MARK'S KADDY KORNER - Rochester NY - Wegman's LPGA Championship - by Mark Huber

 

Rochester, NY has hosted major tournaments for years. There have been Ryder Cups, U.S. Opens, a Senior PGA held at Oak Hill and now the first LPGA major at Locust Hill. Wegmans grocery chain has sponsored the event for years but it wasn’t declared a major until this year after McDonalds dropped their support of the LPGA Championship. The old course was the perfect venue for a major.

Naturally, they brought the long rough in, narrowed the fairways, firmed up the greens and lengthened the track quite a bit. It was tough but very fair. Most everyone had no major complaints except for the lack of practice time. For some reason pro-ams were scheduled Monday and Tuesday plus the practice area was set up for an amateur putting competition keeping the pros from fine tuning their short game. Christie Kerr, the eventual champion was especially miffed and let the tournament coordinators know.

Locust Hill, located just east of Rochester, has hosted an LPGA event for over thirty years and the crowds are tremendous. They braved the winds and rain, lined the fairways everyday and you could sense the community support everywhere. Stopping in the local pub, Thirsty’s, one afternoon the locals immediately started talking golf even though Wimbledon’s longest match was on the big screen, tennis was a distraction golf seemed to be their life. They wanted to know everything about the tournament, our lifestyle, the LPGA pros, and the bartender, who had been there for 31 years, gave us a little history lesson about Rochester golf. We were only there for an hour but left with some new friends and wonderful memories.

My brother, Dan, booked us a room at the DorKat Motel, a “quaint” mom and pop motel managed by a rather rotund lady, Peggy. She ran the joint with a loving iron fist from her chair behind the counter and enjoyed jousting with the caddies all week. They took could care of us, grilled up some Henrietta Red Hots, a cross between a hot dog and a brat, one night and did our laundry. Their unique hospitality is always remembered throughout the years and stories were told that stretch back to the first event, some of the guys had been staying here that long.

The local bowling alley sponsored a caddie/player tournament Tuesday evening. It was mainly caddies, a few players, and the new LPGA commissioner. My hip kept me on the sidelines but all had a good time. I hooked up with an old friend Russ Holden, Bernard Langer’s old caddy, who is the CEO for Caddy for a Cure. He auctions off caddy experiences with PGA and LPGA professionals for cancer charity and this week Natalie Gulbis was the host professional. It’s a great cause and a lot of fun, check out their web site for more info.

I’m avoiding talking about the golf because it wasn’t pretty. Caddying for an 81 is not fun and it snowballed on us. After doubling the first hole we managed a few scrambling pars but then the bogey train started. We didn’t hit a green in regulation until our 17^th hole, three-putted, and then birdied the last hole. Sometimes you try a little humor, sometimes you just go about normal conversation between shots, but mostly the quiet is intense and there isn’t a lot you can do. We had a case of the pulls going and the bounces went the wrong direction every time. When the cold rains came on the 16^th hole delaying play for about a half hour we huddled under the umbrella, stayed dry and laughed a bit. It was probably the only fun we had all day.

We played late Friday in a twosome because Lisolette Neuman withdrew after her 86 Thursday. Good news we weren’t the high round in our group and we managed a couple over. To her credit Rachel never gave up, only got feisty a couple of deserved times, and was very pleasant after the round. She’s not sure when she’s playing again so I hooked up with a young Korean girl Misun Cho for the next few weeks. “Bully” an old Hawaiian caddy set me up during the bowling tournament.

That bowling tournament was probably the most productive night of the week, glad I went. The rest of the week was a bit blurry and easy to forget. Oh, one last thing. Rachel had dinner at Oak Hill Thursday evening and Tiger’s pictures are no longer on the clubhouse wall. All the other golf greats adorn the walls but for some reason his are missing. There’s a great golf tradition here, I guess someone was quite offended and looking to protect golf’s great name.

Mark Huber is a semi-retired PGA Tour caddy doing a little writing. You can contact him at markskaddykorner@gmail.com or check outwww.MarksKaddyKorner.com for more stories about golf and life. He's caddied twenty-one years on every tour for over fifty players mainly Bob Murphy, Ray Floyd, Doug Tewell, and worked for Tom Watson twice in 2009. Mark grew up in Havana, IL attended Illinois State on a baseball scholarship and played semi-pro ball with the Eau Claire Cavaliers after spring training with the White Sox way back when. He is a die-hard Cubs fan.


Mark has freelanced for many sites, including ESPN. He will now be contributing his insights to Docksquad Sports...