Scott Martin's Page - February 2006 - Archives

Mark Brooks Shoots -8 at Chrysler Classic

Tucson, Az. 2-24-06

I haven't caddied for a round as low as today's in quite some time. When a PGA Tour player goes on a roll, you wouldn't believe how easy they can make it look. Four birdies on the front nine today and four on the back. Just like that he is in the hunt. I caught Mark at a good time. He's confident and it shows in his scores. He played well in LA last week and it's amazing how the good play can carry over from week to week. He played pretty good for round one on Thursday for the most part but when he made a mistake it cost him. Today he made a couple of mistakes on the first two holes but he managed to make par on both of them. There were no problems for the rest of the round and he birdied 50% of the holes that we played from that point on. I had the best seat in the house for the show.

Ever since I started caddying on tour, I've been fortunate enough to have made a high percentage cuts of tournaments that I've caddied in. All that changed last May when Brett Quigley let me go. This is the first cut I have made since then. Over nine months! It was a huge relief today to know that I'll get the chance to work the weekend. After the round Mark and I went to the caddie trailer to get a bite to eat before practicing. It was nice to walk the length of the range and have all the guys congratulate us on a good round. The players to Mark and the caddies to me. It's been a while and it felt good.

We had a fun pairing this week, playing with two other PGA Championship winners as we did on Tuesday. Once again we played with Jeff Sluman, who had an awesome run today and Rich Beem who had a run in the wrong direction. Sluman started the day at minus 2 but went to plus 1 after the first 6 holes of the day. He then birdied 7 of the final 12 holes to go to minus 6 for the tournament and easily making the cut. It's amazing how these guys can hang in there if they want to. There was no quit in him and it paid off for him at the end. A number of times I have seen players throw in the towel after having a rough start. It is rare but it does occasionally happen. Rich Beem tried to grind it out today but fell one short of making the cut. All three player hit great second shots in to 18 today. They were all no farther than 5 feet. Mark putted first and rolled it in for a birdie-birdie finish. Thank you very much. Seventeen and 18 are two pretty good holes and a par-par finish wouldn't have been bad. Two more birdies instead was a rush. Sluman then drained his four-footer which left Beem needing to make his birdie putt to make the cut on the number. A little too high of a putt and it was a missed cut for him. It was too bad. I thought he played good enough to have at least made the cut. Not a very big guy but he can get it out there off the tee.

For Saturday's round we are paired with Brian Henninger, two-time winner on tour and Jerry Kelly. It's nice to go into the weekend being only three shots off the pace. A lot of guys are right in this thing and it's going to be a shootout for the next couple of days. The weather is supposed to be nice with temperatures around 80 degrees and light winds. It's not that difficult of a course so the guy who will win will be the guy who putts the best. So far, Marks has averaged 25.5 putts per round which is second place this week and is #1 in putts per greens in regulation. Ranking 1 and 2 in those categories is a great start. Let's hope he keeps it up.

As for any more work with Mark after this week, I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens over the weekend. I've been told by a couple of people that Mark's regular caddie, Jim Freidman, is at home tending to a family matter. I'm not sure when he's due back so it's up in the air. Which leaves my travel plans up in the air as well. I have my own car with me and have plans to drive it east for the Florida swing. If I do have a job next week things get a little more complicated. Finishing on Sunday and driving straight through would get me to Miami Monday morning. But I would be a basket case by the time I got there. I do love the drive across the country but having to do it almost non-stop is mentally tough. I do have a caddie buddy of mine traveling with me to share the driving and make things easier. Here's our plan. He is not working next week. If I do have a job for next week we will drive together as far as Houston, Texas. We will be able to do the 1100 miles by noon Monday. I will then fly to Miami and my buddy, Dave, will drive my car to Miami. If I don't have a job we'll do the drive together.

But first things first. Let's have a good weekend. It's exciting to be in the hunt and have a chance. That's what PGA Tour players want. A chance. Let's hope Mark takes advantage of his this week. Enjoy the golf.
 

Tucson, Az. 2-21-06

I certainly have a bit of catching up to do. First, I’d like to go back to Riviera last week in LA. I hung out at the course for Tuesday and Wednesday hoping to come across some employment. I got a couple of leads and made a few phone calls. The first player I was interested in was the Swede, Richard Johnson. I worked for Richard in Houston back in 2003, I believe. We had a decent week making the cut but nothing spectacular on the weekend. But I could see he had game. Not the most talented player I had worked for but he had desire. There was no quit in him and I’ve always admired that. Recently, he relieved his caddie “Philly” Billy Poile of his duties. Richard has the help of a good friend of mine, Billy Carlucci, who works for Jeff Brehaut in trying to find a new caddie. Knowing that, I went to Billy and asked him to call Richard on my behalf. Billy told me that he thought Richard would be interested and that it was likely I would get the job. He placed the call to Richard for me and left a message. I actually thought I would get the job. Richard called ten minutes later and pulled the rug out from under my feet. It stings for a bit but it was time to get back to looking for another. With the west coast portion of the tour coming to an end, a number of players tend to make changes before heading to Florida. It happens every year.

I went back to Riviera on Friday. Another rare but occasional occurrence on Friday, is players letting a caddie go after missing a cut. And sometimes all that player needs to make the change is seeing another caddie out of work looking for a job. It’s like circling vultures waiting to move in after a caddie has been dumped. Or as we call it, “flushed”. Something very rare happened Friday morning before I got to the course. After shooting plus 2 on Thursday, Stephen Ames showed up needing a caddie. His brother and caddie, Robbie, had come down with the flu and couldn’t work. Ames wanted a tour caddie and there were none to be found at that time of the morning. He was offered a local caddie who worked at Riviera but he was not interested. He withdrew and did not play his second round. I learned a valuable lesson that day and that will never happen again. Another big issue arose Friday that could have cost any number of caddies their jobs. When the players teed off for the Friday afternoon tee times the weather was very nice. Sunny and 75 degrees. But the weather can change quickly at Riviera. By the time the second round was done that day, it was around 45 degrees and raining. Very few players and caddies were prepared. Even Tiger and has caddie, Steve Williams. No umbrella, no rain suit, no sweater and no bag cover. It was a cold that went to the bone that day. Personally, I’ve spoken to only two caddies who were prepared. Mike “Fluff” Cowan who works for Jim Furyk and Scotty Steele, who caddies for Kevin Sutherland. I saw a lot of miserable faces heading to the locker room late Friday afternoon. I did see one firing happening right in front of me. Another good friend, Chris Mazziotti, was let go by Kirk Triplett after the round. Here’s a guy with two kids and he finds himself out of work just like that. No two-week notice and no 4%. See ya. But that’s how it is.

On Sunday my wife and I, Sunny, spent the day at the course watching players come up #18. We had a great vantage point up on the practice putting green looking down onto the 18tth green. It was a great way to spend the day. Even though it was Sunny’s birthday, she still wanted to go to the course and see the golf and some of her buddies she now has on tour. Rory Sabatinni’s caddie Kevin, is a great guy and it was good to see him get the flag off of the pin after Rory putted out. The player gets the big cheque and the trophy and the caddie gets a pretty big cheque and the flag. That’s tradition.

I had no solid leads for a job heading to Tucson. Monday, as I was driving to Tucson from LA I got a call from Brett Quigley. He asked me if I was in Tucson and if I was did I have a job. I did not. He said that he was 80% sure he was coming to Tucson. He had a 7:50 tee time in the pro-am on Wednesday and his travel arrangements had been made. It all sounded good. He said he would call me Tuesday morning to confirm. At 6:30 Tuesday morning the phone rings and it’s Brett. “Sorry for the roller coaster ride Scotty but I’m not coming”. Not a good wake up call. I went out to Tucson National and waited in the parking lot with about 7 or 8 other guys. Chances were somewhat slim. I got a call from a caddie who was on the course who is a friend of tour player Bob Burns. Bob plays on a limited schedule because of his status but got in as an alternate this week. It was 10:30 this morning when I got that call. Burns was supposed to show up some time in the afternoon. No set time. I was told to wait by the parking lot entrance to get to him first. I folded up my towel and put it on a big rock and sat by the entrance. Veteran player and former PGA Championship winner Mark Brooks walks by and we say hello. He asks me when my man is getting there, meaning Craig Perks. I told him I was now unemployed and looking for a job. He says to me, “Let’s go, me and you”. I had seen him a couple of times walking by the caddies earlier in the morning. He was actually seeing who was available and didn’t want to come and talk to anyone because he would have been swarmed by caddies looking for work. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He gave me a great line as we walked to the range. He said,” I’ve been wanting to work with you for a while now.” Honestly, I don’t know Mark all that well and was surprised to hear that. It’s a great vote of confidence. He has led me to believe that he’ll see how things go this week and we’ll take it from there about employment down the road. I’m very happy to have gotten something for now. Our practice round partners today were also former PGA Championship winners, Jeff Sluman and Shaun Micheel. A lot of great stories were exchanged. Mark is a great guy and it will be fun to work for him here. He doesn’t hit it long but still gets it around. He played quite well last week in LA until a final round 77.

I’m anxious to see how it all unfolds with Mark this week. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed and cheer for Mark Brooks this week.
 

Update from Nissan Open (from Riviera)

     

Updates from  Pebble Beach

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