Golf Without A Caddie

Cleverly, he positioned his ball on long holes so that he could hit to the greens with his usual six-iron swing. On every par 5 or long par 4 he selected a target area 165 yards from the pin and described it in a tiny notebook.

Before the championship began, Burklew seemed just another underdog bound for the pound. In the field of invited players and qualifiers from seven regional tournaments the clear favorite was Thad Daber, the defending champion. Daber is everything that Burklew is not. He is a successful investment counselor who drives a wine-red Mercedes. The 6-foot tall, 140-pound, 27-year-old is as skinny as his six-iron; when he impishly gave his weight to a reporter as 190 the reporter asked, "Do you mean ounces?"

A local celebrity, Daber played for N.C. State in Raleigh. He went on the international pro tour, then settled in nearby Durham. At the One Club in 1985 he shot a 73 to finish five strokes ahead of PGA touring pros Bobby Clampett and John Fought and two ahead of Vance Heafner.

By contrast, Burklew arrived on the Sunday morning of the tournament as a mystery man. When he greeted Miller with a crushing handshake the tournament director recoiled, wondering, Who is this guy?

At the scorer's table Burklew signed an affidavit renouncing his amateur status. Although invited as an amateur, Burklew, who hopes to go on the pro minitour this summer, was allowed to compete as a pro. Pro-am teams were scattered around the course for the start, and Burklew's group began on the 16th. The greens were damp, so at first he putted from a standing position to strike the ball more solidly. He missed a short putt on each of the first three holes and went two over par.

From then on Burklew stayed with his original plan. At the next hole, a par 5, he uncorked a 230-yard drive, the longest anyone would hit all day. He punched a positioning shot less than 100 yards from his target area, then hit the pin with his approach shot. Planting himself on his knees, he knocked in the birdie putt.

When Burklew knelt to putt on his sixth hole, a disbelieving player in the group behind him yelled, "What are you doing—praying?"

But Burklew kept his cool. On his 10th hole, a 155-yard par 3, he landed two feet from the cup and collected another birdie. On his 11th, a 428-yard par 4, he reached the green in two, a feat tour pro Fought had called impossible with a six-iron.

Still, the butcher remained anonymous. When he asked a newspaper photographer to take his team's picture at his ninth hole, he was rebuffed.

"We'll pay for it," said Burklew.