"It became a bigger story than who was winning the golf tournament"

Brian Wacker files a nice follow-up to what continues to be one of the best stories in a long, long time: Lance Ten Broeck looping, playing, playing, looping and beating his man. And doing it with a piecemeal set of clubs on a tough walking course.

Ten Broeck, too, would miss the cut, shooting even par to fall two strokes short. He still made history, however, becoming what appears to be the first caddie to loop for a player and play in the same event. "It was really a big deal," added Parnevik. "A lot of players weren't even aware you could do something like that."

As for beating his boss, Ten Broeck knows better than to bite the hand that feeds him. "I'm sure he was embarrassed enough by it," Ten Broeck said. "I didn't want to rub it in."
Parnevik just laughed at that notion. "I don't know if I would have caddied for him [if he made the cut], but I thought about it," he said. "If he would have asked me to caddie, though, I would have for sure."

Comments

[thusgone]

think he was a little tired on friday afternoon?

[Chuck]

That's a nice comment by Parnevik. A nice little ending to a good story.

[Wayne]

I'm actually surprised it's allowed, since it gives the caddy a chance to test the course while he's caddying. He can see how putts break, test the bunkers, see what clubs to pull for when he plays. And what if Parnevik had a putt at 18 that would make the caddy miss (or make) the cut? Would it not be a conflict of interest for the caddy to be giving Parnevik advice? Interesting.

[Reef]

Wayne,
Shouldn't it then be against the rules for a caddie or player to watch TV coverage of the tournament before playing? You can gather all that info in greater quantities that way.
Reef

[Seitz]

I'm not sure if it's his brother, nephew, or what the family relationship is, but I'll be playing with one of TenBroeck's family members (Scott) in the Chicago District Amateur qualifier next week. I see the family name in pretty much every event I enter, but I've never played with any of them. At least this will give us something to talk about.

[Wayne]

Reef,

Possible on the knowledge, although I wouldn't think watching on TV would give the same advantage of actually walking the course and being on the greens and in the bunkers. Looking at a bunker or green isn't considered testing. But the caddy could say to his player, "Hey, I just had this putt two hours ago. Here's how it breaks." But then I'm not much of a golfer. But I still wonder about the conflict of interest, which granted would probably only come up in rare circumstances. Still, you basically have two horses in the race, which just seems odd. Would have been interesting if they'd both made the cut and been paired together.