Caddies, according to Raymond Floyd, are like your wife: they're always right. But there is increasing evidence that they are getting fewer chances to assert themselves these days because of a growing tendency by tournament players to make their own decisions, both in club selection and in the reading of greens.
Nor should one imagine that the serious earning power of Mike "Fluff" Cowan, as the so-called looper for Tiger Woods, is typical of his craft. Suffice to say that there is no chance that Tallaght's John O'Reilly, who retired from caddying at the end of last season, will donate a special wing to his area's splendid new hospital.
The majority of the regular caddies on the European Tour would probably be doing well to earn about £15,000 a year while their American counterparts, with extras, might hit $40,000. It seems that the big leaguers can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Some are reported to earn as much as $300,000 before endorsements, but Bob "Cowboy" Ming, a veteran of the American Tour, takes a more conservative view. "Very, very few caddies make a healthy living when the year's up," he said. "Tony Navarro, Fluff and Fanny Sunesson are among the few who get into six figures. I'd guess Fanny makes about $200,000 (a year). Navarro also makes six figures and he's driving a new STS Cadillac from stop to stop."
This trio would be among those guaranteed extra money for wearing a manufacturer's logo on their apparel, ranging from an additional $100 to $800 a week during a televised event.
Last year's earnings by Navarro dipped dramatically, however, when his "master", Greg Norman, was out of action because of shoulder surgery. Either way, few would begrudge him his reward, given that one of the reported requirements of working for the Shark is that the caddie must keep telling him, even through clenched teeth, what wonderful shots he's playing.
Meanwhile, the upper middle-class of caddying ranks consists of a well-paid group who would be some way down the scale from the top earners. Among those would be Billy Foster, who works for Darren Clarke, Pete Coleman the long-time bag-man of Bernhard Langer, Dave Musgrove (Lee Janzen) and Mark Love (Davis Love's brother/caddie).
The overall lowering of the caddie's status has been attributed largely to the influence of Jack Nicklaus, whose meticulous attention to detail led to the popularising of yardage books. This sounded the death-knell of a crucial skill from the golden era of caddying.
But, typically, the Bear readily acknowledges their immense contribution to the game. When Sam "Killer" Foy was facing the end of a 42-year caddying career, Nicklaus said to him: "You've been keepin' your nose clean all these years, Killer. When you get ready to retire, come to me." So Foy became the head locker-room attendant at the Country Club of the South, a Nicklaus-designed course in Atlanta.
Then there was the appointment about 10 years ago of Angelo Argea, Nicklaus's long-time looper, as the caddie master at the Old Marsh GC in Florida. In biblical terms, it could be said that while the Bear taketh away, he also giveth in abundance.
"With all due respect to the young players - they're great champions and playing fantastic - I don't think my current situation is because they're getting better and better. It's because I'm not playing to my former level. My scoring average in 1986 was 68.81 which is still to be beaten by the present top players."
- Seve Ballesteros, currently ranked 404th in the world after a scoring average of 71.84 in 1998.
Our American brethren are promoting the notion that David Duval's remarkable last round of 59, which gave him victory in the Bob Hope Classic on January 24th, was the greatest competitive round ever played. Clearly, such observations become a matter of opinion but I would have thought that a low closing round to win a major championship would have greater merit.
First, there is the increased pressure of competing at the highest level. More important, however, would be the difficulty of "major" courses, especially in the way they would be set up for a final round.
So, here are some triumphant closing rounds which I believe hold greater merit than Duval's effort, outstanding as it undoubtedly was.
63 - by Johnny Miller to win 1973 US Open, Oakmont.
64 - Gary Player 1978 US Masters; Greg Norman 1993 British Open, Royal St George's.
65 - Arnold Palmer 1960 US Open, Cherry Hills; Tom Watson 1977 British Open, Turnberry; Jack Nicklaus 1986 US Masters; Seve Ballesteros 1988 British Open, Royal Lytham; Nick Faldo 1989 US Masters (play-off).
66 - Ian Baker-Finch 1991 British Open, Royal Birkdale; Nick Price 1994 British Open, Turnberry; 67 Ben Hogan 1951 US Open, Oak- land Hills; Nick Faldo 1997 US Masters.
In Ireland, we had Christy O'Connor's course record 66 to win the 1959 Dunlop Masters at Portmarnock; Faldo's course-record 65 to win the 1993 Carrolls Irish Open at Mount Juliet (play-off) and Colin Montgomerie's record 62 for the 1997 Murphy's Irish Open at Druids Glen.
There, that should be enough to start a few rows.
A regular reader, Michael Neary of "Golfing Memories" in Bray, has been recounting a fascinating experience in his relentless search for golfing curiosities. While browsing recently in an antiques shop in Dublin, he came across a dusty tin box with "golf" scrawled on the cover and containing a reel of 16 mm film.
When he asked the shop owner the price and if he knew anything about the contents, he got the terse reply: "£3 and no." So, Neary made the purchase. He then paid a commercial video producer to convert the film to VHS.
"You wouldn't believe my excitement when I discovered that I had bought a one-hour film of the 1967 British Open at Hoylake," he said. "It was wonderful to see Jack Nicklaus, Tony Jacklin, Christy O'Connor, Gary Player and, of course, the winner, Roberto de Vicenzo. But best of all was the inimitable voice of Henry Longhurst: you could almost smell the Burgundy."
Neary has since made copies, which are now available in his shop, naturally.
With the Desert Classic currently in progress at the Dubai Creek GC, there is a certain topicality to the business of transforming desert wasteland into lush fairways. As might be expected, it's a horrendously expensive pro- cess, not least for the cost of water at more than one million gallons a day.
Which goes some way towards explaining why the similarly-named Shadow Creek GC in Las Vegas, has the world's costliest green fee, at $1,000 a round. Designed by Tom Fazio and opened in 1994, it is rumoured to have cost $35 million with an annual water bill of around $500,000. This is hardly surprising on a site where the sand ran to well over 60 feet deep. Indeed it was likened to building a course on the surface of the moon.
This day in golf history . . . On February 13th 1983, Isao Aoki became the first Japanese male golfer to win a tournament in the US. He did it by holing out a 128-yard approach on the 72nd hole of the Hawaiian Open for a closing eagle and a one-stroke victory over Jack Renner.
Through his success, Aoki was simply following the lead of female compatriot Hisako Matsui Higuchi. In 1976 at Sunningdale, she had a six-stroke victory in the Colgate European Open, which was then a US Tour event. And she won on American soil a year later, capturing the LPGA Championship from such luminaries as Pat Bradley and Judy Rankin.
Despite his Hawaiian exploits, Aoki's finest American performance was an unavailing one. In the 1980 US Open at Baltusrol, he matched the record opening 54-hole score by Jack Nicklaus, but slipped to a closing 70 against a winning 68 from the Bear.
In Brief: Marty Carr tells me that entry is limited strictly to 50 teams for the 10th World Invitational Father and Son Tournament at Waterville on August 18th to 22nd. Further information from tel (01) 8226662, fax (01) 822,6668.
Teaser: In a match between A and B, A's ball is near the hole in a position to serve as a backdrop for B's ball. A lifts his ball to clean it. B requests A to replace his ball before he (B) putts. A protests but B insists that, under the rules, A must replace his ball immediately. A replaces his ball but disputes B's right to require him to do so and claims the hole. A replaces his ball and holes out for a four. B then holes out for a four. The match continues and the claim is later referred to the committee. How should the committee rule?
Answer: The hole stands as played. The rules do not require A to replace his ball, but B was not in breach of the rules by asking A to replace it (See Rule 22 - "Ball interfering with or assisting play").
