I spent a year or so being a golf caddy for my friend Joe Kovac who was an assistant golf pro for a country club when I was in junior college. If I was not caddying for Joe, he always got me onto nice country clubs to play with him and tons of Titleist Balata balls to play with for free. It was a great gig.
I was able to caddie for him in a tournament at Medinah Country Club in Illinois where the PGA championship will be played in a few weeks. Below is a story of someone who got to caddie for Tiger Woods yesterday - pretty cool:
Tiger’s round at Medinah a case of caddie shock
August 1, 2006
BY LEN ZIEHM Staff Reporter
Brad Conklin was sitting at home Sunday night when the assistant pro at Medinah Country Club got a call from head pro Mike Scully, asking him if he would take on a special caddie assignment Monday morning.
While Conklin had a suspicion what that assignment was, ”when he learned it was Tiger, he nearly fell over,” Scully said.
Yes, that special guest was none other than Tiger Woods — or, as Scully called him, ”just a guy who hits it 360 off the tee.”
Woods was getting his first look at the renovated No. 3 course at Medinah, which will host the 88th PGA Championship the week of Aug. 14.
The recently crowned British Open champion played with his agent, Mark Steinberg, on his way to the Buick Open outside Flint, Mich. — Woods’ last tournament before the PGA.
”I’ve known Mike since I was 12 years old, and he knows I’m one of the biggest fans Tiger’s got,” said Conklin, an assistant under Scully at a club in Fort Myers, Fla., before following him to Medinah. ”It was, honest to God, the best day of my life.
”Tiger is unbelievable. It was a perfect day. It couldn’t have been better. He treated me so nice. My feet haven’t touched the ground yet.”
Woods shot a 5-under-par 67 in the casual round — one stroke more than Phil Mickelson needed in his first look at Medinah No. 3 on July 4. Mickelson played with Scully that day, but Scully couldn’t play with Woods because of a prior commitment to give CBS broadcaster Lanny Wadkins a tour of the facility.
Scully did walk the back nine with Woods.
”He hit some unbelievable shots,” Scully said. ”He used the driver a couple of times, hit a few 3-woods and some 5-woods. He can hit his 5-wood 250 to 260 yards.”
Scully learned of Woods’ intention to slip into town late Sunday. That meant putting security measures into place quickly.
”We were able to keep his coming pretty much under wraps,” Scully said. ”He didn’t have 50 to 60 carts following him around like Phil did.”
Only PGA of America tournament chairman Michael Belot, Medinah tournament chairman Art Frigo and a few of Scully’s staffers knew Woods was coming ahead of time.
Scully was impressed with Woods’ fitness.
”He would have played 36 holes, but he had run eight miles on Sunday and he also ran in Orlando before flying here,” Scully said. ”But if Steinberg hadn’t had a bad back, they probably still would have played 36. Tiger’s as fit as a fiddle.”
Steinberg, a Peoria native and a walk-on on Illinois’ 1989 Final Four basketball team, developed the ailment while playing in a member-guest over the weekend in Cleveland. He and Woods planned to fly to Michigan together after the round.
They had a nearly-empty golf course. Tom Pernice, another member of the PGA field, started a practice round in front of them, but Woods and Steinberg played through him on the 14th hole.
The 605-yard, par-5 14th was the highlight of Woods’ round.
”He hit a drive into the wind and was left with 287 to the pin,” Conklin said. ”He hit a 4-wood to four feet and made eagle. It was pretty cool, and Pernice told him that was the most awesome ball-striking he’d ever seen.”
Woods missed only two fairways, and according to Scully and Conklin, he repeatedly praised the course that was changed drastically by architect Rees Jones since Woods won the 1999 PGA at Medinah.
”He must have said seven or eight times that he wished he could play a course like this all the time,” Conklin said.
Said Scully: ”He thought the golf course was in great shape and that he’s anxious to get back.”
Woods and Steinberg teed off at about 10:15 a.m., and Scully’s security measures enabled them to play quickly. He had security personnel at several locations on the course with orders to check out anyone who looked suspicious.
”Unless they had my approval to be there, they had the right to shoot them,” Scully said, apparently in jest.
Woods did encounter some fans after the round who had been playing in an outing on Medinah’s No. 2 course. He signed a few autographs and was off the premises by 3 p.m.
