Notes From The Road

Posted: Monday, July 30, 2007

Contributor: Chris O'Connell

 

Caddie Diaries: Senior British Open Championship

Chris O'Connell spent some time on the road with Peter this summer at the 2007 Senior British Open, held at the historic Muirfield Golf Course in Gullane, Scotland. Read about their week at the prestigious Major Championship in Chris' day-to-day caddie diaries!

SATURDAY, JULY 28

We practiced on Saturday when the weather would allow and both headed back to the U.S. on Sunday. We had a great time in Scotland...I always enjoy getting to spend time with my friend, Peter...however we were eager to get back as we had grown tired of BBC1 and BBC2 featuring only darts, cricket and futbol!

FRIDAY, JULY 27

The morning tee-times in Scotland are usually favorable for scoring, but Friday at 8:50am had winds even stronger than Thursday afternoon. The first hole was a 440-yard par-4 that played straight into the wind. When playing directly into the wind any ball with sidespin gets magnified and on 25-yard fairways that means most drives end up in the thick rough. The hole required a perfectly struck drive followed by a perfectly struck 3-wood...and then it was still likely that you would be short! Sixes were more common than fours today and the stroke average on #1 was around 5.2.

Peter drove the ball much better on day-two. He birdied the par-5 fifth hole to be at level par through five holes...and was gaining some momentum. On the par-4 dogleg left sixth hole he hit a good 3-wood drawing up the left side. We thought it would be in good shape...turned out the ball found the last pot bunker. He blasted out and hit a 7-iron into a greenside pot bunker, mishit the bunker shot there and left it in. We wound up making a seven after a good tee-shot and just like that we were 7-over-par for the championship.

With links golf it seems that a big number is always lurking, and more often they come after finding the small, deep pot bunkers rather than with penalty shots.

Peter hit more quality shots on Friday, but wound up with a 6-over-par 77 for a 10-over-par total. Peter practiced for a good three hours after the round and was swinging great and gaining confidence. I hadn't seen him practice for that long in well over two years. It was the kind of practice session we used to have when he was pain free.

The winds slowed down a bit in the afternoon and unfortunately we missed out on the weekend by one shot. While Peter didn't get the result he wanted it was a productive week in terms of getting him back to where he belongs as he heads to Minnesota for the next Champions Tour event.

THURSDAY, JULY 26

Today we had a late tee-time, and when we showed up on course it looked as though we might get a break with the weather. It was relatively calm with no rain. Our two playing partners were Gil Morgan and Carl Mason, an Englishman who was sitting at #2 on the European Senior Tour Order of Merit.

We played the first five holes in benign conditions, but that soon changed as it so often does in Scotland! It proceeded to rain heavily for the next five holes and the winds came along. The first rule when it rains is that the caddie is going to get wet. My job is to protect the clubs and protect Peter every way that I can...but I need at least five hands while trying to hold the umbrella, clean the ball, unzip the bag cover, keep the bag upright, etc. Those five holes were played in brutal conditions with winds blowing more than 30 mph. It finally quit raining, but the winds never stopped.

Peter is normally one of the best drivers of the golf ball period. WIth his recent surgeries he has gottten into some bad habits and his driving has suffered. Bad driving usually equals bad golf...especially at a major. The fairways at Muirfield are around 25-yards wide and deep heather lines both sides of each fairway. In my opinion, the driver is the most important club in the bag...even more important than the putter because in these conditions a bad drive is usually accompanied by a penalty shot or two, while a bad putt is not. Driving the ball long and straight makes every golf course that much easier .

Peter struggled driving the ball, but hung in there like a true champion grinding out pars from nowhere. It was some of the best scoring I have ever seen from him. After the round we went to the range to work things out. He had a good session and felt better about things heading into Friday.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25

This morning we practiced and then we went into Edinburgh in the afternoon to see the city and Edinburgh Castle. What a city it is! Much like a smaller London and the castle (which is built on top of an extinct volcano) sits high above the city looking down on it. The views from the top are amazing, and it's mind-boggling to think of how they built this massive structure out of stone more than 900 years ago. The history here makes America look like an infant.

TUESDAY, JULY 24

Today we played in the pro-am...and were paired with three guys from the U.S. We had a good group with pretty good players and our team finished 3rd overall.

MONDAY, JULY 23

Today we had a chamber of commerce day here with temps around 70 degrees, sunny and a little wind. We played a practice round with Jay Haas, D.A. Weibring and Tom Purtzer. We had planned on playing just nine holes, but decided to take advantage of the weather and play all 18.

Muirfield is an outstanding course! There are a lot of good, solid holes, and each has heather on both left and right so accuracy is a must for the eventual champion. If you find your ball in the heather consider yourself lucky...many balls will be lost this week and most of those that are found will simply be hacked back into play. People who were at Carnoustie last week say that the rough here at Muirfield is much tougher...and it's old school here in Scotland as women are not allowed into the clubhouse.

Peter played good in many spots, but most importantly he is not in any pain. We are trying to get Peter to stay on top of the ball more in his backswing. From the top we are trying to get his left hip moving first to pin his arms against his body. With the bad hip he has had the past couple of years he got into the habit of not turning his left hip correctly and his arms would come out off of his body.

SUNDAY, JULY 22

We arrived this morning and met up at the Edinburgh airport. It was an interesting drive up to Muirfield with Peter and the standard "stick-shift." Most cars here in Europe are standard...and combine that with driving on the opposite side of the road and all of the roundabouts and it gets pretty exciting! Hopefully Peter's on-course driving will be better this week than his off-course driving...

Peter rented a house here near the course where he and I and Jay Haas' caddie Tommy Lamb are staying. We were all tired from jet lag, but forced ourselves to stay up until the evening so we could get on schedule. We watched the British Open and what a great tournament that was! Peter called Padraig Harrington about midway through the final round.

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