Brennans Caddy Report-World Golf Championships-Barbados World Cup

For those who are not familiar with Jim, he is forty-seven years old and has had a successful career playing and winning all over the world.  For as long as I can remember he has had great success playing in Asia; and for the past few years he has been competing on the Nationwide Tour.  This year Jim finally finished in the top twenty, twelfth to be exact, which gives him playing privileges on the PGA Tour in 2007. Jim is one golfer who had everyone wondering when he would finally get his chance to play on Tour.  Now that he has that chance, I look forward to seeing some really good things from him next year.
 

The World Cup tournament is hosted this year by the Sandy Lane Resort course.  Sandy Lane is a very exclusive resort that was made famous a few years back when it hosted Tiger Woods' wedding. The resort has two courses, the one we are playing on and the ultra exclusive Green Monkey course.  The resort course is a good course and anyone who is lucky enough to get down here on vacation should take the time to play it.   

The format for this event is very different from any other event that we play in, including the Presidents Cup. On the first and third days Mike and Jim both play their own balls and we take the best ball of the two.  You will see teams with very good scores, from 65 to the low 60's on occasion.  Days 2 and 4 are a different story as the format is alternate shot.  It is difficult for the players to get into any kind of rhythm as they are only hitting every second shot. There is also a little added pressure on the guys as they don't want to let their partners down by hitting a bad shot and making them play from a difficult position.  This format is one that the players in the event really don't play that often, so they are a little unfamiliar with it.  There is nothing like the back nine on Sunday, in the alternate shot format, when the pressure starts to mount.  You tend to see some shots that you are not accustomed to.  The great part of the event is that it has a good team feeling and each golfer really pulls for their partner, something that you can't say very often in golf!
 
I arrived in town on Sunday night and got my first look at the course on Monday.  Mike and Jim practiced for a while, but with winds whipping at more than thirty miles per hour they decided to walk nine holes and get a look at the course. I was a little shocked to see how hilly and wet the course was!  Today, (Tuesday) we played all 18 holes and got a good feel for the course. With its beautiful views, Sandy Lane reminds me a lot of the course in Maui where we play the Mercedes Championship. 

Like all island courses the grass is a grainy Bermuda grass which makes the greens a little more difficult to putt.  The course is also designed very well for the direction that the wind normally blows. This may sound a little confusing as the scorecard shows a few five hundred yard par fours.  However, those are the holes that are down wind and they play much shorter than that. Other holes play into the wind and they seem to play much longer. If the wind was to somehow switch directions, which they say happens a few times a year, it would make for some impossible holes!  As I mentioned the course is very wet and I am sure you will hear the golfers complaining all week about getting mud on their golf balls.  Hitting approach shots to greens with muddy balls is very difficult because the golf ball flies in crazy directions.  It's amazing, but it's the truth.
 
One unique thing about this course is that four of the par three holes are even numbers.  This means that in alternate shot play the same person will tee off on the par three's.  This will be very advantageous for teams that have a long ball hitter and a guy with a great iron game. There is definitely some strategy and some course management that we will have to figure out before Friday when we play alternate shot.  

In my opinion, the back nine this week is much better than the front nine.  The front has too many holes that are dead straight with bunkers off the left and right; while the back nine has some shape to the holes. Numbers 14 and 15 are back to back par five's which may be important for the teams who need to make up strokes coming down the stretch.  Number 17 is the hardest hole on the course; it's a par five that has been converted into a 450 yard par 4.  It also plays directly into the teeth of the wind and has a hazard guarding the left side of the green.  I think you will see a lot of teams bailing out to the right and trying to get the ball up and down for par. The final hole is a par three which is a little different, but a good long iron shot could make it a great finishing hole.
 
As a resort course, Sandy Lane suits its needs very well.  It should be a great week here in the Barbados and I hope that we can bring the Cup back to Canada for the first time in a while. I know that Mike and Jim get along very well and I expect that they will not only play well, but also enjoy themselves on top of it all.

Thank you to all of you who have read the reports during the 2006 season.  As always, please let me know if there I can do to make the experience better for everyone.

Best wishes for the rest of 2006 and Happy Holidays!!

Brennan