Scott Martin's Page - January 2006 - Archives

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Update from Phoenix February 1, 2006 

Phoenix, Az. 1-31-06
 
You gotta love Tiger. He's my favourite when my player doesn't have a chance. I watched the final round of the Buick at home on Sunday. Obviously, Nathan Green is a great rookie with a 5th place finish in Hawaii and then the loss in the playoff in San Diego to Tiger.
 
But I have to tell you what really stood out to me during the telecast. Nathan was in the second-to-last group playing with Phil Mickelson. They had a close up of Nathan standing on the 18th tee waiting to play his 72nd hole. He needed to make birdie to get in to the playoff. His eyes were as big as saucers and he looked as though he had cotton balls in his mouth. The pressure was on, big time.  He obviously handled it well and made the birdie. But I'll never forget the look on his face.
 
Ten minutes later there's a close up of Tiger on the 18th tee and he's totally relaxed having a good laugh about something. Not a care in the world. Until he puts the tee in the ground and it's time to focus and hit the shot. He bombs one down the right side of the fairway and gives himself a perfect angle to the front left pin. After the two other players in his group hit, the camera is following Tiger down the 18th fairway. He's got his hands in his pockets and is taking a casual stroll to the ball. He too went on to make birdie and eventually won the Buick for the 4th time.
 
My point being that it was great to watch how the pressure affects players differently. Nathan Green's first time in real contention as a rookie and Tiger on his way to his 47th PGA Tour victory. These guys are so good it's scary.
 
This week we're in Phoenix for the biggest party of the year. The town looks forward to this event all year long. The crowds are always huge and ready for a good time. To make things perfect for this year the weather couldn't be better. Sunny and just about 80 degrees every day.
 
There's a big tent set up not far from the course that they call the Bird's Nest. You can't move in there on Friday and Saturday night. Live music every night with a couple of bigger names on the weekend. The Bird's Nest used to be on site at the golf course but it was just too rowdy and had to be moved about a mile away. There is a shuttle back and forth from the course to the Bird's Nest. Bus loads of inebriated people "golf fans" arrive every 15 minutes.
 
Yesterday morning I left home just outside of LA at 4:00am. Craig was scheduled to play a rare Monday Pro Am at noon. It's a beautiful drive across the desert. What a great sunrise, too. It's only a five hour drive so I got here around 9:00 am. Or so I thought. I called my hotel not too far from the course to see if I could get an early check-in, which was no problem. I was taking my time loading my luggage in the room and just kind of hanging out killing an hour or so. That's until Craig called and asked me where I was. I had forgotten about the hour that I lost with the time change at the California-Arizona state line. All of a sudden I'm in panic mode trying to get to the course. I ended up being only 15 minutes late. That was only the second time in 8 years that I have been late to the course. The last time was for a practice round in 2000 while working for Jimmy Green. There is no job security out here. If you catch a player in the wrong mood and show up 15 minutes late, you could be standing in the parking lot the next day looking for a job.
 
Pro Ams and practice rounds are a good time to do some work in preparation for the event. But my favourite time is when I'm walking the course on my own or with another caddy. Normally, I'll leave a tournament on Sunday and drive to the next event. I usually only arrive on Monday afternoon. I like to walk 9 holes late Monday afternoon and walk the other 9 holes Tuesday morning at sunrise.
 
The first thing I do go to the pro shop to see if there had been any changes to the course in the past year. Sometimes there are quite a few changes that have been made other times there is nothing done. This week for example, there has been a minor change. A fairway bunker has been removed from the right side of the 6th hole. A couple of years ago another tee box was added to lengthen the hole. The left side of the fairway has a few bunkers as well. Players used to be able to clear all the bunkers with their tee shots until the hole was made longer. Last year  there was very little room to land the ball and it was a little unfair. So this year they removed the trap on the right to make a tough hole a little easier and more fair. It's a good change.
 
The course here in Scottsdale is usually in great shape. I love to see the fairways and greens freshly cut with the traditional diamond shaped pattern. But this year I find the course doesn't look as good as I've seen it in the past. The fairways are nice but the greens are brownish in spots and not too fast. The practice putting green is usually a good indicator for what the tournament greens will be like. As soon as I walked on to the practice putting green yesterday I could see they weren't as nice as I'd seen them in past years. But they all have to putt on the same greens and that makes it fair.
 
This is always a good tournament and it shouldn't be any different this year. There is a pretty strong field with Vijay, Sergio, David Toms, Chris DiMarco and Chad Campbell playing. It should be fun for us this week. We're paired with Sergio and Wes Short, winner of last year's Las Vegas Invitational. Sergio played pretty good last week and should have a good one this week as well.
 
Here's a quick Sergio story. He's playing 30 events this year. He now has two caddies one of them a former Retief Goosen caddy who had worked a little for Sergio in the past. They will work 15 events each and will split all the earnings down the middle. If this week's caddy, Greg, wins the other caddy, Glen, will get half of the caddie's percentage. That could be approximately $50,000 for staying at home. But it could certainly be the other way around in a few weeks. It could be a lucrative year for the two of them. Not bad for 15 weeks work as a tour caddy. On top of that, Sergio flies private all the time and the caddy flies with him.
 
I have had a number of emails from people with different ideas for stories. I'll try to best with what some would like to read about.
 
My dark horse pick for this week, Camillo Villegas. A Columbian who played at the University of Florida, Chris DiMarcos' alma mater. Camillo got his card with a top 20 finish on the Nationwide money list last year and was given a sponsor's exemption to play here.

The Buick at Torrey Pines - Wednesday January 25, 2006

Hey Folks

We're in San Diego this week for the Buick. Tiger's in town so that always makes this week pretty exciting. Throughout my career as a caddy I've been lucky enough to have been paired with him for a few practice rounds while I was working for Notah Begay. I've also been paired with him for a couple of tournament rounds at Riviera at the LA Open in 2004. That was for a Saturday and Sunday round. What a blast that was! What I'm getting at is that I still get a rush when he's around. He's got a lot of presence and has the attention of even his peers when he's on the range. Like today.

Craig and I were on the range today after we had played in the morning pro-am. Here at Torrey Pines the range is not very wide but is long enough for the players to hit at both ends. Except Bubba Watson, but that's a different story! The range was pretty busy with players from one side to the other. All of a sudden, security increases. One moment there are no police and the next thing you know, there's a half a dozen of them walking onto the range. Twenty yards behind them comes Tiger surrounded by four more cops. Within a few minutes a spot opens up for him to hit balls. Just about every player sneaks peeks at Tiger as he's hitting. He's the best, so why not?

The galleries following him this week will be huge. For one, he's Tiger. On top of that he's defending champ. Phil Mickelson also plays well here so when these guys go heads to head things can get exciting. As you can tell by now, I'm a big Tiger fan and I love to see him beat Phil. They don't see eye to eye and have a great rivalry going. This week should feature these two going at it. Vijay and Ernie Els are playing overseas so it could and should be a two-man show. We're paired with 2004 champ John Daly and Brent Geiberger. Daly always has a shot at winning whenever he's in a tournament and is a lot of fun being paired with. He'll be bombing them out there and I'll be happily standing there on every tee enjoying the show.

As for last week at the Bob Hope, was that another Cleveland Golf sponsored player winning again? Chad Campbell is one great player. He flies under the radar and plays solid, consistent golf. He didn't play that well last year but still finished top-30 to get into the Tour Championship. I'm hoping my guy can make a cut never mind finishing second and first in his first two events of the year! Craig hit the ball pretty good after a rough start today. Even though this was only a pro-am, he could use any signs of encouragement whenever he plays. Today he had a run of 5 birdies in 6 holes. As I've said in the past, when these guys go on a run they can shoot lights out. Let's hope that all those birdies today can carry over into tomorrow's first round and beyond.

Enjoy the golf coverage this week and I'll be back in touch soon. Bye for now.

Sony Open Update - Monday January 18, 2006
 

Like I was saying last week, Cleveland Golf has some great players and equipment. Two staff players, David Toms and Chad Campbell finished 1-2 with Vijay finishing 6th for three Cleveland players in the top 10 at the Sony Open in Honolulu.

Unfortunately, Craig Perks didn't fare near as well. After opening with a tough first round plus 6, he settled down to shoot even par in the second round of play. He has a lot of work to do before he (we) will see some positive results. He is the nicest guy I have worked for in the last 6 years on tour but probably has the lowest confidence of any player I have worked for. It is understandable, though.

After winning the Player's Championship in 2002 he decided to revamp his swing. He has never played the same with only a handful of top-10's in the last 3-4 years. Craig has a lot of good tools to work with as do all of the players on tour. He has length and a good short game. He's a big guy but has very soft hands around the green. It's too bad that he has to rely on his short game so much. It all starts with the driver.

He's now using a great driver but his mechanics have made things difficult. He misses too many fairways which puts a lot of pressure on his approach shots, which results in a high percentage in missed greens, which puts a lot of pressure on chipping and putting. He is certainly aware of all of this and feels the pressure of a tournament as soon as he steps onto the first tee. If he hits a bad first tee shot, the day's results can be bad. It can be that way for him hole after hole, the pressure to hit good shots. With the great players, it just happens. I once read a great quote from Vijay. A journalist once asked him if winning breeds confidence. He said confidence breeds winning. Unfortunately, Craig's confidence isn't where it needs to be.

There is a very fine line between good and bad at this level of pro golf. Unfortunately, at this point of Craig's career on tour, he's on the wrong side of that line. But I do feel optimistic because of the good things I see on the course. Like a big, straight drive or a great iron shot at the flag. Some great chips or bunker shots or a long putt rolling in. I see it all every round but it doesn't happen often enough to compete with the players on the PGA Tour. 

I hate to write about the bad that is going on right now with Craig and I. I would love to write about great experiences that are happening on the course. But if you are all interested, I would be happy to share my experiences with you.

This week on tour is the Bob Hope in Palm Springs. Craig has chosen to not play  there this week. We'll be hooking up in San Diego next Monday to start getting ready for Buick at

Message for Scott - Tuesday January 12, 2006

Hey Folks

Paul and I have been in touch for the last couple of years while I have been out here caddying on the PGA Tour. He has done a great job with the Scotty Tracker so my family and friends have a chance to follow what's going on while I'm on the road. As you all know, Paul has done a great job with the whole website and I really enjoy the updates from Two Mo. No shortage of humour, that's for sure.

I'm now caddying for Craig Perks and have been since last August. No success last year but hopefully, we'll get things on track for 2006. Craig won The Player's Championship in 2002. The Players has the toughest field of the year. Only the top players play from the PGA Tour as well as the best international players. It's a very exciting event and is my favourite stop of the year.

Craig is starting the season with a new sponsor for equipment and bag. After playing Titleist for the last few years he is now with Cleveland Golf. Cleveland has a number of great players in their stable. Vijay, David Toms, Chad Campbell and Jonathan Kaye just to name a few. They have a new driver that the players are loving. Vijay tried one in a practice round last week at the Mercedes Championship and immediately put it in use. These players will happily try new equipment but it is very rare for them to put it in use that soon. They will usually try it for a couple of weeks before trusting it enough to put it in play. Vijay went on to lose in a playoff to Stewart Appleby. Craig is also going to play the new driver starting with today's first round. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Here's my upcoming schedule for those of you are interested. I'll be working for Craig at the Sony Open, San Diego and Phoenix. I'll then work for my former boss Brett Quigley at Pebble Beach. The following week I'll be back with Craig for the Nissan Championship at Riviera in LA, another one of my favorite courses. Craig will then play all four events in Florida, The Ford Championship at Doral in Miami, The Honda in West Palm, Bay Hill and then The Player's Championship.

If any of you would like to contact me it would be great to hear from you. I can be reached at
scott@2mopaul.com. At this time I would like to wish you all a healthy and happy new year. Take care.

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