Back page to back nine

SI's Rick Reilly samples the life of a caddie

SYLVANIA, Ohio -- As he stood on the driving range Thursday morning, one could tell right away that Rick Reilly wasn't a regular LPGA Tour caddie. The fact that he was wearing his white bib an hour before his tee time (a caddie no-no) was the first dead giveaway, but the reporter's notepad in his front pocket was an even bigger clue.

Last week, at the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, Reilly, who pens the Life of Reilly column that appears in the back of Sports Illustrated, tried out my life. This juggler of jargon caddied for Jill McGill, the tour's newest glamour girl, for a chapter in his upcoming book Who's Your Caddie?

THE SHAG BAG Rachel Teske won her sixth career title Sunday at the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic. What's amazing is that she leads Australians in wins this year with two. ... Karrie Webb was tied for first heading into the final round, but a disastrous double bogey on the third hole ended her hopes. "I just didn't have the goods today," said Webb, who had to settle for third. ... Beth Bauer notched her career-best finish with a second. The $91,325 check made her the leading money winner among first-year players with $240,131, 23rd overall. However, Bauer trails Natalie Gulbis by 16 points in the Rookie of the Year race. She had been 105 points back entering last week. ... Nancy Lopez fired a hole-in-one on the eighth hole Friday, which enabled her to make her first cut of the year. The roar as the 8-iron trickled into hole was the second loudest I have heard on a golf course (Tiger Woods' hole-in-one at Phoenix in 1997 is tops). ... Kris Tschetter was disqualified Saturday when she turned in a scorecard without her playing partner's signature. Tschetter, the second-round leader, was 2 under for the event but was booted because rookie Jeanne-Marie Busuttil didn't autograph the card. "Oh, no," said Busuttil. "I feel awful." ... Danielle Ammacapane tied the course record with a 28 on the front nine Sunday. ... Next year's Jamie Farr Kroger Classic will be pushed back to Aug. 15-17 to avoid a conflict with the U.S. Senior Open. ... Charlie Rymer's tribute to Jamie Farr, in the form of a Corporal Klinger imitation, during Saturday's telecast was an ace. Rymer's sense of humor and golf knowledge is a welcomed addition to LPGA telecasts.

This wasn't Reilly's first time caddying. The 44-year-old Denver resident has carried for Jack Nicklaus, David Duval, Casey Martin, John Daly, Tom Lehman, Tommy Aaron (at the Masters), Bob Newhart and a blind man as research for the book, which will be released next Father's Day.

But if you were to ask some of my fellow bagtoters, they would say that Reilly, who professes that he plays to a 5-handicap, had never seen a golf course before.

During the first two rounds, Reilly didn't exactly grasp the caddie creed of "Keep up and shut up." His first problem came with the flagsticks, perhaps because he was allergic to the yellow paint on them. When it was his turn to pull the pin, he seemed to be scribbling away -- and not in his yardage book.

"When he did finally get a pin, he made a joke about it," said John Yarborough, Kelly Robbins' regular looper.

During the second round, Reilly not only couldn't find the pins, but also almost whiffed altogether making the turn. After the ninth hole, with his group -- McGill, Robbins and Charlotta Sorenstam -- on the clock for slow play, McGill told Reilly she was going to run to the bathroom and would hit last. Taking the cue, Reilly headed to the caddie area to do the same. But when he was delayed because the latrine was occupied by the caddie master's daughter, McGill started to get worried.

"I always have a little lunch -- a dog, a beer. Apparently you can't do that here," said Reilly, whose caddie idol is Jim "Bones" McKay -- Phil Mickelson's full-time looper -- because he can get R.E.M. tickets. "For the record, we didn't get dinged."

While she didn't receive a two-shot penalty, McGill did manage a pot shot of her own: "That's when I told my group I think they should change the name of the book to Where's Your Caddie?"

During that stretch McGill made a string of bogeys and was flirting with the cut line. She asked Reilly about his success rate, which, remarkably, included reaching the weekend 70 percent of the time. With that extra boost of confidence, McGill reeled off three straight birdies to make the cut. That gave Reilly a chance to torment a different set of playing partners.

For the final two rounds, Lu Bemvenuti endured the jokes, the cheers and the dancing of Reilly. After hearing nonstop that he was pretty good at reading putts, McGill finally agreed -- probably just to shut him up. So Reilly spent the weekend giving reads and using Macarena-like body language to urge every putt into the hole.

"He was a little loud and little overenthusiastic, which is not a trait I would be looking for in a regular caddie, but he did get excited for any shot. It didn't matter if I was putting or Jill was putting, he was dancing," said Bemvenuti. "At one point my caddie said, 'This guy is fun, but he must have gone to the same dancing lessons as Juli Inkster.'"

Even though McGill finished at 5 under for the event, Reilly realized it had nothing to do with his caddying.

"I suck. I admit it," said Reilly, who denied rumors that his next book would be called Who's Your Daddy?, which would allow him to test-drive the love life of an NBA player. "A couple of times I'm getting [McGill's] sandwich out of the bag or whatever and I turn around and I'm right in front of Kelly Robbins and she is ready to pull the trigger and her caddie says, 'Hey, Rick, do you mind?'"

Even with a couple of innocent mistakes, McGill gave Reilly high praise for his performance. The keys were that he kept her laughing and was always positive. She said that with a little more training and experience, he would have what it takes to be a full-time looper.

"It just takes a while to be efficient," McGill said, "to learn to be in the right spot at the right time."

And while I had made fun of him during the first round for wearing his bib on the range and looking like a dork, it turns out he had a good reason for doing so -- it was the only way to make sure he didn't lose it.

"I tried to be cool like you guys and put the bib on like eight minutes before my tee time, and then on Saturday it's like, Where's my bib?" said Reilly, who is caddying for Donald Trump this week for the last chapter of the book. "Luckily, you can just buy another one for $20."

Sunday, after the round, with his bib still on, Reilly was signing golf balls when a fan shouted, "Hey, I love your column."

Reilly replied, "Thanks. I think I'll stick with that. This is too hard."

And with that, a collective sigh could be heard from all the caddies and players.

Tom Hanson, a regular contributor to Sports Illustrated's Golf Plus section, is a longtime caddie on the LPGA Tour. Click here to send him a question or comment.

 

Related information

Stories

Teske triumphs with back-nine surge Last week's Inside the LPGA: Inkster's victory is one for the ages

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video