Golf: Caddie Kenny overcomes nerves to hold his own at the sharp end

By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Published on 19/09/2012 00:00

IT may be a low-key affair for the tournament host but setting out at Deeside yesterday gave both Paul Lawrie’s son and his caddie a taste of what it was like to hit the opening tee shot in a Ryder Cup.

This week’s 54-hole invitational event in the Granite City is the first time amateur Craig Lawrie, the former Open champion’s 17-year-old son, has teed it up in a professional tournament.

For Davy Kenny, the Aberdonian’s caddie, it is a rare playing appearance anywhere and, though they gave good accounts of themselves with three-over-par 73s in the blustery conditions, both admitted to feeling first-tee nerves.

In Craig’s case, it was through the honest reaction he delivered to his dad, who was playing a few groups behind the teenager and, in an act of support, decided to wander up to watch him hit his opening blow to the first, a picturesque par-3. “He hit a lovely shot in to 25 feet behind the pin, then came straight over and said, ‘man, I’m s******g myself’,” reported Lawrie, with a hearty laugh, after carding a 70 to sit five shots behind the leader, Murcar Links assistant Terry Mathieson.

Kenny, a 41-year-old from East Kilbride, concurred. “I reckon I was probably more nervous today than Paul was hitting the opening tee shot in the 1999 Ryder Cup at Brookline,” said Kenny, who attended that event in Boston as a fan.

A fully-qualified PGA professional himself, having been attached to East Kilbride before turning to a caddying career around nine years ago, Kenny soon settled down and was three-under after eight. “Reality then kicked in,” he admitted afterwards, though he was still pleased with his day’s work.

“Paul asked me earlier in the year if I wanted to play, but I felt I’d been away from that side of the game for too long,” he added. “He then called my bluff by asking if I was too scared to play. That had the effect he was looking for as I decided to try and prove a point, though the moment I stepped on to the first tee I started to ask myself what I was doing there.”

That was hardly surprising, given that his first round of the year was just a fortnight ago. “All I was looking for today was a show of respectability and not to shoot something silly,” he admitted. “I was really fancying it after getting to three-under but fell apart on the back nine, three-putting the last for good measure. But if you’d offered me 73 at the start, I’d have taken it.”

It was an effort that drew praise from his boss, who, at the same time, couldn’t resist poking fun at Kenny’s caddie for the week, Lawrie’s father-in-law, Bert. “He’s a good lad, but he’ll never be a caddie as long as he lives,” joked Lawrie.

He described his own opening salvo – a first competitive outing since carding a 64 at Skibo Castle to win the Carnegie Invitational Pro-Am a fortnight ago – as “eventful”. At the last, for instance, he just cleared the water with his approach but got up and down, having already done likewise at the 13th for a “good six”. His main priority here is getting some rounds under his belt before heading to Chicago on Monday, having been ready for a break after celebrating his Ryder Cup return by winning the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles then finishing sixth behind Richie Ramsay in Switzerland.

“It’s not overly important if I play well here or not, though I’m not certainly not saying that flippantly, as I’d love to win this week,” said Lawrie, who lost Alastair Forsyth from the field after the Glaswegian suffered a recurrence of a niggling wrist injury.

“It’s difficult not to think about next week, but that’s a whole different ball game and the adrenalin alone will keep me going.

“As the Ryder Cup is so big, it’s nice that this event is low key. It was started last year because some of the aspiring young Scottish professionals had so few decent tournaments to play in and, for me, after a couple of weeks off, it is ideal playing here.”

According to Lawrie, Mathieson’s five-under-par effort, which earned the 32-year-old a two-shot lead over fellow North-East men Jordan Findlay and Greg McBain, was a “hell of an effort”.

It would have been even better but for a last-hole bogey, though Mathieson wasn’t complaining. “That’s my best score as a professional,” he declared. “I’ve felt a score like that has been coming, to be honest.”

LEADERBOARD

65 T Mathieson (Murcar Links)

67 G McBain (Gamola Golf), J Findlay (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre)

68 G Hutcheon (Banchory), G Wright (West Linton)

69 S Henderson (Kings Links), *P Shields (Kirkhill), G Fox (Rowallan Castle), C Kelly (Cawder)

70 P Lawrie (The Carnegie Club), D Orr (Mearns Castle Golf Academy)

71 P Walker (Ballumbie Castle), K McNicoll (Gullane), P O’Hara (Colville Park), J Lomas (Unattached), C Ronald (Carluke)

72 A Lockhart (Ladybank), *G Robertson (Glenbervie), R Arnott (Bishopbriggs Golf Range), C Robinson (Dumfries & Galloway), M Isaacs (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre), A Crerar (Panmure), K Nicol (Fraserbugh), G Brown (Montrose Golf Links), *J White (Lundin)