Social media was alight on Sunday about the Travellers Championship, sadly not about Ken Dukes fantastic play off win over Chris Stroud, the incident between Bubba Watson and his caddie Ted Scott.
On the par 3 16th Bubba hit his 1st in the water and his 3rd long and then blamed Ted.
Ask yourself this, if it had been Rory Sabatini would this have been a story.
On twitter both Watson & Scott regularly quote bible scriptures and both come over as uber religious. It is something many American golfers are comfy with, as a European I just don’t get it.
I can never remember a European winning a tournament and in his post round interview thanking “my lord and saviour Jesus Christ”, we just don’t roll that way. Those who are religious keep it to themselves, its their belief and the don’t see the need to broadcast it or shout “look at me I am a Christian, that makes me a nice person”.
Maybe I should point out that I am agnostic!
But I digress.
Apart from poor execution of the shot Bubba made 1 huge mistake, he got caught on camera having a hissy fit at his caddie.
The dummy, the toys, the blanket, everything came out of the pram.
Neither players or caddies are perfect, both make mistakes.
Remember Miles Byrne ??
2001 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes, Sunday morning tees it up in a 4 way tie for the lead overnight, Woosnam opens with a birdie or so he thought.
Byrne had 15 clubs in the bag.
Woosnam had been humming and haying between 2 drivers on the range and told Byrne to leave 1 out, Byrne failed to do so.
So Woosnam birdie became a bogey and he ended up 3 shots behind eventual winner David Duval.
Probably the biggest mistake ever or what about Jose Manual Lara?
During the BMW International Open Lara’s caddie, Mathias Vinson, “attempted” to hide a 15th club in a bush, mid round!
Even Steve Williams is not perfect, even though he thinks he is! Remember him dropping Tigers 9 iron into the water in the 2006 Ryder Cup ??
For those who think you just turn up and carry a bag have no idea what a caddy does.
You have to go and walk the course before even a practice round is played, pace all the yardages from various markers, analyse every green, note hazards, get the best lines from the tees, try to speak to the local pro and gain some local knowledge. You are basically a sat nav!
Try this, your player is leading a major on the 72nd hole,
The green slopes right to left with a 4 foot rise, the pin is 5 foot in from the right, 4 foot from the front with a huge bunker protecting the right side, greem is 40 foot wide, 25 foot deep with OB 2 yards from the back. You are into a 2 club wind with 175 to pin.
What do you tell your player?
175 is a 7 iron, but wind makes it a 5 ?? They are leading a major, adrenaline pumping, does that make it a 6 ??
Honestly just try to take all that on board.
Caddying is not easy, good caddies can earn a good living but you can be out of a job at a drop of a hat, just because a player fancies a pair of fresh eyes.
Most club caddies and players cant even rake a bunker at club level never mind at tour level.
The days of show up, keep up and shut up are gone for caddies.
As for Bubba Watson, well we all hit bad shots and sometimes its better to simply hold your hands up and say “me bad” and keep the toys in the pram.
Now were did I read “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” ??
Ask yourself this, if it had been Rory Sabatini would this have been a story.
On twitter both Watson & Scott regularly quote bible scriptures and both come over as uber religious. It is something many American golfers are comfy with, as a European I just don’t get it.
I can never remember a European winning a tournament and in his post round interview thanking “my lord and saviour Jesus Christ”, we just don’t roll that way. Those who are religious keep it to themselves, its their belief and the don’t see the need to broadcast it or shout “look at me I am a Christian, that makes me a nice person”.
Maybe I should point out that I am agnostic!
But I digress.
Apart from poor execution of the shot Bubba made 1 huge mistake, he got caught on camera having a hissy fit at his caddie.
The dummy, the toys, the blanket, everything came out of the pram.
Neither players or caddies are perfect, both make mistakes.
Remember Miles Byrne ??2001 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes, Sunday morning tees it up in a 4 way tie for the lead overnight, Woosnam opens with a birdie or so he thought.
Byrne had 15 clubs in the bag.
Woosnam had been humming and haying between 2 drivers on the range and told Byrne to leave 1 out, Byrne failed to do so.
So Woosnam birdie became a bogey and he ended up 3 shots behind eventual winner David Duval.
Probably the biggest mistake ever or what about Jose Manual Lara?
During the BMW International Open Lara’s caddie, Mathias Vinson, “attempted” to hide a 15th club in a bush, mid round!
Even Steve Williams is not perfect, even though he thinks he is! Remember him dropping Tigers 9 iron into the water in the 2006 Ryder Cup ??
For those who think you just turn up and carry a bag have no idea what a caddy does.
You have to go and walk the course before even a practice round is played, pace all the yardages from various markers, analyse every green, note hazards, get the best lines from the tees, try to speak to the local pro and gain some local knowledge. You are basically a sat nav!
Try this, your player is leading a major on the 72nd hole,
The green slopes right to left with a 4 foot rise, the pin is 5 foot in from the right, 4 foot from the front with a huge bunker protecting the right side, greem is 40 foot wide, 25 foot deep with OB 2 yards from the back. You are into a 2 club wind with 175 to pin.
What do you tell your player?
175 is a 7 iron, but wind makes it a 5 ?? They are leading a major, adrenaline pumping, does that make it a 6 ??
Honestly just try to take all that on board.
Caddying is not easy, good caddies can earn a good living but you can be out of a job at a drop of a hat, just because a player fancies a pair of fresh eyes.
Most club caddies and players cant even rake a bunker at club level never mind at tour level.
The days of show up, keep up and shut up are gone for caddies.
As for Bubba Watson, well we all hit bad shots and sometimes its better to simply hold your hands up and say “me bad” and keep the toys in the pram.
Now were did I read “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” ??
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