The child is father of the man. - William Wordsworth
If I had the stamina to carry a golf bag for 18 holes on a 90-degree day, I would sign up to volunteer to caddy for one of the competitors at the USGA Girls Junior Championships. It would certainly help shave a few strokes off my handicap.
This week, the national tournament is being held at the Hartford (CT) Golf Club, and I have spent the last two days watching my son Tim caddy for
"If I were my own caddy," said my less-than-1-handicap son, "I'd be a lot better golfer.
one of the 156 competitors, a straight-off-the-tee, grind-it-out 16 year old from Florida who already has a commitment to play at the University of Virginia after her coming senior year in high school. She birdied the final hole yesterday for a one-over 72 and a total of six over par for the Monday and Tuesday rounds, good enough by three shots to get her into match play, which starts this morning (Wednesday). Tim will be on the bag again and, we hope as well, in the afternoon if she wins her morning match. Matches continue with two more scheduled for Thursday and Friday, and the finals on Saturday.
In Tim's words, the experience of toting the bag and working over each shot in behalf of someone else has taught him something about his own course management.
"If I were my own caddy," he told his mother yesterday, "I'd be a lot better."
Of course, to caddy means much more than toting the bag and handing out clubs. Tim has been focused on his player's strengths -- she is straight as an arrow off most tees and terrific from just off Hartford's contoured greens -- as well as her weaknesses. At just 5 foot 1 inch, she is not as tall or as long off
As for what advice he will offer on how to handle her first match play event, he said: Don't be so nice."
the tees as her fellow competitors are, and she has also found it tough to gauge the speed of the greens.
But player and caddy have managed the course to her strengths and around her weaknesses. On the slick greens at Hartford today, I can recall only one time she was above the hole (it caused her second three-putt bogey in a row); aiming short of the pins meant either an uphill putt or, in the worst case, playing to her strong suit, chipping. But past the pin played negatively to her unfamiliarity with the faster, bent-grass greens at Hartford. She plays mostly slower Bermuda greens in Florida. The strategy worked to perfection on Hartford's par 5 9th, her 18th hole of the day, where she floated a pitching wedge from the first cut of rough to five feet below the hole and sank the putt for birdie.
Tim has also watched carefully his player's relentlessly focused pre-shot routines where no practice swing appears wasted or even casual. And her work around the greens caused him to tell us after the first round that, "if I had her short game, I might be a seriously good golfer." (His handicap rating is less than 1.)
The player and her mom, who has followed every hole, have given Tim credit for helping his golfer relax and read the slick greens. His challenge and that of his player increases significantly today; she has never played an organized head to head match before. I asked Tim what advice he will give her before the match. He said simply: "Don't be so nice [to your opponent]."
I haven't mentioned the player's name because I decided to write this late last night and did not have time to ask her mom's permission. But if you want to follow the progress of the 32 matches at the tournament from 7 a.m. EST today, set your web browser to
USGA.org, click on the U.S. Girls Junior Championship, and then the "scoring" tab.
It is exciting stuff. Yesterday, one player had a hole in one and missed the cut by just one stroke; another shot a 63, which could very well be a course record for a woman at the decades old Hartford Golf Club (they were checking at day's end). LPGA player Morgan Pressel's sister Madison has made it through to match play, as has Daniela Lendl, the 15-year old daughter of tennis great Ivan. Kimberly Kim, 17, is in the field; she won the U.S. Women's Amateur at age 14, the youngest ever to do so. An 11-year old competed in the first two rounds, the youngest girl ever to make it in via sectional qualifying, but she missed the cut.
The future Ochoas, Wies, Parks and Creamers are lurking in the field. There is a lot to see, and learn.
