The life of a caddie at Pebble Beach Resorts
Despite the rainy weather, round 2 of the 77th AT&T ProAm kicked off as usual Friday morning.
Lore dates the practice of one person carrying a golfer's bag of clubs around a course to the late 1600s at St. Andrews in Edinburgh, Scotland.
They were called caddies, derived for the Scottish term for luggage carrier or the French military term for cadets.
Much has occurred since, including this week's annual participation of Bill Murray in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Murray, who began playing in the tournament's pro-am division in 1992, starred in the 1980 movie “CaddyShack.”
Murray played an unstable caddie. The comedic film stills resonates with golf fans who often call the actor/comedian by his movie character's name, Carl.
Caddying still has its characters but its practice is now often conducted as a business, including at Pebble Beach and on other Monterey Peninsula courses. The caddie headquarters at Pebble Beach Resorts is located at Spyglass Hill Golf Course. Pebble Beach has a caddy shack, located next to the pro shop. This week, the building is being used as a golf cart return center.
The Pebble Beach pro shop has a Caddie Information Card that lists the rates for caddie services. Pros at the AT&T most often have personal caddies. Players sometimes use friends and spouses as caddies During local tournaments at Pebble Beach players seeking caddies are required to play $150 per bag and $100 per bag if a caddie is carrying two bags. Suggested gratuities are $70 to $100 per bag
per round.
“Most caddies don't like to carry single bags,” said Richard Eramaa who works in the Pebble Beach Pro Shop. “And they often caddie twice a day. It's called `dovetailing.' But I really don't know why.”
Caddies for courses like Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hills and other prestigious courses are hired through a caddie service. Potential caddies study the occupation and must “shadow” a veteran caddie before starting their careers. Caddies are assigned by seniority.
In the caddy shack at Pebble Beach, there's also a log with caddie information. It details performances, including details if a player's experience with a caddie
wasn't satisfactory.
Bad weather
Fans and golfers put up with some rain and wind Friday and seem destined for more of the same this weekend. Winds gusting to 30 miles per hour are predicted Saturday during the third round. More severe wind is scheduled Sunday as well as much as a halfinch of rain.
Due to the high wind forecast, Saturday's tee times have been moved up an hour.
Medical emergency
A caddie in the foursome including pros Mac McGreevy and Beau Hossler and amateurs Geoff Couch and Lukas Nelson suffered a medical emergency on the 11th hole during the second round.
The unidentified caddie received CPR on the course
before being transported to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula for evaluation, according to PGA Tour officials.
At the direction of the PGA Tour Rules Committee, the pros in the group paused play during the medical emergency and didn't want to continue and left the course. After a further discussion, the group continued the round.
Hole-in-one
Justin Rose had his 12th career hole-in-one on the 15th hole at Spyglass Hill, his sixth hole of the second round.
“It's always a special day always when you manage to have a hole-in-one,” said Rose. “It's really fun to do, obviously in front of a couple of friends, obviously (amateur) James (Gorman) at Morgan Stanley. So really that was a nice moment.”