Golf Australia contributing pro Anthony Summers has provided one of the Cinderella stories of this week’s US Open.
Golf Australia contributing pro Anthony Summers has provided one of the Cinderella stories of this week’s US Open.
Unfortunately his run at the US Open is over, after missing the cut at the Olympic Club. Check out his blog here.
Friday June 15
Round Two
Well my tournament is over. I went down fighting to the last but it wasn’t to be this time. I struggled right from the outset today and the first eight holes seemed like they happened in the blink of an eye and I found myself at +6 for the day and +12 for the tournament and in need of a quick turnaround.
I was definitely nervous starting out and fell victim of over trying on the front side and the harder I tried the worse I got. There was one highlight on the front, a 6-iron to 8 feet on No.3 and I made it as the putt fell in on its last roll for birdie. The rest of the first eight holes were continually trying to scramble from horrible spots and more often than not I found myself unable to even play at the flag with my chip shot such were the positions I found myself in after driving in the rough and then hacking it out from there.
The back nine left me a lot to do and I gave myself a whole bunch of great chances but the putter was icy cold out there. I hit eight of the nine greens from nine thru 17 and was within makeable range on all of them but the putts I left myself sometimes had more than two metres of break in them from 12ft or so, bloody tough work there!
Birdie on 10 was followed by a crazy up and down off where the gallery had been walking all day on 11 and then I gave myself a good chance on 12 from 12ft and left it short right in the middle and then I hit 8 irons to 12ft on 14 and 5ft on 15 but mis-read them and then ran it through the break on 16 from about 10ft. I went for the green at 17 but missed it left, chipped it to 10ft for birdie but again no joy. I hit my worst shot of the back nine off the 18th tee into the crowd but didn’t see it there so hit a provisional right on top of my first ball … consistent even on the poor ones! Greenside trap from there and no chance of stopping it unless I hit the hole, which I did but it bounced about 6ft away and a disappointing miss to bring my golfing week to an end.
The competitor inside me is bitterly disappointed right now because I know I am capable of better than I did on course over the past two days and I feel like I left a lot of shots out there. I will take a lot of positives out of the week though and my striking on the back nine was great! I need to make more of those chances to be competitive but that’s like a lot of things in golf and life … it’s a work in progress.
My team was full of positives after the round and would hear none of my disappointment about my result. They have been fantastic all week as well as for the years we have been together in the various roles they play. Not sure what the weekend will bring but I will head out at some stage and have a bit of a wander but I’m not great in the gallery and with the large crowds I much prefer being inside the ropes!
The place itself out there is just jumping all the time and the roars seem like they come in steady waves from all over the course. It must be a different world again when you can have the gallery cheer just for your club selection as was the case with Bubba on 16 today when he pulled what looked like driver from our viewpoint on the 10th tee to go at 16 with his second. Not sure of the result but no doubt it would have been fun to watch.
The course doesn’t much resemble the one I practiced on on Sunday. It’s now got lots of grey tinges to it and its playing way harder and faster than it was when I first arrived. It is starting to play like a links course in Scotland with a lot of approach shots having to land short of the green and chase up, fun but difficult!
I have learned a lot from this week from watching the guys practice and train and will be keen to get back into things again when I get home next week. The stand out thing for me is how big most of the guys are especially across the back and in the glutes (bum) Even smaller guys like Rory and Luke look really strong and I definitely have a lot of work in the gym ahead of me!
It was interesting watching the guys work with their coaches on the range and short game areas and how the different interactions occur.
I had a cool moment when walking on the range today when Sean Foley stopped me and introduced himself. He said he had read my story and that he loved that stuff about guys hanging in there and persevering so that was a nice interaction. I know Sean is a close friend and coach of Andrew Tschudin, who is my regular travelling partner in Asia and at home, and ‘Tschuds’ had told me to say hi if I ran into him. Nice to meet a guy with a huge profile but without the ego to match!
All up it’s been a fantastic trip and I have had one of the great experiences of my life. It was a huge bonus to have my great supporters so close all week and a huge thanks to my team, who jumped on a plane after I qualified and have shared in and added greatly to my week.
David Epper (sponsor Accident & Health Int’l and caddy this week), John Serhan (long time coach), Matt Crowe (personal trainer, Odyssey Health Club and Spa) and Warwick Burton (team domestique this week and great supporter of my career).
The support I have received from back home and abroad through emails, texts and social media has been inspiring and it is greatly appreciated. If I missed replying I apologise I tried to get back to as many people as possible but it’s been a frantic period and some long days at the course may have caused a miss or two along the way.
I hope you have enjoyed reading along and gathered some insight into life inside the ropes at my first major!
Anthony
Thursday June 14
Round One
Awesome! That’s pretty much the best word for how it felt out there today, the whole place was buzzing from the time I got there around 7am and it didn’t stop until we left at 6.30pm. We watched Tiger, Phil and Bubba tee off from our vantage point in player’s hospitality and the number of people there at the time was amazing. Even more amazing was Phil losing his ball off the 9th tee with so many people in the gallery, crazy!
My golf was a mixed bag, a nervous start on 9 with a pull into the rough and then a flyer over the back that I didn’t get up and down so it was a bogey to get underway. I hit eight of the next nine greens but struggled with the pace of the greens and had three-three putts and missed some good chances for birdie in that time also. The front nine or my back nine today was a scrambling effort with lots of up and downs for par or bogey and I was happy with the way I toughed it out despite not having my best stuff out there. I made my only birdie for the day on 17 that included a ripped hybrid from the right rough to just off the front edge, not in the Nick Watney category of shots in there but I was more than happy with it.
I played with two great guys in Marc Warren of Scotland and Michael Allen, who is leading the money list on the Champions tour and is a member at Olympic. Both guys were good value on course and easy company during our five and a half hour round. Michael had great support being a local and I found myself hoping he would hole every putt he stood over because the cheers were so loud it just gave off a great vibe and the place had a fantastic energy to it. He holed out his second shot on 14 and the crowd went nuts, it made for a lot of fun even if I was having my three-putt run at the same time.
We ran across Tiger’s group a few times today and I stood and marveled at how many people were out there. The 16th is a 670 yard par-5 and the crowd lined the entire length and they were packed in deep too. The 8th is a par 3 with a natural amphitheater and the crowd assembled there was easily the biggest I have seen. We were on the 4th tee which looked over it and I commented to the other guys that this is where I would love to be able to take a photo as it was a fantastic sight with not a blade of grass to be seen on the hill, I’d love to have that picture on my wall as it will long be a great memory for me.
Sadly when we got to that hole there was plenty of grass to be seen on the hill but I got a great roar for my eight-foot par-saver to finish the round off and had a huge smile break out a couple of feet from the hole when I knew I had it! I’m pretty sure the smile didn’t come off my face all day and probably won’t again tomorrow. It’s a whole lot of fun out there and I’m enjoying every minute of it (well maybe not the three putts so much … but they rolled beautifully just 10 feet too long, oops!)
The pin positions were like nothing I had seen before as I went through them pre-round and saw they were nearly all 3 paces from the side! Tight and tucked and on super slick greens it made for a tough day and hats off to Michael Thompson for his 22 putts in his 66. I’m 10 shots back and had 10 more rolls than him (despite my official stats saying 9 greens I hit 10 and had 32 putts not 31, our scorer lady was so nervous she walked outside the ropes for a large part of the round).
Great effort too by Alistair Presnell for his even par round, he struck it great in our practice round together and hopefully he can keep that form going throughout the rest of the week.
Off course there has been plenty of fun stuff with my team. We are holding Warwick responsible for the toilets in the locker room being off limits to players guests as we think security are still trying to track him down for taking a shower after my practice round on Tuesday. Nothing wrong with a bit of a freshen up I thought but apparently that’s not part of the player guest package here this week. We tried to get in at Balboa tonight but the hour and half wait deterred us but it was a pretty cool spot all the same.
It was a long day out there as we made an early start due to not wanting to get caught in any traffic jams that might have been present getting to the course and had breakfast out there.
Afterwards I did a media interview with David Fox from OneAsia, had some lunch and headed back to the range with John for some tidy up work. It was a good session and hopefully things will be neater tomorrow and I finished up with some fun stuff hitting a variety of shots with my 6-iron to various pins on the range including one about 100m away with a 30m slice. It was good to mess around a bit after such a draining day.
Some much needed pace work on the green and then finished up with a massage before joining the traffic queue on the way back into town. It’s about a 20-minute drive that takes about an hour in the afternoons, not a lot of fun there but that’s life in a big city!
Tomorrow will be an exciting day as I’m sure the Friday afternoon crowds will be huge and hopefully I can add to my one shot that made into onto the telecast today (8 iron into 12 green to 6ft, missed it though, bugger!)
Wednesday June 13
Final day of preparation is now done and its all systems go for round one tomorrow. I finished up my prep with an easy day and lots of work on my body. I was able to get some treatment down in the caddie tent where the medical team assembled is much friendlier and way more helpful than the assembled squad in the players locker room. I saw the physio first up this morning who helped out with my super tight hip flexors and at the end of my day I went in and had a massage to help keep everything moving freely.
In between treatments there was a bit of work to be done on the range (no super stars flanking me today!) as I went down the far end to get away from the crowds for a bit and get into some drills to help straighten things out. As is the way though, as the range thinned out the crowds came and watched anyway as I worked on a few things with my coach John Serhan in preparation for some of the things I will face out on the course the next four days. Afterwards a few of the crowd came over and asked what I was doing with certain drills and why and I had a bit of a chat and explained what each one was doing to help me. I always ask a lot of questions so I’m happy to answer them from interested and inquisitive people.
Next stop was the chipping/bunker green and some work from the rough around the green particularly. The rough here isn’t as severe as on course probably due to the constant trampling down from players practicing here all week. It’s much thicker on course and in my practice out there hardly two shots in a row have come out the same way so it will be a battle to get it up and down. Best I just stick to fairways and greens!!
The putting green was the final stop and they are rolling pure! Super quick and reasonably slopy on course it will be in my best interests to keep it under the hole but that’s always easier said than done. I did most of my work on distance/pace control today and was pretty happy with things when I left.
Two of my team took the day off and went cycling/running around the Bay area and up and down some of the hills than San Fran is famous for (yep they are crazy!) whilst John and David came out to the golf. John was on the autograph trail and did quite well with Luke Donald and Rory his major collects on the day. No luck from the most recent major winner who just brushed him off, can’t win them all I guess.
The locker was again full of things to take home including my players gift ( I do it no justice in calling it a box but it’s a nice one that I’m sure will come in handy at home, somewhere) and the player spouse gift bag which was so full of stuff I haven’t even begun to go through it but no doubt lots of things to keep the girls happy.
Given the recent success of the Irish in the US Open we headed out for dinner at the local Irish Pub in the hope that maybe a bit of their luck might come our way! Well that’s not really how it happened as we went to the Italian place first up and they were closed for a private function and the Irish Pub was just down the street and the nearest option but it’s a better story with the first version!!
Off to bed with a bit of relaxation/visualization work then sleep before the first round tomorrow. No doubt I will be nervous but if I can keep the butterflies in formation like I did in qualifying it should be a fun day!
Tuesday June 12
I was working at a corporate day a couple of years back and the guest speaker after lunch had worked at the Australian Institute of Sport and was recounting how the elite athletes model was a very simple one, if its good for me I do it and if its not I don’t. Simple indeed!
He then spoke of Alex Popov and he was always so relaxed and chilled and how nothing bothered him and he told the story of how Alex as a kid was fiery and one day after yelling back at his coach his coach dragged him out of the pool by the hair marched him into his office and told him all the things stress does to your body. He simply then said so ‘ I don’t do stress anymore!’
I wish I could be as chilled as Alex but the nerves are growing as the week goes on and it impacts on us in different ways, with me my body gets tight and it affects my rotation and my shots start coming out either low left or high right and yesterday I had them in abundance, not so much fun but thankfully I was out on course with some great guys Alistair Presnell, Bill Haas and Martin Laird and as the round progressed and we chatted I eased off a lot and found my own rhythm and even managed to win a fiver off Bill on the back nine (for a birdie not overall score). They were quality guys and made my day very enjoyable despite not playing anywhere near my best.
The day started with much better striking on the range and at one stage there the line up went from right to left as we hit, Westwood, McIlroy, Summers, Furyk and Stricker so in highest ranking the order looked like 1,1, 485, 2, 2 and in current order 3, 2 830, 36, 11 but my golf ball knew no different and my shots were coming out great. The thing I noticed that did stand out was how much higher those guys hit it particularly Rory and how much further it went (about 1/3 higher again and 20yds) but just as straight!
The crowds are building at a far greater rate than my nerves and on several holes they were lined the entire length of the fairway, which is a pretty cool sight if only a little intimidating. Thankfully I enjoy interacting with the crowds and had plenty of chances yesterday with my wayward driving to do so up close and personal. The vibe from the crowd is super positive so I will take that onboard as I continue on.
I got some good advice from my mate Andrew Tschudin, who played the US Open at Shinnecock a few years back and he said carry a sharpie for all the autographs you will sign and he was right. There have been hundreds of them! I like doing that especially for the young kids in the crowd as I was one of them once and I was always disappointed when a player gave you the brush off. Bill Haas was particularly good with that too, so good job Bill I say!
***
Crowds are not the only difference to events back home and in Asia but the locker room and in particular the medical teams are of a way different nature. In Australia, we have a physio (Paul Trainor), a chiro and a massage therapist and in Asia we have one or two physios per event, who look after the whole field, here, totally different story. I asked around for the tour massage therapist or a physio and got the run around from about 10 different guys who all said they were private and worked solely for their guys on the tour. The attitude was a little high and mighty from a few of them for me and as such my trainer had to revert to massage therapist as well (ouch!!). So today I will head out early and try my luck in the caddy tent where the same set up we have in Australia is provided by the tour for the caddies and see if I can get some treatment there.
Before leaving the course though we did a not so quick shop in the biggest merchandise tent I have ever seen! No sign of a recession in the US from what was going through the cash registers and we all did our bit to end the downturn to the economy, even with my 20 percent player discount for all our purchases it was still a pretty fair spend…
***
Last night the team all headed to the San Francisco Giants vs the Houston Astros game for a fun night out. The ballpark is visible from my room but we were running late and jumped in a taxi for the trip down but walked back and boy was it cold! We sat down near the fence the last couple of innings right next to the Giants bullpen and it was interesting to watch how they used and rotated their pitchers as well as note the size of the guys (all big!). The Giants ended up having a comfortable win and that makes it 2-0 for the home team in my visits to the ballpark which sadly also means 0-2 for the Astros as they have been the away team at both games I have been to.
The guys from the Tour said they would get my name put up on the scoreboard but I doubt the cameramen could have found us in our way back hidden in the stands seats but Steve Stricker and David Toms got some time up there as part of the faces in the crowd thing they do. Would have been cool but another obstacle would have been knowing who I was or what I looked like, not sure my profile has grown nearly enough for that, yet…
Well that brings to an end another exciting and eventful day at the US Open, Wednesday will be a bit more chilled I hope as we add any final touches to the preparation.
Monday June 11
First official day of practice done and dusted and ready for more action! It was a real buzz out there as the crowds grew as the day went on and I can only imagine they will continue to do so as the week moves on.
Played with fellow Aussie Brendan Jones and a couple of his Japanese Tour mates, Toru and Bikke, between the three of them they have 42 wins up there including four so far this year!
It was a pretty low key practice round for me as I was just seeing holes 11-17 for the first time and trying to work out how to thread it through the overhanging trees that line the fairways and approaches to the greens.
Staying out of the rough is a high priority even though its not real long its so thick and I wont be reaching many greens from off the fairway especially with the rock hard slick greens here at Olympic!
The range set up is pretty cool, you get the balls you play on course as in any brand and type that you want and they put your name on the board behind you so people know who you are (even then I’m sure most people wouldn’t know who I am!)
My locker is filling up as all my Titliest products were there when I arrived and a blanket from The Olympic Club was placed there this morning and I believe tomorrow there is a players gift (as if playing wasn’t enough!) on its way.
My team is having a ball wandering around inside the ropes today and to keep themselves amused they were having a few bets on the outcomes of our shots. I cost Matt my trainer a few dollars with my birdie on 14 and on several other occasions when they bet on three out of the four of us hitting the green in reg on a certain hole or all of us in the fairway. Often I was last off the tee and would be the deciding factor on the bet, as they say every shot pleases somebody!
Matt put me through a long stretch after the round today as I have gotten quite tight with all the travel and golf I played last week in Chicago and it wasn’t a lot of fun. Had to give him a kick at one stage when working on my oh so tight hip flexors to tell him I wasn’t having a lot of fun but it was beneficial as I moved much more freely on the range afterwards. Definitely a case of no pain no gain right there and probably a payback for the birdie on 14…
Well that’s it for Monday not the most exciting of days generally at an event but a pretty fun one was had by all here.
Sunday June 10
San Francisco the gang has arrived!
Hard to describe the feelings around today but I will do my best.
I arrived from Chicago and was given the keys to a new Lexus with 38 miles on the clock and waited for the rest of the crew to arrive from Sydney. Slowly we all gathered and when David Epper, my sponsor and caddy this week, arrived we were all set to go.
We arrived at Olympic and I felt like Vinny Chase from Entourage with us all walking across the car park area toward the putting green. First stop was registration and photo id credentials for David, John Serhan my coach and Matt Crowe my fitness trainer. I think they are as excited as I am just being here and soaking it all up even before official practice even kicks off. A quick scout of the area a few putts and out on the course we ventured.
The course is magnificent to play on and the greens were quick and firm already and when a couple of USGA guys came out late in the day to check the speed 17 green was running at 16 down the slope and 12 up it while 18 was just under 13, icy!!
From my first look the hardest thing for me will be holding the greens as im far from the longest off the tee and will be going in with some mid to long irons on several holes so keeping it on the green and out of the thick collar over the back will be a key to a good week for me.
***
All the guys had a roll on the greens and we had a great moment even if probably highly inappropriate when on the 9th green the other member of our group here, Warwick Burton, ducked into the players area and grabbed some ice creams and we indulged whilst hitting a few one handed putts, which I rolled pretty well.
It’s a great feeling to be surrounded by my team who have given me such unwavering support through good and bad times and for them to be here and share in my first major start is a pretty special thing.
We almost had a huge group highlight, well we thought it might be possible as whilst on the 2nd fairway we saw Tiger playing the 1st so we were hoping he might catch up and play a few holes but alas he only played two and disappeared, maybe another time.
I surprised myself in that I wanted him to catch up and have the chance to play a few holes with him as previously I would have run to keep ahead for fear, I guess, of looking silly or being blown away by his game. But today I felt confident enough to take the opportunity if it presented.
My form was good out there and it’s a long time until Thursday but it was a positive start to the week. The course, from the 10 holes I played, really suits my eye which is important for me being such a visual player.
Tree lined fairways are always something I like to see as they give the hole real definition and give me something to aim at.
Afterwards we had a quick scout of the locker room and its all in alphabetical order so I’m camped next to Stricker and across from Watson, Watney and Westwood; pretty cool to be amongst these guys and hope they are friendly neighbours!
My balls and gloves from Titliest are already in my locker and my player gift and spouse gift will be delivered Tuesday.
We finished up the night with me as last player to leave the course (something I will have to manage is my enthusiasm to keep playing too much in prep and watch my energy levels) and headed for a quick Japanese meal around the corner from the course.
The guys were all tired after their long flight and we have an early start in the morning with a 6.45am pick up at their hotel. I’m the taxi driver for the team as well for the week.
It was a cracking start to the week and I finished the round of in style with a birdie on 18, hope it’s a sign of things to come…
Saturday June 9
Well my time in Chicago is drawing to a close on what has been an awesome 10 days so far.
Qualifying was the obvious highlight but the city has not let me down from the time I got here and I’m finishing my stay in style as a guest of play by play announcer and former White Sox pitcher Ed Farmer in the announcers booth this afternoon at the White Sox vs Astros game.
I met Ed yesterday on the range at Cog Hill and he asked me to be his guest after a chat (everyone who knows me knows I love a good chat!).
I had two fantastic days out at Cog Hill and played the Dubsdread course and former home of the BMW Championship. I couldn’t fathom what the PGA Tour guys didn’t like about the course, only that they must be massively spoilt for choice with everywhere else they play. It was fantastic and one I’d happily like to play again.
Big thanks to Kevin Weeks and Garrett Chousard for their help in allowing me to play and practice out there it was a great facility and Kevin’s putting studio is something to behold, simply amazing set up!
I had a couple of solid days practice and am all set to head to San Fran tomorrow morning and see what the Olympic Club has in store for me.
That said though I’m out tonight for a farewell dinner with my mate Brett and his lovely wife Laura who have put up with me turning their lounge room into a bomb shelter for the week and Im sure it will be fun night.
We have been out to dinner the last couple of nights, firstly with a good mate from home and Sydney Invitational team member Brad French.
He took us to Tavern on Rush right in the middle of what’s known here as the Viagra Triangle (must be some wealthy cosmetic surgeons in Chicago ?) and then last with a traditional Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza. Hmmm nothing to rave about but it was filling before we headed up to the Observatory at the Hancock Building and its 1000ft high views.
Heights don’t do much for me and I was feeling a bit jelly legged at times looking down upon the city but the views were spectacular at night and I have nothing bad to say about Chicago in the summer.
Pretty sure I would be telling a different story about it in the winter as I don’t do cold!
Practice wise my game is still in good shape and my numbers on trackman at Cog were good numbers for me.
I did ok in the putting lab and gained some useful information as well as a truck load of ideas for the indoor facility my coach John Serhan wants to set up at St Michaels as well as some great stuff for Glenn Whittle to use in his putting studio.
The opportunities over here are massive and they do things well. Time to jump on the red line and head off to the game.
I will do my best to imagine what its like to be out in the middle there today with 20,000 plus people watching as it might come in handy next week at some stage, hopefully!
Friday June 8
It's kind of the antithesis of the old Talking Heads song As The Days Go By in which he asks how did I get here, this is not my house this is not my beautiful wife… but for me I remember every step of the way here and there have been many and not all of them in a forward direction.
To cut a long long story short I will start at my impromptu car park meeting with my sponsor David Epper (Accident & Health Int’l) in which he was arriving at work the same time as I was leaving to go home from the gym after another missed cut in the China Open.
2012 hadn’t started well and as we chatted I said I don’t think I will go over to the US Open qualifying as I’m not playing well enough and to which he replied you should go and if you don’t make it then come to Vegas and play some golf with us and then join up on their US Open tour which included games at Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Spanish Bay.
So plan B sounded like a good back up plan.
After the this fortunate meeting it was as only two months later I find myself teeing it up in my first major at The Olympic Club in San Francisco after leading my qualifying in Chicago with rounds of 66, 67 for 11-under total.
There were 2 spots up for grabs at my sectional qualifying and Tim Herron a multiple winner on the PGA Tour grabbed the other spot.
Third place was back at 5-under so there was a nice buffer but I didn’t know that whilst on course and was doing all I could to keep the butterflies in formation as best I could and there were plenty of them flying around!
Since qualifying its been a whirlwind of media interviews and a ton of emails, texts and facebook posts to which I have tried to reply to most (sorry if I haven’t got to you yet) and general well wishes from people far and wide.
I’m thankful for the week off between qualifying as the emotional high I was on was massive and it’s been nice to have Chicago as a distraction to play tourist in for the day on Wednesday.
The golfing community over here has been great and I have been able to play some really nice courses while here at Winnetka (with my mate who im staying with and sleeping on his couch, Brett Folkes), Glen Oak the day before qualifying where my form showed up with a 7-under 65, Glen Ellyn for qualifying and then a casual coming down hit at Evanston before downing tools for the day and taking in Chicago in my own version of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
I didn’t get to drive a Ferrari or impersonate any sausage kings but did have a great day taking in what is a great city (highly recommend the viewing area on level 16 of Trump Tower and if you are there before 2pm its empty so you can take as many pics as you like uninterrupted!)
It will be back to work tomorrow and time to start building the focus again for what lies ahead in San Fran.
I spoke to my good mate Gavin Coles and asked him what to expect and apart from course info he said there will be more people on a course than you have ever seen before, something like 45,000 to 50,000 per day!
I played the Australian Masters at Kingston Heath when Tiger first came down and it seemed like there was no room to move with 20,000 so it will be something to behold.
I was in San Fran last year visiting a mate after missing my connection to US Open qualifying from the Nanshan Masters in China where I finished 7th so I am vaguely familiar with the city but have yet to set eyes on Olympic.
From all reports it’s a great course and should be a tough challenging week ahead.
I have a great team behind me with my sponsor David Epper, my coach John Serhan and my trainer Matt Crowe as the main components as well as a large support base across many fields in helping me get to the opportunity that is now in front of me.
They have great belief in me and help me out in any way they can and it will be great that they are all here to join in and soak up the US Open atmosphere.
David will caddy for me as he has done during several events over the Australian summer and a Johnnie Walker in India and is a great support on and off the course.
The downside for him is that he now misses Vegas, Pebble etc and gets to carry a bag up and down hills for seven days, but I know he will do a great job and hopefully enjoy being inside the ropes at a major (except for any wayward drives I hit!).
The tour he was on is run by other great supporters of mine in Matthew Laverty and Gary Dawson and those guys and the 32 others on the tour will be out on the weekend to watch so here’s hoping I can still be around.
As a mate of mine once told me he doesn’t know anyone happier than me to be working on weekends!
