Lydia Ko's Caddy Paul Cormack

Published Sep 5, 2024, 2:31 PM

Paul Cormack sits down with Claude to reflect on a historic summer run on the bag for Lydia Ko as she won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, secured her spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame and clinched her third major title at the AIG Women's Open in St. Andrews.

 

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It's the Son of a Butcher podcast. I'm your host Claude Harmon. This week's guest Paul Kormack. Paul Caddy's on the bag with Lydia Coe. She's won a gold medal, won her third major at the AIG Women's Open at St. Andrew's And this is a really, really cool story. But it's a fun one for me because Paul, he's from Scotland. I used to live in Scotland from Aberdeen. I used to live in Aberdeen. But I used to teach him. He was trying to play. He had status on PJ Tour Canada, so back in kind of I think he quit playing in twenty sixteen. He was trying to play. I worked with him on his game. He was a good player. But to watch the success he's had in the caddy in ranks on the LPGA, I think he's one of the best caddies in the world and it's fun to watch him do what he does. I know him well and to see him doing all the stuff that he's doing to be a part of Lydia's team to win an Olympic gold medal, which completes you know, she's got a Bronze silver and now our gold and then for Paul being from Scotland, from Aberdeen to be on the bag for Lydia at the Home of Golf. Such is such a cool story. I'm really excited for everyone to hear this one. Paul Kormack on the Son of a Butch podcast.

All right, I guess today Paul Cormack, Paul, you and I worked together when you were trying to play competitive professional golf. You know, you, like a lot of players, came from overseas, came to America with aspirations to play. How did you get into caddying and what was the decision making behind becoming a caddy. We'll get to the superstars you've caddied four and all the majors and all that stuff. But I always think it's interesting ex players their journey to becoming a professional caddy. I think we see more of that now maybe than we did in the past. Or a lot of players on the PGA Tour that had status. There's a lot of guys out on the LPGA that had status as well. But your journey to becoming a professional caddy from trying to play, what was the decision behind that?

I mean, the decision was probably it was probably my easiest way to get back into that competitive environment of where I wanted to be. And as you know, I was a member at Bay Hill. I was lucky enough to be a member there for about five years. And it was Maria Huorth her husband. She used to play on the LPGA tour. Her husband, Sean McBride was a caddy. He carried on the LPGA for a long time, caddied on the PGA Tour and I think at that time he might have been carrying for Bryce Moulder. And when I stopped playing, he basically we sat and had a beer in the clubhouse and he was like, what are you going to do? And I was like, I've got no idea. But obviously I wanted to remain in golf. I mean, I'm not the smartest person on the planet. And I was like, I don't know how I'm going to make any money unless it's something involved in golf. And I thought about coaching, and then I was like, I'm gonna have to go in at kind of the bottom level and then work my way up and then you know, there's no guarantees there. I mean, there was no guarantees Caddian, but like, I figured that I could probably work my way up quicker with the knowledge that I have in the game caddying than I could anything else. So that was kind of it. And I told him for a start, I was like, I don't want to do it, as like it sounds miserable, and he kind of kept on at me and he was like, you'd be really good at it, and I kind of I was like, okay. I was like, put me in touch with some people. I eventually got in touch with some people, and then dude called me. He's like, do you want to come and work at Kingsmill for an American rookie? And I said yes, And that was it, and I'm still doing it today. I mean, I love it, but it's definitely a different side of the game.

How many years ago was that, because I'm trying to think of when you made the decision to quit trying to play full time.

Twenty and sixteen was the last time I went to Q school, so it would have been May of two thousand and seventeen that I started caddy in.

So the first player you worked with was.

Here, Maddie Shields.

Maddie shield How long that last.

Uh six events. I did kings Mill Shopwright Tournament in Our Arbor, Michigan. I think we did a tournament in Canada, did another one in Michigan and Grand Rapids, and I think Arkansas was the last one. And I drove every single one of the other than I took my car, and my car at the time was a Kia Optima, and it broke down in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The engine seized, and so I had to rent a car and drive to Arkansas. And I drove all the way back to Orlando with this rental car.

The glamorous life of professional golf. Yeah, so when you started out, give yourself a grade those first six tournaments is to caddy versus where you are.

Today, Ah, like two or three. I mean, I had no idea. I mean it's just completely different. I mean that's the thing. Like I remember once I'd kind of got to know some of the guys. Davy Jones, who now caddies for Running Yin. He was caddying for Suzanne Patterson at the time, and obviously he's Northern. I I was chatting away to him and he's like, oh yeah, I used to play as well. And all that kind of stuff, and I remember it. So after six events, ni on Troi called me, so I worked for her. The first event I worked for ni on Choi is the US Open at Trump Medminster. I'm in this golf course, like I've never seen a US Open golf course at all in the flash and I'm walking this thing and I'm like, how do we get around here? I'm like, right, I'm like, Dave, can you give me a little bit of kind of pointers? And He's like, you just need to figure out roughly where you're going to be. He's like, then you know, you get the heads that you think you're gonna need. He's like, then you just kind of work off that. He's like, if you've always got like a reference point, He's like, you can basically work off that. He's like, it's not too difficult. So the first six events, I would say that I would have been probably like a two or three. I wouldn't have been any good Like I was. I was. I understood golf, but I don't like I understood the art of caddying. I still don't think I do.

I think a lot of people will find that very interesting because obviously trying to play professionally. You play college golf in America, you know, you had some status. P J turt Canada, you know how to play golf. But what is the difference? Because I look at a guy like Austin Johnson, right AJ, who's caddy for his brother DJ. When AJ came out, he didn't know anything, right, he played college basketball, He wasn't a golfer. And AJ has turned into one of the best caddies in the world. And it's just not because he caddies for his brother.

Yeah, but that jump from.

Playing competitively to caddya, what's the difficulty because in my mind, I think there would be a lot of it that would be similar.

It is, Yeah, I think because you're not doing it for yourself and you're actually doing it for somebody else. And it's like like my like I listen to a lot of different podcasts and stuff like that, and fear of failure, and I think I played golf that way, like I didn't want, like I was scared, so like I ultimately when I played, I played scared. But then with like the math that goes in with caddying and kind of like the wind and all that kind of stuff. It was like kind of like, Okay, I don't want to get it wrong, but it's like you don't want to get it wrong for somebody else. Like for me, if I got it wrong for myself, then I'm like all right whatever, like I can get up and down or whatever. But it's like you just like you don't want to get a show it at.

When you're trying to get numbers and stuff like that, you have to do it quite quickly, and you want to get the information as a caddy as quickly as you can so that you can give the information to the player and say, listen, this is this is what we've got. You know, it's one sixty eight to the front, it's one fifty to carry the bunk or whatever it is. Then you can kind of go into the strategy part of it. But I don't think people realize. I mean, I could never be a caddy unless I can use the rain further because I basically can't add. I mean, I'd have to take my shoes off and I'd be counting on your fingers and I'd always get the number one. But the mass part of it early on, did that take some adjusting to get used to, or is it just repetition. You just get used to doing it. Are you someone that adds in your head or are you someone that writes it down?

Yeah? No, it probably took me a little bit of a minute of adjustment because on the mini tours, although in Canada, I don't think that we could use range finders when I was in Canada, but like playing the Hooter's Tour and like the E Goolf and all that kind of stuff, we could use rangefinders, but like I had to then go back to pacing it and you know, angles and all that kind of stuff when I first went out in the LPG. Now we can use range finders, which I hate because I actually think it takes away from the guys that go and walk the golf course and figure out angles and you know dog legs if you're down the left and the pins on the left and it's going to play shorter, Like everybody has that information. Whereas I said, I wasn't smart, but I'm probably smart enough to figure out, you know, if it's going to play shorter or longer. But yeah, it's not. I don't write anything down like a lot of guys will write down, you know, like one fifty plus fifteen one sixty five. I just do it all in my head, and I find actually find that kind of humorous because I was crap at math in school. I mean, it's simple math, but like I had to write everything down when I was in school, So now I don't do it, so yeah, it's I don't know, it's weird, but yeah, no, I don't do any of the edition or whatever subtraction in my book. I just do all on my head.

I've had my uncle Billy on the pod a couple of times. He caddied for Jayhawk for thirty years. I asked him what he thought made a great caddy. He says, find a good player. You found a good player in Anna Nord. Chris. You worked with Anna for four years. You guys won the Women's British Open in twenty twenty one at Carnoustie. Working for a great player, you learn a lot. Anna has been a great player her entire career, Major Spoheim Cup. When you finally had that four year run with an established one of the big superstars in the game, what did you learn from those four years that have helped you now in this hint that you've had with Lydia co with the amazing things that Lydia has done over the line. We'll get to that, but you get to work with Anna nor Quist. She's a great player. Would you learn from that experience?

The probably the best players in the world work a lot harder than probably what I even gave them credit for. Like I used to think that I worked hard like that last year that I played golf in two and sixteen. I mean I was I was often up at five thirty and I wouldn't get home until five thirty at night when I was in Orlando. Then you turn up to a tournament and you're just absolutely done and you're no good. But like they they are very good at using their time wisely. They you know, they work incredibly hard. They have a belief in themselves. But I think the other thing that I found of it, like kind of like the obviously the negative side of it, is that they are also human, you know what I mean, Like they have things going on in their lives that they have to deal with, but it's unreal that they can throw it to the side for five hours on a golf course and go out and shoot, you know, sixty eight sixty seven sixty five, whoever it is, and it's it's very, very impressive that they can do that. Because I had this conversation on the range three weeks ago in France with one of the guys that was helping with the New Zealand team, and I was like, I used to think that every professional golfer was a robot. I was like, and that's just not the case. And I think that's probably part of where I failed a little bit, was that I was trying to be something that I wasn't.

Yeah, I mean, I do think that it's easy to look at place. I always marvel it the way that you know, all the players that I've been lucky enough to work with, how they can compartmentalize the things that are going on around them. Yeah, you know that they can, Like you said, they can come to the golf course not in great mood, something's gone on off the golf course, but as soon as they kind of step inside the rope, everything kind of it hanges. Were you impressed with Anna's game were you surprised at I always think it's it's a combination of the two. Right. The best players in the world hit really really good shot, But yeah, they also their mediocre shop and the way they managed themselves, Yeah, is amazing from a course management standpoint. In the four years he worked within a would you learn about how she manages her game on the golf course?

I mean out of like even probably out of anybody on the LPG, I would say she probably has the best course management because she just placed her strengths, Like she will never ever put us or try and ever put herself in a situation where she feels like she's under pressure to hit a shot that she's not comfortable hitting. So like, there was plenty of times where we could be standing there, you know, perfect number pins, maybe in a little bit of a kind of an if he's spot or whatever, and she's like, I'm just going to hit it to twenty feet and it's like perfect. And that's just the way that she would play golf. And if you look at look back on our career, I mean she's been incredibly consistent. I mean generally finish like she always finishes in the top sixty on the CMME list. She's generally pretty high up there. She normally has, like every good or great professional golfer, she has her five or six week run where she finishes inside the top fifteen, top ten, pretty much has it every year, but she just played to her strength. That was another thing that like I think I learned was that it was like you don't have to be an idiot on the golf course, which a lot of amateurs can probably take stuff from, because it's like they're trying to pull off shots that they're not really capable of, and they're putting themselves in positions that they're definitely not capable of, either getting up and down or no taking on shots off the tee, and it's like it's actually kind of boring. If you watch good professional golf, it's the most boring golf you'll ever watch. It is, literally because they're generally in the middle of the fairway or they're just off and again TV probably doesn't really do them justice because you see the highlights and all you see is them hitting it's five feet every day or every every hole, and it's like that's not the case. Like there's a lot of like last week at Saint Andrew's with Lydia, I mean there was a lot of like just twenty five thirty forty feet two pats par move on, like just limit the mistakes. That's essentially what the best players do, is they just eliminate mistakes.

Yeah, and I think that I do think that everyone listening to the pod, we are so skewed by television. They're showing you on the weekends, even you know, in the men's and the women's game. On the weekends, you're going to see the best players who are playing the best golf. The only time you're going to really see anything else is if you're seeing a superstar that isn't in contention knock at the three feet or a superstar rinse one out of bounds or hit it in the water and do something stupid. But other than that, you're basically the television is focusing on the five to ten players that are going to have a chance to win. They're playing the best that week. Yeah, they are going to highlight their best shops. But I think that it's something that I've that with, something that I said to you when you were trying to play, is minimize the mistake. Yeah, and I don't think everyone that listens to this part understands. I say it all the time. I'm sure people get tired of hearing it. It's great that someone like you is saying as well, twenty feet is a good shot. The average golfer who's the fifteen handicapper thinks hitting twenty feet it's a bad shot.

Yeah, it's crazy, it's yeah, No, it's absolutely insane. I mean you see every week in pro ams and it's like they're hitting shots and they're like, oh, that's no good. It's like you've just hit five iron to thirty five feet, Like, what's wrong with that? It's on the green two potts, move.

On and you can't hit five iron to thirty feet.

No, yeah, exactly, You've actually done something really remarkable there, and you're taking as a negative like it's in sanni.

Yeah, I mean, if you just I mean we say it all the time, right, and the pro ams the majority I mean the majority of the people playing in pro ams. In professional golf, I'd say you're more surprised when they hit the green from the fairway than you are if they miss the green. If you get like a group of you know, if you're lucky, if you get three golfers and they all hit the first fairway in the first green, you're looking at you and Lydia are looking at this. The other going, this could be fun today.

Yeah, it's a nice easy day. Yeah, exactly, because that's that generally doesn't happen. I mean the amount of non golfer she get in a pro am as well. I'm sure it's the same when the PGA Tour live or whatever. And it's just mental. It's like, would you ever go and throw a ball around on an NFL field, like in a warm up? Like you've got no chance after.

Four years after a major, you made the decision to go to the men's route, tread your hand at the PGA Tour, But then you get the call from Lydia Coe, a major champion. I mean, her career is it's a great story. I don't think people realize she's talking that she's what twenty seven now, she's saying that she's probably not gonna play past thirty. I think a lot of people think that's crazy. She won her first professional tournament in twenty twelve, she's fourteen years old. She is one of those players that has won. She's grown up in front of all of us. But two, she's the player golf were so long, and he's in her late twenties, and you've got to think that she's just like, man, I've been doing this a long long time. Her career has the arc of her career. I think it's been so impressed. But when just like you and I are hired guns right, we get hired by professional golfers, professional athletes. So when you get the call from someone like Lydia Coe, you're trying your hand on the PGA Tour. We all know that if you want to make a ton of money as a caddy, the PGA Tour is the place to do it. You can do it on live now as well, but you really want to make legit money as a caddy, you caddy on the PGA Tour. You were trying to do that, trying to get into the men's game. But then somebody like Lydia Co calls you. I read where you said you'd have been stupid if you'd have called me that Lydia Coe called you, and you turn that down. I mean, I don't think I ought to talk to you again. I mean you had to make But what's it like? How did that decision come about? How did you get the call? Did she call you? Did the manager call you? What happened? Because I always think that's a cool story. Yeah.

No, she She called me on the Monday after the Women's Writish Open last year. So I was sitting at my home in Saint Pete and at that point I was working for Kevin Chapel, and she was like, I need a caddy. Would you be interested in caddy in?

Do you know her?

I knew her a little bit. We've been paired with her a few times when I were I mean and Lydia is lovely. I mean everybody asks that, like you know, she as nice as she seems, and I was like one hundred percent, like she will literally sign every autograph, She'll speak to every kid, you know, so on and so forth. But yeah, she called. I actually missed her call for a start, and I text her and I was like, can I call you in an hour? And she was playing golf in San France. So this is the Monday after she's missed the cut at the Women's Writis Open. She's already back home, she's playing golf and she's like, i'll call you when I get done. So she called me and she was like, look, she's like, I'm looking for a caddy. I got a list of names from our agent and she's like you were on my list. She's like, and you're my first call. She's like, would you be interested in caddying for me? And I was like one hundred percent, Like as I said, you would. You would have to be an idiot to say no. I mean, I know that she was struggling at that point, but it's like, and if you look at our career, like there's been a lot of lows, but like the highs are super high. And I knew that she wasn't a million miles away from you know, a couple of wins. She would get in the Hall of Fame. I knew that obviously with it being an Olympic year, you know, if I do a decent job and we get to there, like I got the chance of obviously potentially winning a medal, and I knew that obviously gold would complete the set for her and all that kind of stuff. And I was just like, yeah, I was like this, you know, I was on the PGA tour with Chapel, but like I was kind of like you know what, I was like, this is going to be better for me long term than doing what I was doing, Like I could better myself doing that. It's a selfish reason. But like players and caddies move for selfish reasons all the time, and I was like selfishly, I was like, I think that this is going to fit me a little bit better, and I said yes, I was like cool. So then I think we had a week that was a week off, and I think the following week was Canada, and that's where we started.

When you started with a big eight years since she won her last major, and like you said, the arc of her career has been, you know, massive highs, but also some lows. And when when you guys got together, she wasn't necessarily in the form, certainly nowhere near the form that she is now when you go to work or a player of her caliber, obviously she's a great player. The resume says she's a great player. I mean, you're taking her on and all she's got to do is win a couple of craws. I mean, the criteria to get into the LPGA Hall of Fame could be tougher than to get into Ike or Harvard. I still don't understand how they just can't make it much easier, and look at someone like Lydia Cohen, go you're in the Hall of fame of the eyepat When you go to work for her, what's that first week like is a caddie working with a new player, because obviously your job is your job. You know how to caddy, you know what the ardages, you know numbers are. But I say this all the time and people laugh. My wife always, you know, says I can't say, but professional golfers are like dogs. They communicate with you non verbally correct and they don't say a lot either. You're constantly trying to figure out by the walk up, by when they show up, and normally within about i've even less than that, you can tell if they're in a good mood or a bad man.

Yeah.

So that getting to know a player early on, but also getting to know a player of her caliber that obviously she's done great things, She's won majors, she's won a bunch of tournaments. Is that scary? Is it? What's that like for you? Iusly?

Yeah, I was probably scared a little bit. I don't like I would use the word intimidated, but I was definitely scared because I was like, you know, Chapel hunn't been playing the backs like, and that's all respect to him, I mean, he's a great player, but he was obviously struggling. And it's kind of like I didn't question if I was any good at what I did, but it was just kind of like I needed to get back into kind of like a little bit of mojo, a little bit flow. And then when I got out there, like I had met Lydia obviously plenty of times before, i'd never met her sister and or you know, her sister was very much kind of like, you know, we're struggling right now, but everything's gonna be fine. And I'm like, I know it is. I was like, she's really really good and she's only twenty six. I'm like, it's not like and I told the Scottish media this on Sunday last week. I was like, it's not like she's thirty seven or forty, like, which in the women's game is obviously very not very old, but it's generally on the older end, whereas in the guys, I mean, they're almost just peaking at that time. I was like, she's got plenty of years left, and I think I just brought kind of a little bit of positivity. I was like, you know, it's fine, like bad golf happens. Everybody goes through that stretch. So that first week, and as he said, it was a lot of like, Okay, well what do I need to do to help her? And she's like any good at setting stuff up on the and green. So I'm out there, you know, twenty minutes before she comes out on the pot and green, setting up drills and putting the cones out in the range. You know, you've got like a new routine. Like everybody's got the routine. But it's like it's different for every player. You know, some start on the range, some starting to pot and green, and yet no, it was actually it was actually really easy. Like after that first day, I was like, you know what, it's like, this is like I could I can deal with this. This isn't that difficult. I'm probably building up in my own head to be something that's not. And it was fine. I mean, by your own mission. She didn't play very good that week. I think we shot eighty one on the third day and she really didn't do a whole lot wrong. She just didn't drive it very good. That we were at Shaughnessy in Vancouver. I don't know if you've ever been there, isn't it. It's single file down the fairways. I mean, like you don't even need to hit a bad t shot and you're basically just chipping out sideways. So and I was like, well, that's going to be you know, like you're driving. Missus A probably been heightened a little bit. The roff was long, you know, Lydia is not the longest on tour. So it's like when you're standing there in the rough and it's thick and you do have a shot and you've got seven iron in in the green, are almost us open like, and somebody's standing there with a wedge, it's like it's going to be way easier for them than it is her. So it's like it's fine, Like bad golf happens. You don't shoot eighty one very often, and you might not ever shoot eighty one in a tournament again, but you did it today, So like let's just move on like it's it's just golf. Unfortunately.

Yeah, And I think sometimes that refresh of just you know what happens with coaches as well. I mean, players move on and they say, listen, I just want to try something different. I want to try something new. That's always the worst thing to hear, right, you know, in our business, you know, it's always that it's not you with me than right, Yeah, you know, you just want to try something new. So I think the last time I saw you was that the Loo's at the end of last year.

This year in Orlando, sort of this year, that's right.

The sort of this year in Orlando, which you guys won that tournament. When Lydia plays for best, what do you feel makes for such a great player?

Well, I mean that weekend Orlando. I mean, obviously she's familiar with the golf course. She's a member there. She lives right off the second hole. I mean, so it's like it's like when I go back, like I don't I don't play a whole lot of golf anymore. But if I go back and play a track, I know, it's like you almost free wheel it a little bit. And it's like she should very calm. I mean, it's probably the same with the players that you work with. It's like they're very calm. Everything kind of comes to them kind of very slowly, and like nothing ever gets in their way. But when Lydia hits it in the fair way more often than not, and I know that sounds very cliche, and every player is exactly the same, but more so with her, it's like I feel like she thinks she's like, Okay, well I can attack this week, like I can be aggressive when I need to be, you know, in her in the positions that she wants to and it's like, you know, like last week, I think on fourteen, shit driver off the deck, and I saw in the commentary or wherever they're like, this is amazing. And it's like she does that every week, Like she will literally hit drive her off the deck almost every week. I mean, and it's a hard shot. But yeah, I think when she's when she's nice and calm, she's got her mind quiet and she's peaceful, and that just allows her to I think, because that's the thing. Even through the course of seventy two holes, you're not going to every shot exactly the way you want it, but the quicker you can brush it off, then you get back to the way that you were playing.

So man, so it's so funny listening to you talk like this because this is one hundred and eighty degrees from the way you thought when you tried to play profession Yeah, I mean, you were, you were nervous, you were always doubting, you were never trusting of what you were doing your own game and all of that, and you're you're talking about, not surprisingly, one of the best players in the women's game, and the mental strength she's got is a positive. What's she like as a player to cadge? What does she want? What does she not want? Does she want a lot of information? Does she want to make the decision? Is it a collaboration between the two of you.

It's probably a little bit of both in terms of decision. Like seventeen last week on the Saturday, for example, when the pin is behind that road hole, Bunker and I had been telling her and both are three time or the twice that we played that hole in the pro am. Then in the practice round, I was like, if the pin's on the left, we're hitting it left. You know that you've been there, like yeah, I mean that hole was a long hole for them. I mean, if you've got a nine iron our wedge, Aron, maybe go out. But we were always miles back. I mean I think the shortest we had in there to the front was probably like one hundred and sixty yards maybe. I mean that pins thirty on, so I think on the Saturday we had two hundred wind was straight across right to left and she's like, can I just hit it on the front right part of the green And I'm like no. I'm like, because if it ends up being short, you can't get that close. Like the closest you're gonna get it's probably fifteen or twenty feet. You're making exactly you're going to make a bogie. I was like, so we have to hit it left and she's like, I thought you were going to say that. So like I'm then giving her a line. We've got like a tent or whatever that I'm trying to get her to hit it on. She's like, well, can I not just hit it on the seventeen on the TV tower and it was like left half of the road hole bunker and I'm like no, And she's like why And I'm like, because we don't want to be long. I was like, and we don't want to be in there. I was like, and I was basically begging her. I was like, can you please just hit it a little further left? I mean, again, you're just essentially trying to get her a play her strengths I mean, and that's the thing as a caddyo. It's like, I'm not there to tell her how to play golf or any of the players that I've ever worked how to play golf. But it's like you're just trying to not get them to screw up. Essentially, it's like, just don't do something done, Like let's be smart here. So I'm saying it's it's pretty much a collective thing. But like again very cliche. Every caddy'll tell you this. If they're playing good, just stay out of the way, you know what I mean. It's like dermot Burn always told me. He was like, always listen rather than talk.

That's an interesting one.

And I'm like, that's He's like, they're the best players in the world. He's like, they're going to tell you what they do and don't want to do. And I'm like, it's probably it. So it was said that whenever he had a good day, you'd come back to the Airbnb and he'd tell me he was like, I did a lot of listening today.

Let's talk about the Olympics. What a week Lydia had won a silver, she'd won a bronze. She now has a gold medal, What was the week like for you guys? The Sunday, you guys were cruising five shot lead at one point, and then you guys make double on thirteen. That's a funky golf course. She hooped one early from like what like forty feet?

Yeah, yeah, I think it was.

Like eight or nine right around the turn. Yeah, seven, And you know, she had a five shot lead on Sunday, but then all of a sudden that lead goes away. That finished at Golf National ain't easy either, you know, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, those little holes I think at that golf course, Paul, where you have to stand up and you can't fake it. You just have to hit a quality golf shot. Yeah, you've got to hit the fairway off the tee, You've got to stand up and hit the green, hit the right shot into there. And then eighteen as well, I think eighteen you just have to stand up and hit really really good shot. What was the week like for you guys? And what was that Sunday like?

The week as I sent you earlier, I mean the week she was she was very calm. I mean I know that it was a big deal for her. I mean, I'm not a massive proponent for golf in the Olympics. I've probably changed my mind a little bit now, but yeah, it was. It was calm, like I did the Olympics before with Anna in Tokyo. That was obviously during COVID, so there was no fans. So I remember the first day we had Selene Boutier playing in front of us, obviously French, I mean, and there must have been ten, twelve, maybe even fifteen thousand people following her. And you've been there, right, Yeah, golf course, I mean, it's it's unbelievable, like it's a great setting for respect there.

The golf course is down in the bottom of all the hills. And then yeah, it feels like up above you is where like a lot of the fans are. You kind of feel like the fans were on top of you when you're in the middle of those parawis.

Yeah, it's like an amphitheater. I mean, and the sound was traveling. I mean she I think Selene shot sixty five that first day and me and Lydia kept on saying all around it's like she must have just been loving this. But like the adrenaline that she had must have been insane. But yeah, no, I mean that first day was really tough as well. I think we shot even maybe the first day maybe one under I can't remember. Then, Like as just as the week went on, it was kind of the same as last week. I mean, it's just again it sounds stupid and it's it's repetitive, but it's like you just minimize the mistakes. It's like, if you're playing good, you know you're gonna get your birdies. You know you're gonna get your looks. The wind was kind of helpful for us on a pretty much all of the longer holes, like the par fives, and it was just like, okay, well, if we do what we're meant to do, then you're gonna have you know, X amount of looks every day, good chances for birdie. And it's just like, you know, you've got the as you said, like thirteen is not a particularly easy hole. You got hit the fairway there or you're I mean, I would think that the girls that the majority of girls that missed the fairway on thirteen, which is not particularly hard to do, you've probably been laying up fifteen. You don't hit it on that fairway. I mean, you can obviously get it over the back of the green. But like, as you said, it's like you you can't fake it. You've got you've got to back yourself and you've got to you've got to just stand there and execute.

Really eighteenth pole. I mean, obviously she knows what she's about to do, but we all have to get through that stretch. You got to hit the fair way. She laid up the mindset and her demeanor on that eighteenth hole different than the rest of the week or was it just normal.

No, just exactly the same. I mean, we got onto that tea and the wind was kind of it was kind of switching around a little bit, and if it'd be not off the left, I would probably have liked Driver. And I think she did the same or whatever. And she was like, is it Driver or three Wood? And I was like, well right now. And I looked over and there was flags up that were to the right of seventeen, to the left of where we were looking, and they were kind of going straight across, and I just felt the wind to go down. She's like, can I hit three Wood? And I was like absolutely. I was like, because I knew that three Wood would take out that kind of in between shot where it was like do we go for the green or do we have to lay it up? And it was like, she can hit this as good or as bad as she wants. It's going to be fine, and we're probably gonna have a seven or eight are and down there to lay up. Then. I mean that pin actually was fairly easy for the layup. It wasn't a particularly easy pin if you were to go for the green because it was kind of right on that mound where all slopes away.

Yeah, there is that kind of ridge there where everything.

Like in the practice round when it was straight down wind. I mean we had a seven iron that ran out thirty yards on that green basically into the hazard and they'd softened up as the week had gone on. But once we had got it in the fairway, I was like all right. I was like, well, probably the hardest shot now for her is just to lay up, which was perfect. It was like one hundred and fifty yards eight iron down there. Then we left a really good number. I think it was like seventy four maybe just a just a chippy little sand wedge in there.

Oh, she had a beautiful sandwige in there.

Yeah, Like it was it was really good. It was really and that's it. Like again, it talks to just play your strengths. I mean, she was playing into department of the game that she's like, Okay, well I know that I'm extremely good from here, or she should know. If she doesn't, then I'm going to tell her then. And it's just like all right, you know. But then obviously you're not thinking that way at the time, but because obviously it's it's golf and there's a human element to it, and it's like, okay, well something could still go wrong. But yeah, she was fine. We got the number, the wind was perfect for it. I mean, she had a really really good shot in there.

Are you able in that moment? Yeah? She hits a beautiful wedge shot. What was the number you said you.

Guys had I think it was seventy four yards somewhere in there, so seventy four yards.

He hit it to like four feet.

Great feet, yeah, six I think it was about six feet six feet.

I mean, are you able in that moment where you're walking up to just in your head just go man, what what a great shot? Yeah?

Yeah, no, for sure, for sure. I mean I don't I don't show a whole lot of emotion when I'm on a golf course. I know that some caddies will be fist pumping and kind of and there's actually quite a lot of the caddies will get a little disgruntled or whatever. But like, I was just kind of like, all right, I was like, well, we've still got a two pot from there, you know what I mean, Like you're you're thinking, I'm thinking, like probably in a little bit, not in the negative, but it's like, all right, well we've now got two putts to win. But yeah, when she rolled it in, I mean it was probably fitting that she rolled it in as well, rather than just dollied it up to a foot or whatever then tapped it in.

Did she say anything afterwards? Because she looked I mean I watched it. She looked very emotional. It looked like you understood what it meant. Did she say anything?

No, I don't think she could speak. I mean she had tears streaming down her face. I think I had I had a little sweary word with you legend in there, But yeah, no, she never she never said much. I mean, it was just it was just mental. I mean then even afterwards, I mean the whole because obviously it's not the normal golf tournament where they go in and sign their scorecard, they come out and they get the trophy. I mean, you've got kind of maybe that fifteen twenty minute period where they go and they get their you know, their track suits on and they come out and it's neat that you know this the first time. Well no, I saw the ceremony in Tokyo, but obviously to have a player up there that I've just helped, it's it's a pretty neat feeling.

I was gonna ask, it's got to be a different celebration, Yeah, the win an Olympic gold medal than it is to win a tournament.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well so that happened. Then the dude, Greg Thorpe that was with us, he's the high performance manager from New Zealand for Golf, and he was like, right now, we need to go to the New Zealand house. So we end up getting in this van after she's done her media or whatever, and we're in this van and there was I think he was a Kiwi journalist maybe, and he had his laptop and we're standing there or we're sitting in this van driving forty minutes into Paris and he's got the high jump on because one of the key we guys was in the final of the high jump. So we're sitting there watching that we just won a golf tournament and everybody's worried about this guy winning a gold medal. I'm like, this is kind of a little bit weird. I was like, but it's kind of cool, Like I can get used to this.

So then you guys go to the New Zealand house and there's all the New Zealand athletes there.

There was I think it was a lot of sponsors that help obviously pay for the Olympic stuff. There was I believe there was two or three of the athletes there. You know, they they sing a song when Lydia goes in, they do the hack out right in front of us, which is really cool. And then yeah, like everybody's taking pictures with the medal like it was really neat. It was kind of like, all right, I was like, this is what's sports is about. It's not about you know, it's not about the check it's not about anything like that. Like this is the probably the purest form of golf you get other than the Solheim Cupp or the Ryder Cup or whatever it was neat Then I sat there at ten past eleven, eating a curry and drinking a corona. I was like, this is this is a little bit odd. I don't normally be well gone by night.

Did you try on the metal?

Yeah? I wore it. The thing's heavy, really heavy.

Everybody says they're really really heavy.

Yeah. Like I was like, I remember when she was walking from press up to she had to go and do someone else. I think Molly, the commissioner of the LPGA tour. She wanted to present her with something for getting into the Hall of Fame. And she's walking up and I was like, can I just have a quick look at it before you go in there? She's like here where? So she put it on my neck and I was like, holy crap, this thing is super.

Heavy, amazing. Onto the Women's British Open, Uh Saint Andrew's. I mean, Marina Alex was messaging me all week about she was just saying it's just so cool. I mean there are there are majors, there are open championship, and then there are open championships. At St. Andrew's. Uh yeah, it's just personally. I know it might sound controversial. I wish they'd play it at St Andrews every year. Yeah, I wish they would just leave, certainly for the men. I just wish they'd leave the Open Championship at St. Andrews, the home of golf. Leave it there. Such a great golf course. You know, you make that turn and you come back into the city. It's it's a magical place. Obviously, she went into that week playing well. What was the week like? As the week progressed, did you guys have a feeling that she was on the cusp of doing something, you know, really unique and really really special.

Yeah, And I kind of thought even before we went there, I was like it might take a little bit of pressure off kind of off the tee as like, as you know, you've been there plenty of times, I'm sure like the fairways are pretty wide, but there are a lot of bunkers that you kind of need to avoid that kind of are on the left of every hole, and it's it's almost one of those golf courses where if you kind of play the hole as it's meant to be played, it can be very very easy. But that's also you're flirting with a trouble. But then if you start hitting it left, like the angles into the greens aren't very good. And the way that the wind was like, it was like the front line was pretty much hard off the left, whether it was slightly in or slightly dying every day. But the it was almost like, right, okay, we need to try and get it in the middle of our fairway, Like if we can get it as close to the middle of our fairway every day, because I mean some of those fairways are fifty sixty seventy.

Miles and what people, if you've never played Saint Andrews, you can miss it off the tee going out on the front nine and coming back on the back of you can miss it as far left as you want. Yeah, that's got one hundred yards left of the fairway, and you're still going to be unless you go into a bunker or you get unlucky to go into some you know, gores for or heather, you're probably going to have a lie from the fairway. The problem is the angle you're coming in from is just going to be.

Horrendous, exactly. And that's the thing, Like I remember Lydia had played there in thirteen and I can't remember what hole we were playing, and she kind of looked back and like, say, we're playing like fifteen or whatever it is. I mean, and there's bunkers that you can't even see off the tee. We can see them because we have a yardage book and obviously I've walked to golf course et cetera or whatever. But it's like when you look back and it's like that bunker shouldn't even be on this hole, but it's like in the middle of whatever fairway you're playing, because it's actually a bunker that's actually meant to have gone or it looks like it was going the other way. So yeah, I mean, we just we had a really good game plan. Again, it was kind of similar to Paris. It was like as the week went on, it was like when we were just hanging around, hanging around. Then obviously again in that final day and I remember somebody or saying to me on the Saturday night, They're like, uh, you're probably hoping that it's not windy tomorrow, and I'm like, I hope it's really windy tomorrow. It's like, because we played really good for three days in fairness for the first two days we got the best of the draw. I mean, that's another thing when it comes to the Open is that.

You always have to get the right side of the draw.

I have to get the luck in the draw. Like we played on Thursday, I think we only we maybe had like four or five with very little wind compared to what they've been in the morning. Then on the Friday morning, I mean we literally played the hole the back nine with very little wind. Then you make the turn and it starts howling when you're on one. But then on Saturday we played it in the wind all day and I was like, I hope it's really windy, because then you know, and as you know, it's like you don't really need to miss a hole a shot very badly when it's that windy, and it just gets exaggerated. But she had basically been hitting her lines off the tees and I was like, if we can just keep doing that, you know, we're we're going to be fine. Then I mean you get round to I mean with the wind that strong, you get round to like seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, then twelve, and it feels like you're in a wind tunnel. It's like little micro climate it's like it's howling, And it was like it was almost the same thing every day. It's like, okay, like let's get through the first six holes, kind of hang on to your hat a little bit. Once you get to seventy, get round to thirteen. Then, because she plays a little cap I was like, I was never really that fearpole on the back nine because it was like we had good targets. She was hitting good shots off of tea and I'm like, if we can just keep hitting it in the fairway, like she's capable of hitting it close and making a couple of birdies, and that was it. Then it wasn't really as she said, it was probably the same for me. I didn't realize that we were tied for the lead until she had that three foot or on sixteen on Sunday, So I was just.

Gonna ask, is she a scoreboard watcher? Are you a scoreboard watcher?

I look, she looks. We never really ever talk about it because at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter where you are, like you still have to stand there and execute the shot. I know that some caddies and players, I mean I know that Anna in the past has said to me, you know, where do we stand?

Like?

That was kind of actually one thing when we were in COVID in Arkansas when I was Caddy and Farannah there was no scoreboards, but we were a look at her phone to look at the scores, and I actually, I'll take the blame for that one. I actually never told her where she stood with about four holes to go, and she said she told me afterwards. She's like, it wouldn't have made a difference. She's like, but it would obviously be nice to know. So I think all of them look, but like I never ever bring it up, like, Okay, we'll maybe if we were one or two back with three holes to be to go, or I'd be like, okay, look we kind of maybe need to take a little bit more of a risk here there. But when you're when you're in that position of tied for the lead or that close to the lead with especially with seventeen, it's just like you've just got to stand there and now show you don't really need to be thinking about Okay, well you know, I don't need to have a bad one here because we're tied for the lead.

Everybody has seen the seventy te shot at St. Andrews, where you've got to go basically over the corner of the hotel. They've seen it on TV, but if you've never stood up and had to hit that shot, but in competition, yeah, getting the line and where the wind is and how much the wind is going to affect it, that to me has got to be a caddy nightmare when you're sitting back there because you're basically staring at this big giant building that, depending on where the wind is, the line can sometimes be. You're basically hitting it over the building and you're like, no, no, that's gonna be fine. That's gonna be fine. That's gonna be fine. And you get down there and it just never looks like it's going to be in the fair one.

Yeah, yeah, no it is. And especially and it was like, I've played Saint Andrews maybe ten or eleven times before, and I knew what my line would have been from obviously the further back to you or whatever. But when you're standing off to the side and it's like this ball takes off and you're like, is that going exactly where she's looking like, because obviously the angle skewed, and it's like but she hit it. She hit it pretty much exactly where she was looking on that T show. Every time. I think the furthest left we would have been would have been like left half of the fairway.

You guys never missed the fairway.

No, we were in the fairway on that hole every day they.

Hit the seventeenth fairway in a major championship at Saint Andrews is for four days because there's so much chance there. Right, you could hit an absolute perfect one and it hits the mound and goes hits it sideways and you are you've.

Got no shot exactly and it sounds stupid, but like there is a lot more room there right, but like left is actually death. Everybody thinks that left is okay. But left's fine if you want to hit it short at the green, but you have you've literally gotten like there's not really a hole or there's not really a good chance of making par from that left rough it's not very thick, but like you have zero angle, Like the only thing that's staring at you is short at the green or the road.

And on Sunday they're going to tuck the pin if you miss it left, they're going to tuck the pin over the road hole bunker. So now you know, if you go you hit it in there, you're making X.

Yeah exactly, you're probably like you might have a putt for four, you're probably making five. And if you're not making five, you're probably making a six or seven.

But I think that's a great that hole and that hole on Sunday, isn't It is an example of if you want to win the golf tournament. There are times in major champions but I think every player goes through this. You've seen it on TV, but that is okay, if we want to win the golf tournament, we have to make a par on this hole. And the mindset. I don't think people realize that are listening realized how difficult that mindset is because you're always attacked, attack, attack, attack, attack, attack. But sometimes when you know all you have to do is make a par when you go into that not defense. So I guess that's the question is the county When you say, okay, we are going to play for par, it is easy to think of that as a defensive strategy, like the prevent defense they were in team sports in basketball football, What does the prevent defense prevent you from winning. Every time you go into the prevent defense, it seems like the team loses, right. So when you're in that situation, you're trying to talk her into the smart play and say, listen, left is fine. Short is in the road hole bunker. We're making bogy or double from there. Yeah, front right to that pin, we're not going to be able to get it close. Left is the play. How do you convey that and see that as a positive and play of aggressively but conservatively because I think that's a balance that a lot of players struggle with. You know, conservative target but it's something I say all the time, conservative targets but committed aggressive swing to conservative targets. The big difference between being aggressive and reckless. But I think that's the trap that a lot of players, specifically when you are trying to break ninety one hundred and eighty for the first time, just don't be reckless. You still be aggressive, but committed swings to conservative targets. That process, How did you guys go through that process?

The first two days of pins were on I don't know, I can't remember what they were on, but they were on the front right part of that green and we had I kind of remember, I think we had five iron both times. I mean, normally we would probably have hit four hybrids. So it was like right on the limit of whether it was going to land up top or maybe not up top, but like right on the rest of that hill on the front right of the green. And it was just like, like, just keep it right like we can. We cannot hit this golf club onto the road like that. When the pin's on the right hand side, I'm gonna hit it in the bunker. It's like, just keep it right in the flag. You know, we cannot hit this long. So but if you hit it good or it gets a bounce, you know, a links golf'slike, I mean every now and again you get the old bounce and it goes some stupid distance or whatever. And I was like, the bounce is not gonna affect us that badly here. So the first two days we were kind of short, right, she hit two good lag puts up there. I mean, we made part there four days and then.

You sprint, yeah the next hole if you're making par there every day.

Yeah. Then on the third day, that was when it was tucked right behind the bunker, I mean and I've played that pin position before in the Saint Andrew's Links Trophy, and I don't think I hit it left at that point. I was probably reckless and went at the flag. But it's like, again, it's like plate your strengths. I think that's where they are a lot better than obviously your average golfer is, because the strength of Lydia is our short game. I mean, she can get it up and down out a ball washer. So it's like that was kind of what I was saying to her, was like, look, let's just hit this one left. You're gonna have twenty yards. But if you hit it on the front right part of the green, you're either going to have to chip it from there, you're gonna land it on a downslope. You're gonna have maybe ten feet. Like if you've got twenty yards with a lob wedge in your hand, you could chip that in. So it's like you're you're essentially taking five out of the equation. Then on the final day, it was kind of tucked just over the slope to the right of the bunker, so you're now that was probably the hardest pin because obviously you're bringing in short right or short left. If it's like even if it's short left and it's not in the bunker, I mean, that's no gimme up and down. If it's in the bunker, it's not an easy up and down. And if you hit it long, it's into the road. So I'm sure anybody that watched on the coverage, I mean, it was pissing it down with rain and the wind picked up, and it was it was one of those I can't remember what number we had, but it was like it was way shorter than what a three wood was. And she was like, do I just punch you know, just flight a three wood in there? And I'm like yeah, and she I think she said it in her press conference afterwards. It was like she had a club in her hand that she couldn't go long. It was like there was no way that she could get that essentially past the flag.

Yeah, so that shot, she has to hit that shot in that situation.

Yeah, And that was the thing, like as I said, I think she said it in the press conference afterwards, like she literally had a club that she couldn't hit long. Like, So for that one for us short right, same as the front first two pins, I mean that was kind of where you wanted to hit it. I mean, and she hit this unbelieva like I'm standing there with the umbrella trying to peek my head out to see. I mean, she hits this unbelievably low three wood, and as soon as it came off, I was like, as long as that doesn't kick left, like, we're gonna have a pot at Bertie. Like, I don't know how long that put's going to because it might have just cress it up. It might have ended up getting up and coming back down. I was like, but we're gonna have a chance at Birdie. I mean, and it's obviously crept up there, kind of ran a little left and it was It was good. I actually thought that she was probably gonna hold that pot. But I mean it's not It's not an easy green hole any kind of put on. I mean, there's a lot more slope there again than people actually realize when you're watching on TV.

So then you go to eighteen, Did you guys know where you stood?

Yeah? I think we well, yes, we would both after we were all well, after we finished sixteen that we were tied for the lead. Yeah, then there was a big leader board to the like behind and to the left of seventeen Green.

I can't think of a better place to stand up in a major championship. I mean, going back into the town of Saint Andrew's, I mean, it is magical if you if you get a chance to even go there, if you get a chance to play, But to be on the eighteenth hole, I mean, were you aware of that we were at least, or were you so in the moment when at any point when you were walking down there did you kind of go wow?

No?

I never did. I mean, that's the thing is like I think when you're in the heat of the moment, it's just kind of like, all right, well, we've just got a job to do. I don't think it ever, or I don't think it's sunk in yet, But I mean, to win it Saint Andrews is cool. I remember saying to her afterwards, once everything had happened and we went she was down getting pictures on the Swilkin Bridge, and I was like, right, I'm gonna leave you, because she had a bunch of other stuff to do and they were obviously going for dinner. I left there on the bridge, photographers everywhere, and I was like I said to her. I was like, only legends win here. I was like, this is literally where legends win, as like the old courses Andrews. I was like, and you are now or you were a legend anyway, I was like, but you're you're now a legend. So I hope that she kind of took it like I took it in. Then I wouldn't have took it in at the time that we were that we were doing it.

How many drinks did you have on the Sunday night? Give me a tally? Come on, where'd you go?

First?

Of all, we got a top where'd you go?

I went to Russex. We went to the rooftop restaurant in Russex, had some dinner there, rememb we had three or four beers there. Then we went to the vic. Have you ever been to the Vica?

Oh?

Yeah, I've been to the VIC.

Yeah.

And I walk in there and I ordered a pint attendants in the gimme and like the old school mug. And I've still got my ring year on. I've got like all my stuff from the golf course or whatever. And when we were down in Troon the week before, I'd seen that they'd been serving tenants and those like Stella Attua goblets, and I was like, weird, It's like that doesn't really fit tenants. So of course this chick gives me the my pint attendants in this mug, and I was like, I'm having this and she's like, no, you're not, and I was like, yeah, I'm my buddy. It was with me. He was like, he just won the openings and Andrews just give him the mug and I was like, I'm taking it. I was like, I don't care. I was like, and I might even get you rinsed out, and she's like, you can have it, but I'm not rinsed it out for you. So I ended up walking out of there with two So somebody from the vix liston has like, apologies, I've got two year glasses.

So what's next for Lyddy? I mean, obviously, you know, she's twenty seven.

She's saying she's probably not going to play golf much longer, you know, three years until she's thirty eight years since she won her last major.

She's now won Olympic gold medal.

Do you think getting into the Hall of Fame will take some pressure off? Do you think that was weighing on her mind.

I think it probably was at the start when I first started caddying four, and I mean i'm speaking for or now. I think it was at the start. Then when we won in Orlando, then obviously got beat the falling week in a playoff by Nelly. I think that she maybe felt a kind of a little bit like her chance came and gone. But then I think she said since that like her her mom and her her husband had said to her, like it doesn't really matter about the Hall of Fame. I mean, and that was the thing. Like I like, as you said earlier, like the criteria to get in the LPGA Hall of Fame is insanity. Like I looked at I like every time I would go out there, I'm like, she is a Hall of Famer. Like there's nobody out here that has as many points or whatever it is to get into that Hall of Fame. It's like she is literally a Hall of Famer. And like I never ever said to her, but I was like, if they change it, you're gonna get in any way. I know you don't want to backdoor it that way, but like they would probably have changed it at some point, and she would have got in. I don't think she would have really have accepted it that way, and she didn't have to. Well she doesn't have to now, but yeah, I think that there probably is a little bit of pressure off. I mean, she could go on a crazy run for you know, the rest of this year, twenty seven years old exactly. She's twenty seven, I mean, And that's what I said on Sunday. I was like, it's not like she's thirty seven, and it's like she's forty. It's not like she's like dwindling down and she only has like a year left to play. Like she she literally could probably take a if she wanted to, then come back and play again if she really wanted to. I don't think she will. But yeah, no, I honestly don't know. I haven't really spoke to her over the last couple of days. I've just kind of left her. I mean, I know she was going back to San fran on the Friday morning. I'm back at my parents' house in Scotland, so I've kind of I don't really have the great service and I've just kind of I've just been trying to take it all in. But it's absolutely nuts.

But yeah.

I mean, she still has a lot of good golf to play. I mean, I don't think anybody needs to be worried about her running off into the sunset. Yet.

Lastly, your goal growing up in Aberdeen, Scotland was to play professional golf.

You had those moments like everybody does.

Where you're a kid and you're hole in a putt to win the Open Championship or stuff like that. It didn't turn out like that for you, but you've now been on the bag for two Open Championships at arguably that other than maybe true Carnustian, Saint Andrews Okay, Mirfield is probably those are the four.

Yeah, you couldn't script it.

Any better, being from Scotland on the bag to caddy and have an Open Championship win at Carnoustie, and then to have one at the home of golf Saint Andrews. Has it sunk in for you personally? Have you allowed yourself to kind of congratulate yourself and go, man, this is pretty cool.

No, And I don't know why, but it's it's almost I don't know. I suppose I take a little bit of the mentality of what I was like as a player and my caddian and it's like, I don't get me wrong, it is very special. I mean they're the two that's probably the only two golf tournaments that the women will play that will be anywhere remotely close to where I grew up and I play. I played Carnoustie on Monday after Saint Andrew's actually midday and I walked up on the first tea and the starter was like, oh, have you played here before? And I was like, yeah, a long time ago. And he's like, well when was that? And I was like it was twenty two years ago in the British Boys. And he's like that's a long time and he's like, oh yeah. And it was actually Anna Nordquist Sea time. She couldn't make it. She was going to Boston, her manager set up and he's like, he's like, you've been very lucky. He's like, it was meant to be on an Nordquist that was played today and I was like, well, I actually caddied for here in twenty twenty one. When she won. Was like and he's like oh, and I was like yeah, so no, I don't and I don't think like a lot of people close to me get annoy you may because I don't ever really take any of the credit for the success, and I don't think that what I do is that difficult, and I just it's just a pleasure to to work for good players. It's a pleasure to watch good golf. And I've just been very, very lucky that I've managed to win probably two of the biggest tournaments in the women's game, basically on my doorstep. I mean, it's pretty neat. It is pretty neat.

One day.

I'm sure I'm going to sit back when I'm in Saint Pete long time from now, and I'll be having a beer and I'll maybe shed a little tear and be excited about it. But I mean, it's like, you know what, it's like, all these all these guys that you work with, It's like once they won one tournament, they get to the next. It's like, it's not that they forget about it. But you've got a job to do.

You're gonna get the Olympic tattoo.

I might do. I might do. Know that. I again, I want not massive proponent for the for the golf and the Olympics, but I'll maybe I'll maybe make an exception.

I mean, come on, man, you got to do it.

Yeah, no, I probably will. I probably will. That'll be my nice little memento.

Well, as much as I know that you wanted to play and we worked pretty hard to try and get you to reach your dreams, I'm proud of you.

Man. It's it's been fun to watch.

Uh. These moments are special when you're in them, and when you're a part of them, it's hard to to understand what has happened. But we are so lucky to be around great players, to have an opportunity to share in their success, to have an opportunity to be a part of their success. Listen, we all know that, you know, in the world that we live in, they could do it without us. Yeah, right, they are the best players in the world. They could win tournaments, they could win majors without our involvement. But it's also important. It's something you know, my father's always said. Yeah, you know, I look at Tiger's success. He could have done all of this without me. I just know he didn't. And yeah, I think it's it's important to remember that. Yeah, I mean, they can always do it without you. They can always win tournaments. Their talent is amazing. It's great, but they don't do it without you, and you are a part of it. Are you the reason? Hell no, they're the reason, right, we all know they're the reason. But yeah, we do play, and you'd have played an enormous part in the success of both, you know, Anna, But I think Lydia's this year. I think the reset of getting somebody like you on the bag who had some experience of playing, who could make things on the golf course simpler, to make it less pressurized. I'm proud of you, mate, You've done a great job and I think you're going to have more continued success and hopefully we'll celebrate with some alcohol soon.

We will, for sure, I'll come down for a lesson.

Please please tell me your your mother has overloaded you with square sausage sandwiches and you know, all the good.

Stuff Macaroni prize, bridy sausage roles. That's the only thing I missed, because obviously I live in Florida, know, And it's like, that's the only thing I missed, Like just all the all the Scottish crap bakery goods. I like all the savory goods, like even the candy, Like I order iron Brew off Amazon like every week when I'm at home, so iron Brew, I don't really miss that much. But yeah, yeah, all the all the square sausage and all that kind of stuff.

It's been good, great to talk to you, mate. We'll look forward to seeing you soon. Travel safe.

Thanks God.

So that was Paul Kormack. And listen for those of you that listen to the pod on a regular basis. I try and talk all the time about minimizing mistakes, playing to your strengths as a player, trying to eliminate the big numbers. And you just heard a guy who's on the bag for Lydia coach. He just won an Olympic gold medal. She just won her third major after an eight year drought. He talked a lot about she plays her strengths, she tries to limit the damage and just tries to play smart. And I just think that is something that everyone that's listening can take the heart with their own game. You know, make a good bogie, you don't have to go for the hero shot. Play to what your strengths are. Know what your strengths are, and that's what the best players in the world do. Yes, they hit better shots than we do. Of course they do. They're the best players in the world, but they also limit the damage. They manage their missues, they manage their mistakes better, and I think Paul did a great job at talking about kind of the process that Lydia goes through. And you know, anytime you can listen to a caddy, that caddy's for a great player that's winning big tournaments, I think it's very unique insight because I think caddies have the best seat for professional golf. They're up close with their player, and I really enjoyed that. I'm proud of Paul. I consider him a friend and a really really cool talk So I want to thank everyone for listening, Rate, review, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Son of a Butch with Claude Harmon

Claude Harmon is back and breaking down all things golf – a simple game that tends to confuse smart  
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