By rights, the caddie gets the 18th hole flag as a badge of honour . . . and Ted Scott made sure nobody else was getting their hands on the yellow fabric, taking the flagpole as well. He was right, of course.
And the bagman’s latest Masters win – his fourth, two with Bubba Watson and two with Scottie Scheffler – elevated him to honoured status in the caddie shack as he became only the fifth carrier to guide their man to a green jacket on four occasions.
Scott joined Nathaniel “Iron Man” Avery (four with Arnold Palmer) and Steve Williams (three with Tiger Woods, one with Adam Scott) on four, one behind Willie Peterson (five with Jack Nicklaus) and Pappy Stokes (five with four players).
And as the man with the yardages, numbers and the key on-course advice, Scott is more impressed than anyone with how Scheffler goes about his business.
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“I’m just pinching myself, honestly. I don’t really know what I am seeing. The guy is special, a different kind of special. I think we’re all seeing it and we’re all questioning where did this come from?”
As for his own move into the world of caddying, that came about with a piece of advice.
“When I was 19 years old, [I was told] ‘If you want to get better at something, find people who are better at it than you and spend time with them’. That’s kind of been my motto in life.”
In-form Korda targets Major glory in Chevron Championship
The conveyor belt of Major championships continues this week with The Chevron Championship – one of five on the women’s professional circuit – taking place at The Woodlands in Houston, Texas. Lilia Vu is the defending champion and Nelly Korda will aim to continue her remarkable streak of wins on the LPGA Tour.
Korda’s win over Leona Maguire in the T-Mobile Matchplay final extended her run to four successive victories and the world number one will again be the firm favourite.
Maguire and Stephanie Meadow are the two Irish players in the 132-woman field which includes players with 34 Major titles and no fewer than 36 players who tasted Solheim Cup experience with the USA or Europe. In all, there are 71 players with LPGA Tour wins representing a total of 287 career successes.
There are also four amateurs in the field, including England’s Lottie Woad – ranked third in the world – who recently won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur tournament.
“I want to be a professional and playing in these events. I haven’t played in a Major before, so this is going to be really exciting,” said Woad.
Word of Mouth
“In our line of work you’re going to have some bad weeks. You can’t let it beat you down too much. Otherwise, it would be a very hard life” – Jon Rahm on a bad week at the office.
“My buddies told me this morning, my victory’s secure on the cross” – Scottie Scheffler, on where that belief comes from.
By the Numbers: 18
Scottie Scheffler became the 18th player to win the Masters multiple times and the fourth youngest – after Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Seve Ballesteros – to accomplish the feat. Nicklaus (at 25 years, two months and 21 days) was the youngest.
On this day: April 16th, 1972
Dave Hill’s route into the sport came about by the good fortune of his family living beside a golf course in Michigan, where he started caddying as a nine-year-old and the club professional had the wisdom to cut down the shafts on a set of clubs so that he could play in the weekly caddie competition.
He was self-taught. “I learned the basics of swinging a club mostly by imitation. I caddied for some good players around Jackson and picked up a lot just observing them and trying to mimic them.”
Hill’s win in the Monsanto Open in Pensacola, Florida, was the ninth of 13 wins he had on the PGA Tour and ended a two-year barren spell since his Memphis Open success. But he made it hard for himself.
Carrying a five-stroke lead into the final round and increasing it to seven at one point, Hill suffered two double-bogeys in his round (on four and 11) and, standing on the 18th tee, had been drawn back into a dogfight by Jerry Heard who’d actually moved ahead with a run of four consecutive birdies from the 10th.
Hill, though, rallied with a birdie on 16 and a birdie on the 18th for a one stroke winning margin, shooting a 71 for a total of 13-under-par 271.
X-Twitter Twaddle
Part of the reason Scottie’s right foot jumps backwards is to keep that club more inside on his downswing since he has a very upright backswing. You can notice his right foot jumps more on shots he’s trying to draw – tour player Michael Kim providing some insight on the Scheffler Shuffle.
I want one day to be world number one . . . Only problem is Scotty (sic) Scheffler is same age #secondwilldo – Robert MacIntyre realising the challenge ahead and lowering expectations slightly.
Scottie Scheffler is an amazing person and golfer & it’s great to see him win @TheMasters aagina!! And wow @jtedscott with yet another flag for his trophy case! Love you guys. Congrats!! – two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson.
In the Bag
Scottie Scheffler – The Masters
Driver – TaylorMade Qi10 (8 degrees)
3-wood – TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Irons – Srixon ZU85 (3-4), TaylorMade P-7TW (5-PW)
Wedges – Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (50, 56 and 60 degrees)
Putter – TaylorMade Spider Tour X L-Neck prototype
Ball – Titleist ProV1
Know the Rules
Q The player’s second shot lands in the greenside bunker. The player hits the ball out of the bunker and it comes to rest just short of the green where he removes the sand that landed both on the green and off the green using a towel as it was on their line of play. What is the ruling in strokeplay?
A The player gets a two strokes penalty. Although there is no penalty for removing sand that lies on the putting green (Rule 13.1c), however, the player gets the general penalty for improving their line of play by removing sand in the general area (Rule 8.1a(4)).
