MONDAY:
Just prior to the practice round on Monday, I went into the players’ hospitality center and caught up with some old friends for breakfast – Corey Pavin (this year’s Ryder Cup captain), Mark Wiebe and Tim Simpson. It was great to catch up on what their kids are up to now – I have found I have to be careful about asking about wives – some are no longer married to the ones I knew!
I had a great opportunity to play on Monday with a couple of other old friends – Larry Mize (who just won in Montreal a couple of weeks ago) and Loren Roberts (the “Boss of the Moss” and a 12 time winner on the Champions Tour). Both are average length off the tee and Loren is shorter than average with his irons. Both, however, are GREAT putters, with incredible rhythm and pace. Because neither has great length off the tee, I was curious to see how they would “attack” Carnoustie. Not surprisingly, their primary objective was to avoid the fairway bunkers – even if it meant a second shot of 3-4 more clubs into a green. Ironically, these 2 guys probably hit it straighter off the tee than the vast majority of the tour players, yet they still elected to hit 3-woods and hybrids most of the time just to avoid the bunkers.
TUESDAY:
I had signed up to play with Tim Simpson and Katsuyoshi Tomori. Tim and I first played together in the Eastern Amateur in 1976 – Tim was an All-America at Georgia and I was in high school. While he was a great player at that time, I thought he was about the most self-centered, pompous player I had ever met. Over the years, he has mellowed and we became good friends. Tim has helped me with my game on more than one occasion, as he has a keen teaching eye as well. He has been one of the best ball-strikers on both tours for many years, and I always like to play practice rounds with Tim because he has a very simple swing and beautiful rhythm. Oh, yeah – he has a great deep-south redneck sense of humor! And he will be the first to tell you that’s exactly what he is. We had a great time together for about 6 holes, and then Tim said he had to head back to the clubhouse. The new shoes he was wearing were creating a blister on his heel. Just goes to show you that even guys that are playing every week have some of the same issues that weekend golfers (and I include myself in that category now!) experience. Olin Browne was asking one of the caddies (Casey Kerr – caddied for Hubert Green in his prime) about his Sunice rainsuit – because the one he has is awful. You would certainly think that guys that make their living from playing golf would take the time and energy and, if need be, money (Tour players are FAMOUS for not wanting to pay for anything!) to have all the best fitted equipment possible, and that would include rainsuits and shoes. In Tim’s defense, he has had a lot of trouble with a variety of manufacturers in finding the right style of shoe that fits well.
Tomori is a perfect example of why this particular event is so much fun to experience. It truly is the World Open, and it has given me the opportunity to see not only many players (and their caddies) from the US Champions Tour that I have played a lot with in the past, but also a number of international players including Langer, David Frost, Sam Torrance, Wayne Grady, etc. Tomori is likely not someone most Americans can identify, yet he has won seven times on the Japanese Tour and has won on the European Senior Tour. A very controlled player with an outstanding short game…
No comments:
Post a Comment