We shot even par on the weekend finished six under and made about $10,000, not bad for an amateur’s second tournament.

We’ll see, another caddy thought he had the job lined up but Jim said he never made a commitment. There may be a bit of a riff in the parking lot next week but for right now I have the job and it’s a good feeling.