Scott Martin's Page - March 2006 - Archives

January 2006February 2006

Atlanta, Ga 3-30-06

Brett Quigley had a pretty good day today, firing a 2 under par, 70. As with any round of golf there is always room for improvement. Two putts were left 2 inches short, going right at the middle of the hole. Three or four others rolled right over the edge of the hole. Apparently, none of Gavin Coles' putts rolled over the edge of the hole. They seemed to fall in the cup instead. Eight under par is an impressive round of golf. He's the leader as I write this at 2:45 Thursday afternoon.

It was a special round of golf today for Brett and I. Back in the summer of 2004, my sister, Sue, was diagnosed with cancer. Earlier this week, I was fortunate enough to have been given Monday and Tuesday off by Brett. My sisters Sue and Karen and my brother, Steve, all met in Albany, NY for a two day visit. It was a very special time for us to be together.

Since Sue was diagnosed, Brett has always asked about how she was doing. Whether I was working for him or not, he always inquired. When were about to tee off for Wednesday's Pro-Am, Brett asked me what my sister's initials are. SM. He dug a black Sharpie marker from his bag and wrote Sue's initials on his golf ball. " This week we're putting your sister's initials on the ball every day", he says to me. Players all have their own markings they put on the golf ball every day. Brett always has green dots on his.

When we were preparing to tee off on the 1st hole today, Brett has a couple of balls ready for the round. He hands me one, which I keep in my pocket until he decides to make a change any time during the round. I don't even look to see if he marked Sue's initials on them. I look down at his ball as it was teed up on the first tee to see if they were there. Couldn't see them. I really wanted them to be there but I hesitated to look at the ball that I had in my pocket.

He hits his tee shot down the right side, first cut. Good shot. There is a good slope up to the first fairway and Brett walked ahead of me a bit as we were going to the tee shot. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the ball. Green dots and SM in black. It showed me what kind of Brett Quigley really is. He can be as tough as they come on the golf course, but what he did today was showed my family and I what's he's about. Every 3 or 4 holes, he pulled out the Sharpie marker and redid the black SM as they faded from shots and me cleaning the ball. It was a great feeling to look down at the ball every hole and see those initials there.

I will always a big fan of Brett Quigley whether I'm working for him or not.

Atlanta, Ga. 3-27-06

Here it is Monday and I'm still trying to get over missing the cut last week at TPC at Sawgrass. We were 2 under with 9 to play on Friday and bogeyed 12,13 and 15. Makeable putts were missed on 17 and 18 as well as not birdieing the par 5, 16th hole. Minus 5 finished well and we were in position to do just that. It certainly wasn't for lack of effort on Mark's part. He just didn't get it done, plain and simple. I'm still enjoying working for him even though we are not getting any results. He's a grinder on the course and I certainly appreciate his consistent effort to succeed.

This week Mark is off after playing the last 8 events in a row. I got a call from Brett Quigley a couple of days ago and was asked to work for him this week just outside of Atlanta at TPC Sugarloaf. Brett is not off to the start he had last year but the potential for him to play well any week is there. Hopefully, we'll have a good week together.

I have mixed feelings about our pairing last week at Sawgrass. I now have a new favorite player in Jason Bohn. This guy is a class act. As the players in the group are announced to the gallery before the round, Jason applauds right along with the crowd. A great guy to be paired with. He always remains positive and offers words of encouragement to the other players in the group throughout the round. An interesting story about Jason. When he was 19 years old and getting ready to start his college golf career, he was entered in a hole-in-one contest. I'm not sure of the place and dates but at the time, he hadn't even taken one shot for his golf team. The night before the hole-in-one contest, Jason was out with the boys for a night of partying. He was telling me last week that had really tied one on. The morning of the contest his buddies had to coax him to get out of bed to take part. He crawled out of bed and made it to the course on time to participate. Did I mention that the hole-in-one was worth $1,000,000 to the first player to make one? Sure enough, Jason steps up, hits the shot and drains it. Hello $1,000,000 and goodbye to the college career. Collecting the money meant losing his amateur status and passing up his chance to play college golf. He immediately turned pro. He collects $50,000 a year for twenty years. He's now 32 years old and still has 7 more years to collect the cash. And he totally appreciates everything that he has accomplished. By the way, his caddie is a fellow Canadian from Toronto.

The third player in our group last week was JB Holmes. I remember cheering for him when he was on his way to his first PGA Tour victory as a rookie in Phoenix earlier this year. It's the last time I'll be doing that. I certainly realize that the pressure for these players to succeed is enormous. But there is a fine line when it comes to behaviour on the course. Here's a rookie who has already won and has a very bright future as a pro golfer. A rookie, a winner and here he was playing in his first Player's Championship, one of the top events of the year internationally. JB has the golf world in the palm of his hand.

But his behaviour was very disappointing. We teed off on #10 for our first round last Thursday. The kid hits a good drive and also a good second shot. As his birdie putt is rolling towards the hole and misses right, it still has some good pace on it. He starts yelling, " GO! GO! GO!" sarcastically. The ball ends up 3 or 4 feet past the hole. On our second hole, the par 5 #11, he bombs a drive 80 yards past Mark Brooks. We hit 3 wood and JB is hitting 8 iron. He misses the green left and eventually makes a par. He freaks out and throws a fit. On #12 he pulls his drive left and is encouraging his ball to find the deep rough. " Go left! Go left! Get in the deep shit! Bury deep!" I mean, this went on and on for the two days we played together. He complained constantly. I hate to complain about his complaining but it was excessive. I wanted to ask him if he appreciated where he was. He went way overboard. During Friday's round on the back nine, Mark was starting to struggle to make the cut. Honestly, I wasn't in the best of moods as our round started to unravel. We were grinding away trying to survive and play the weekend. But here's this rookie, whining for two days and he makes the cut in the number. If anyone on our group deserved to make the cut last week, it was Brooks. For a player to act the way he did in front of a veteran is disrespectful, in my opinion. In front of anyone for that matter. I can see frustration setting in at times throughout a round but to go on and on for two days was excessive.

Honestly, I don't know JB Holmes at all. But in my opinion the way he acted was out of line. Almost childish at times. Hence the new nickname, Baby Holmes.
 

From the TPC at Sawgrass - The shot on 17.

Jacksonville, Fla. 3-22-06

I would like to tell you about the golf course and how it's playing this week. From what I've heard, the fairways are running a bit and the greens aren't too hard at this point. Fairly receptive and they're rolling nice. It would be nice to give you more specific details on course conditions but I can't. Mark Brooks has yet to play a practice round this week. We did drive up to Jacksonville on Saturday but all we did was ride around in a cart, hit about 50 drives and saw about 5 holes all together.

All Mark has done this week is spend at least 6 hours each day between the Callaway trailer and the driving range, building two new set of clubs at no fewer than a dozen drivers. At least. He has it narrowed down to a couple but he isn't too crazy about either one of them. The new Hogan irons are nice, that's for sure. He tested a number of different shafts in each one and finally settled on some True Tempers.

Mark was hitting balls right beside the Callaway trailer. No more than 15 yards away. Right where he likes it. At one point, one of the technicians from the trailer comes out and sets down a box of new balls for Mark to hit. At that point all Mark was hitting were different drivers. The box had 300 balls in it. I can tell you what. It takes a while to hit 300 balls.

As the day was going on, I was starting to wonder if I was going to get to hit my shot on the 17th hole. (If you don't know about the shot on 17, I suggest you read the the article below before going on.) He was making me nervous. He had said that we were going to play the back nine. It was really starting to look like time was running out when it was 4:15. I had to go and do it. I finally said that I was going to grab a couple of clubs and head to 17 on my own. It's not uncommon for a caddy to show up without his player with him. It's a long week with no pro-am so some players won't play Wednesday. That means the caddy has to go out to the hole by himself. I grabbed the 7,8 and 9 iron. There was a pretty strong wind most of the day so I thought I would need some extra club. Mark wasn't concerned that I was leaving him on his own. He was looking for that ever-elusive driver.

As I was walking down the 16th fairway, I was looking ahead to see who the players were in the group I would be joining on 17 tee. If it was someone I didn't know well I would have waited for players and caddies that I knew. I could see it was a foursome in front of me. One by one I recognized them. Tim Petrovic, Loren Roberts, Brad Faxon and Padraig Harrington. Faxon and Harrington made me a little nervous but I thought I could handle hitting a shot in front of them. It was a good thing that I knew all the caddies pretty good as well.

I joined up with them on the 16th green and asked if I could join the group for my shot on 17 since Mark was still on the range. There was still a group on 17 tee so we had plenty of time to watch the caddies in front of us hit. All I heard from the gallery was laughter followed by applause. They were enjoying the show. When it was our turn to head over to the tee, Loren Roberts did something pretty classy. From 16 green to 17 tee, he carried the bag over for the caddie. He got a good round of applause for that move. It says alot about how Loren feels about his caddie, Graham Courts.

The five caddies were all taking practice swings to try to loosen muscles and nerves. I was tempted to go first and get it over with but I thought the other caddies in the group had the right of way. Roberts' caddie hit first and pulls an 8-iron left of the green. Splashdown! A few chuckles from the gallery and players but followed by a round of applause for the effort. Faxon's caddie, Brian Smith is a good player. He hit a nice smooth eight iron towards the flag, which was 137 yards away. His ball drifts a little right and flies pin-hi about 15 feet. The closest at that point was 6 feet, by Hank Keuhne's caddie. By the way, in the big jar that was on the tee box that the players throw their donations into, was a nice pile of 20, 50 and 100 dollar bills. The pot is usually close to or even more than $5000.

The moment Harrington's and Petrovic's caddies hesitate to take the tee, I jump in there. My club of choice was also the eight. I have the same thoughts run through my head every time I do this. As I address the ball, I can see the faces of the players who are watching. You just know all eyes are on you. Whoa! I regroup and and focus on the shot. I pick out my target and take aim. Just before I take the club away, I say to myself "This one's for you, Sue!" My sister, Sue, loves the Player's Championship.

The ball flies right at my target and the wind pushes it a little left, towards the flag. I hear Faxon say, "This is nice." But I knew I hit it a little towards the toe so it would be a little short. It clears the bunker and the ball lands softly on the green on the upper tier, where the pin was located. Final tally, 24 feet. I guess I could have been happier but really, I couldn't have been happier. It was the best shot I had ever hit in my five attempts since 2002. If I did get any applause, I didn't hear it. Nerves, I guess.

My shot today was dedicated to Sis.


Jacksonville, Fla. 3-19-06

I'm sitting here feeling a little numb after watching Greg Owen blow a gasket on the 71st hole at Bay Hill in Orlando. Even Arnie looked shell-shocked. Imagine how Owen himself feels.

Back in the fall of 2004 at the PGA Tour Q-School, I was working for a young New Zealander named Tim Wilkinson. We were paired with Greg Owen for the first two rounds. Judging by the game he had, it was obvious that he would be successful on the PGA Tour. He was long and seemed to hit the ball solid every shot. The only part of his game that seemed weak was his putting. Bad putting reared it's ugly head for Greg during the final round at Bay Hill. It will take him a while to get over that one. A second place finish gets you a nice cheque but these guys want trophies more than anything. Greg will certainly have many more opportunities to win tournaments but the memories of this one could have lingering effects.

This week in Ponte Vedra is a biggie, The Player's Championship at TPC Sawgrass. The field, as usual, could very well be the strongest field of the year. Stronger than any of the four majors by far. The masters has quite a few older players who are past winners. The US and British Opens have their fair share of amateurs and the PGA Championship has a number of club pros. As good as those other events are, there is nothing like The Player's Championship. Seeing as though Mark missed the cut at Bay Hill we drove up here to Jacksonville and spent the afternoon practicing on the range and also playing the front 9. The rough was as long as I've ever seen it. Hopefully, they'll trim it back a bit and not leave it almost a foot long. The greens are in very good shape as well as the fairways. It's a great track that I love coming to every year.

As usual, the caddies will be hitting a shot in front of a big gallery on the island green 17th hole on Wednesday. Closest to the pin gets a big cheque and a beautiful watch from the tour. Sitting here writing about it is already making me nervous. We've got to hit in front of a fairly large gallery, the pros in our group and the group in front always waves us up so they can see us hit. It's pretty tough blocking everything out and focusing on the shot. It's only a pitching wedge or a nine-iron but it's still very intimidating. I've had four attempts and last year was the first time I hit the green. Not real close but it was dry. There's nothing like a nice round of applause from the gallery and a slap on the back from the pros. The pros love watching us hit the shot. They know we're nervous as can be. It's also pretty tough hitting a shot after caddying for 16 holes. As we walk up to 16 green we can see the action on 17. Always good for a few laughs. Some of the caddies are former pros and handle the pressure well. It's us high handicappers that put on a show. I've seen some nasty shots by caddies on that hole. Even a couple by yours truly. The first year I hit the shot I was working for Glen Hnatiuk. We were joined by Corey Pavin on the first tee so I knew I would have to hit the shot in front of a former US Open champion. Nobody said a word about it for the first 12 holes. After the players hit their tee shots on the par-3 13th hole we're walking off the tee and Pavin turns to me and says with a big grin on his face, " Are you nervous yet?" Was I ever. I could hardly even swallow. That was my first year trying that shot and I truly was nervous. The nervous feeling is still there 5 years later but not quite as bad. My first couple of years I would get to the 17th tee as quick as I could to hit the shot. The last couple of years I have taken my time and have had better results. Sounds like something Greg Owen should have done on the 17th green at Bay Hill today.
 

At the Honda Classic

West Palm Beach, Fla. 3-08-06

First things first. I've been having computer problems recently so it makes it hard to keep up with the updates from me. I apologize for the delays and hope to get things on track soon.

Well another win for Tiger. That's three wins in five starts in 2006. Do you think that Buick likes the fact that he wins a Ford sponsored event? I'll go with yes. Buick has a new thing going this year. There is a contest that fans can enter at each event Tiger plays in. If Tiger wins the tournament, the winning fan gets Tiger's courtesy car that he used that week. Three cars in five weeks. Speaking of cars, Tiger's caddie, Steve Williams, ended up with a new one after the Ford Championship. Last year along with the winner's cheque, Tiger also received the Ford GT that was on display in the pond beside the 18th green. It really is a racecar that is street legal. Seeing as though Steve owns a race team back home in his native New Zealand, Tiger gave him the car. Last week, Tiger gave Steve the Ford Cobra Mustang that was on display this year. Nice.

It was also great to see Camillo Villegas play as well as he did. But it's no surprise. He is a very solid player but his real strength is between the ears. It would have been nice to see him par #18 last Saturday which would have had him paired with Tiger for Sunday. I honestly don't think that Camillo could have beat Tiger head to head but it would have been great viewing for fans. Sure, Camillo could beat Tiger some day but I think some experience will take him a long way. He is such a nice guy and is very easy to cheer for.

This week we're at the Honda Classic near West Palm. All I can say is that the greens are brutal here. They're in good shape and roll nice but they have huge undulations in them. Someone once said that it looks like they have elephants buried under them. Not one of the most popular stops on tour. But it's the last year this event will be held at Mirasol. Next year it moves across the street to PGA National. That will be the 4th different course for this event in the last 6 years. But there is one main reason that players keep coming here. The purse. This week there will be $6,000,000 up for grabs. That will keep players coming back. Although there aren't too many top players here this week, we are paired with a couple of the guys who will finish near the top of the leader board I'm sure, David Toms and defending champ, Padraig Harrington.

Last year when I was working for Brett Quigley at this event, we were paired with Harrington on Thursday and Friday. Great guy. As we were playing Friday's round, Brett and I found ourselves cheering for the guy. It's hard not to. He was struggling to make the cut but finally prevailed and made it on the number. He ends up shooting lights out on Sunday and finds himself in a playoff with Vijay. Harrington goes from barely making the cut on Friday to winning the tournament two days later. That's what makes the great players what they are. Champions. They have such strong minds and never quit. That's what really separates these players. They all have the mechanical tools for success. But the really good ones can deal with adversity. Weak minds cannot win on the PGA Tour. So it will be fun to play with two of the world's top players this week.

Whenever the pairings come out, I'm anxious to see who we're playing with not only to see the players but who the caddies I'll be working with will be. A couple of great guys this week. Working for Harrington is an Irishman named Ronan. A very friendly guy. A couple of years ago Ronan was a bartender at one of Padraig's favorite watering holes back in Ireland. Harrington had just let his caddie go and was looking for a new one. He asked Ronan if he wanted to caddie a couple of weeks on the European Tour while he looked for a new caddie. Ronan quickly got the hang of caddying and has been on Padraig's bag ever since. And I'm sure the tips are better that the pub he was working at.

David Toms' caddie, Scottie Gneiser, is another one of my favorites. His father-in-law is Stan Mikita, the former Chicago Blackhawk great. Scottie has been on tour quite a while and has paid his dues. In the early years of his career, he struggled like a lot of other caddies when they start. But for the last few years while working for Toms, he has done very well for himself. He has a beautiful home in a Chicago suburb and has a great wife and two young sons. If a caddie can latch onto a good bag on tour it can be a life changing experience. A good example of that is Camillo Villegas' caddie, Matt. I have known Matt a number of years and he has come a long way. He was a parking lot regular on the PGA, LPGA and Nationwide Tour events. Last year he hooked up with Camillo and hasn't looked back. He has made over $80,000 this year working for Camillo. And counting.

Next week the tour goes to Bay Hill, Arnold Palmer's event in Orlando. I love that place. It's fun to see Arnie prowling the grounds. If I'm not mistaken, he no longer plays the event. I have a good Arnold memory. Three or four years ago, I worked for Tripp Isenhour at Bay Hill. The Sunday before the tournament we were on the range getting ready to play a practice round. Arnie strolls onto the range and hits a few balls. He's now looking for a playing partner. Tripp knows Arnold because Tripp's grandfather is a member at Bay Hill. We ended up playing the back nine with Arnold. He only wanted to play nine holes. Normally, we would have teed off on #1 but since Arnold wanted to play the back nine, well, The King had spoken. It was fun to watch him take those classic slashes at the ball. Honestly, I don't even know how he played. But I do know one thing, it was fun to watch him up close. I tried not to stare too much. On the 10th tee, Arnold goes first. He lashes a drive straight down the fairway. Not long but down the middle. He walks over and stands beside me as Tripp was hitting. Everyone is praising Arnold for a good drive. He looks over at me and gives me a wink and a smile. I can still see it today. I'll never forget two other things about the round. One of the employees comes out to the 15th fairway on a cart and gives Arnold an ice tea and Goldfish crackers. Every time Arnie plays his home course that is what he likes. Someone follows the group and radios back to the clubhouse when Arnold is on #15.

The other memory I have is on paper. Photo paper. When I found out we were going to play with The King, I ran to my car and got my camera. It's a shot of me and Arnold standing side by side on the 18th green. If I'm not mistaken, Arnold has his arm around my shoulder. From caddying at Laval-sur-le-lac as a kid to standing on the 18th green at Bay Hill with Arnold Palmer. Nice.

 

Mark Brooks Tries to Tame Doral's Blue Monster With Scott at his Side at Ford Championship.

Miami, Fla. 3-01-06

I made it to Florida. Thirty-six hours of driving over a 48 hour period and I'm here. As tough as it was to drive that distance from Tucson, it is still the best way to go for me. I hadn't planned on coming here because I didn't have a job. But that all changed on Sunday in the parking lot of Tucson National G.C.

Caddying for Mark last week was a good experience. It was a rush standing on the tee when the players were announced to the crowd at the start of each round. " From Fort Worth, Texas. Winner of 7 PGA events including the 1996 PGA Championship, Mark Brooks!" I enjoyed that. He is by far, the 'winningest' player I've ever caddied for. He had a very solid tournament going until we got to Sunday's round. Birdies are the order of the day at that event. You have to make birdies all day long to keep pace. He got that done on Friday and even Saturday but the wheels started coming off by the 6th hole on Sunday. A bogey with a wedge in his hand on 6 and then a triple-bogey 6 on the 251 yard par 3 seventh. That's all she wrote. Losing 4 shots to the field at that course would be next to impossible to come back from. And it was. The wind was out of his sails. Not that he quit on trying. He grinded it out until the end and that's all I can ask for.

After Saturday's round I asked Mark if his regular caddie would be making it to Miami. After shooting -8 on Friday and -4 on Saturday, I thought it would be a good time to ask if he needed my services beyond Tucson. He said his caddie, Jim, would be coming back. That was a letdown. We had a good thing going and he had said a couple of things to me over the course of the week to lead me to believe that he would keep me on. All I could do was to go out there on Sunday and leave a good impression. Caddying for a 4 over par on that course would leave an impression but not the one I had hoped for. We went to the car and got his equipment put away for the flight home. He asked me if I could bring a couple of things for him to Miami. An umbrella, a couple of pairs of shoes and a few clubs that wouldn't fit into the bag. No problem. He said that he thought I would make it to Miami by Tuesday evening. I told him that since I didn't have a job I didn't know if I would be going to Miami. He said, " No you're working for me. I'm sorry for a bad round and I don't want to end it like that. Let's keep going. It's time for a change and I want you in Miami." I was shocked and elated at the same time. He told me that he would get someone to caddy for him Tuesday and that we would be practicing Wednesday. And that's what we did. I drove from Tucson and he flew in Tuesday morning. We had a great practice session today. He must have hit 30 different drivers and finally narrowed it down to the one he likes. Mark Brooks is always tinkering with equipment and today was a prime example. Callaway now has a new system. They have about 20 different driver heads on the range along with 20-30 different shafts. The shafts actually are screwed into the heads. To change a shaft into a head takes no more than 15 seconds. No more epoxy and drying time, which can take 30-45 minutes. That's why it was so easy for Mark to try so many driver head and shaft combinations. Process of elimination. These clubs cannot be used during play. Once the perfect setup if found the playing club is built in the Callaway equipment trailer.

Last week in Tucson, there were quite a few caddies looking for work. I was lucky enough to find one. Another was a caddy named Kyle Colinda. Kyle has been on tour for approximately 10 years. His only victory as a caddy was with Jim Carter in Tucson back in the late 90's. The last 2-3 years, Kyle has bounced around from job to job, very much like myself. Last week he found himself, once again, standing in the lot looking for work. After standing in the lot all day Tuesday, he went back to his room and called a buddy. That buddy turned out to be Chris Mazziotti. Chris was fired the previous week by Kirk Triplett in Los Angeles. What Kyle was looking for was some morale support. What he got was Kirk Triplett's phone number from Mazz. Kyle called Kirk and asked if he would be needing a caddie for Tucson. Kirk offered him the job but said it would only be for the week. He had someone lined up to caddie for him starting in Miami. Five days later, Kyle is $55,000 richer. Ten percent for the win and $1000 for the weekly salary. Jackpot. Kyle and I had a great talk Monday and he told me about the week. There is a chance that Kirk will keep him on but as of Tuesday, he still didn't know. Even if he doesn't get the job, it was a good one week gig.

Great field here this week at Doral. Tiger, Vijay, Goosen and Els. Should be a good one. Last year Tiger and Phil took it to the wire with Tiger coming out on top. It should be just as exciting this year. Two years ago, Craig Parry holed a six iron on the first playoff hole to beat Scott Verplank. The Blue Monster is a good, tough track when the wind blows. But not so when the wind is calm. In today's pro am, Fred Funk made seven birdies and missed a few other close putts. I love it when the wind blows. It actually reduces the size of the field because some players are not comfortable playing in the wind and they can tend to quit. Mark is from Texas and Texans play a lot of golf in the wind. It would work to his advantage. Enjoy the first round on Thursday.

Click here for Doral's live web cam.