Notes From The Road

Posted: Monday, May 28, 2007

Contributor: Mike O'Connell

 

Caddie Diaries: Senior PGA Championship

From time to time, Mike O'Connell gets the unique opportunity to witness Peter's game up close and personal. Here are his thoughts from his week caddying for Peter at the 68th Senior PGA Championship, held at The Ocean Course on Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

SUNDAY, MAY 27

We went off at 9:03 a.m. with Bob Gilder and Bill Schumaker. Peter shot 72 after making a birdie on 17. It was nice to get a little payback on that hole!! All-in-all Peter had a very successful first week back in that there was no pain in his hip or his back. His strength is not all the way back but getting four rounds in at Kiawah Island was  a great way to break the ice!

SATURDAY, MAY 26

Today we teed off at 9:06 a.m. with Bill Britton and Gary Robison. Peter struggled with the first 10 holes before making birdies on 12, 14, 16 and 18. Unfortunately, he tripled 17. After the round we went to The River Course and practiced for three hours. Peter has gotten a lot of practice in without hurting, which is a great thing! It would be nice to get a round under par tomorrow to round out the week.

FRIDAY, MAY 25

We had an early morning with our 8:20 a.m. tee time, playing again with Torrance and Kuramoto. Peter got it up and down on 15, 17 and 18 to make the cut right on the number. We got in some good practice at The River Course afterword. Then, Peter, Jan and I celebrated D.A. Weibring's birthday with he and his wife, Kristy.

THURSDAY, MAY 24

Today we had a 1:20 p.m. tee time with Sam Torrance and Massy Kuramoto starting on the 10th tee. The wind was blowing 20-25mph when we teed off and you knew anything around par was going to be a great score! Under conditions like these the momentum can swing you all over the place! Peter was four-over-par through 11 holes when he hit a great shot into #3 (our 12th hole) and then 3-putted from 8-feet! After a double-bogey on the next hole he played the remaining five holes at even par to get in at +7 for the day...still within reach of tomorrow's cut!

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23

The wind was blowing very hard today and the talk was about how high the winning score would be! Some well-respected caddies were saying that if conditions stay like they were today for four straight days it could be +5 to +8! We worked on Peter's short game and hit a few balls before playing nine holes with Tom Watson

TUESDAY, MAY 22

Today we played in the pro-am at 10:08 a.m. Two of the four amateurs in Peter's group have a combined age of 150 (71 and 79)! The wind wasn't blowing very hard, which is unusual for this course, but it still played pretty difficult with most of the pins located in the center of the greens. This was Peter's first 18 holes since his back surgery almost eight weeks ago.

MONDAY, MAY 21

We had a full day of travel as we left the West Coast at 6:30 a.m. and arrived into Kiawah Island at 5:00 p.m. Peter, Jan and I are staying at Rick Carlisle's house, as the former Detroit Piston and Indiana Pacer head coach is a good friend of Peter's from his Portland Trailblazer days. The first thing we notice at the house is Peter's caddie bib from the British Open the year that Rick caddied for Peter. Very cool.

 

NOTES FROM THE ROAD HOME