A veteran caddy on his Open experiences
After Shane Lowry’s shock decision to part ways with long-serving Dermot Byrne, veteran bagman Dave McNeilly gives the inside track on the trade
FOR Dave McNeilly, the Carnoustie caddie crisis point arrived at the ninth hole on Friday as his player, Matt Wallace, prepared to take his second shot to the 474-yard par four.
Wallace was two under par for his round, one over for the tournament, and inching his way into Open contention.
What followed was sour for both men and cost Wallace his involvement at the weekend, but at least their relationship stayed intact.
By coincidence, the ninth hole marked the place where Shane Lowry angrily rebuked Dermot Byrne on Thursday over a club selection and may have proved the tipping point for their nine-year relationship.
Lowry’s call to sack his caddie, and friend, between rounds at Carnoustie was a split few saw coming as they two men have been inseparable, on and off the course, since August 2009.
Lowry frequently name-checks ‘Dermo’, as he did on Monday when he observed how his caddie had been studying ‘my stats’ and ‘he thinks we could be very close to something.’
Only it didn’t happen as Lowry limped to 74 and 73 and missed his fourth straight Open cut. The first round involved Byrne, the second didn’t as Lowry’s coach, Neil Manchip, answered an SOS.
As Lowry looks for a new bagman for a four-week stint in the US, the break-up illustrated the fragile bond between the professional golfer and caddie.
It remains, for many players, a case of ‘I played well’ when things are on a roll and ‘we took the wrong club’ when they don’t.
McNeilly shakes his head at that suggestion for he has little time for players with such ‘a poor defensive mechanism.’
‘You have to take responsibility,’ he says quietly.
McNeilly has worn more bibs than any caddie on the road with an Open record dating back to Nick Faldo at Troon in 1982 ‘where he finished fourth.’ Note ‘he’ not ‘we’.
‘He (Faldo) was tough on me but he made me into a caddy. I was thick-skinned and wanted to learn. He probably would have broken a lot of people. We’re still good friends and I’ve a lot of respect for him.’
The erudite Belfast native is the most senior ‘looper’ on the European Tour with a CV that includes Faldo, Padraig Harrington, Retief Goosen, Matteo Mannasero and now Wallace.
He cites Harrington’s singles win over Mark O’Meara in the 1999 Ryder Cup as his career highlight. ‘In all my time I’d not experienced tension quite like that and Padraig handled it magnificently.’
As for the low? He worked for Howard Clark, which lasted one round. By then, he had witnessed enough of the combustible Clark to know he couldn’t work for him.
His Open experience this week was shorter than he wanted but still created a buzz.
‘I still get nervous, especially at The Open. They’re very exciting affairs. They really get your attention. That’s why the pedigree generally rises to the top, these are special tournaments, the players really raise their game for it.’
And the caddies? ‘You shouldn’t do too much different from what you do week in week out. You might be a little more precise with your homework, to really understand the greens, for example.
‘Or if you get out of position on the course, the best place to get yourself truly back in position. With the vagaries of links golf, you have to be open to anything that happens out there.’
What ‘happened’ to McNeilly and Wallace on the ninth on Friday distilled the golfer-caddie relationship. There was damage, far worse than what happened to Lowry and Byrne at the same point – Lowry actually made par on the hole – but the alliance survived.
‘Matt couldn’t make his mind up between five iron and four,’ explained McNeilly.
‘I said “Look this shot is the same direction as No 8, and you hit a six there. You’re going between a five and four, this is five all day long.
‘Anyway, he took the five and shanked it straight right into a gorse bush and made six. That kind of changed our whole round because he was two under going to that hole.’
Was there silence for a while? ‘Yes, but if I was doing it again, I’d go five iron, five iron, five iron. But it doesn’t matter. He hit a bad shot. If he hit a good shot and it didn’t work out, then I’d hold my hands up and I’d take it (criticism).’
A deep thinker, McNeilly has observed golfers with ‘a delicate frame of mind’ and others ‘strongminded like Padraig,’ when it comes to making firm on-course decisions.
‘Padraig’s great. He never gives up, always gives 100%. If the player is doing his part well, he takes total ownership when he stands over the club. If he’s not happy with it, he flat out does not hit it.
‘This where Matt’s inexperience comes – and we’ve had this conversation – he never ever hits a golf shot if he’s not happy with it. I was happy with it (the five iron) but it means nothing if he’s not happy. Consequently, he hit a bad shot.’
In contrast, ‘the experienced golfer would take full responsibility,’ said McNeilly.
‘He’s CEO of the company, and as such, it is his business out there. Maybe there was a little of inexperience with Matt. He hit that shot when he wasn’t comfortable, and he should never do that in golf.’
Wallace, who has won three times with McNeilly on the bag in the past 14 months, reminds McNeilly of Harrington.
‘Matt has a great preparation and his thoroughness is exceptional. He will go to any lengths to improve. He has so many traits which are Harrington-like,’ he said.
On Thursday and Friday, after Wallace played in the same match as Harrington, the respective veterans of the caddy shack and the range shook hands cordially on the 18th green. Still committed to their jobs, after all these years.