Do you think we have done enough? - Part V

David Higgins wins Lexus Race to Mount Juliet 

Mount Juliet 

Our host for the few days at Mount Juliet was Pro-am partner Brian Phelan. The Pro-am preceded the Pro-only event and provided a nice warm up. I think Brian and the team were a little worried as David did not play particularly well in the Pro-am. I remained optimistic as I knew the non-counting Pro-am wouldn't get David's adrenalin flowing and I was confident of the on going swing work that Uncle Ted was doing with him. David had to tie with or outscore Mooney and had to outscore Mortimer in the one round event to claim top spot on the Order of Merit. At least by playing with them we could see how they were doing. 

Standing on the 7th tee Mortimer was +1, Mooney was level par, and we were +1 - very tense stuff indeed. David had missed four makeable putts all inside 12 to 15 feet range – that was a little worrying but at times like that you just have to stick in there and continue to trust your stroke. David pulled his drive into the rough up the 7th hole, but a beautiful lie and even better yardage for a 7 iron would result in our first birdie of the round. Another would follow at the next after hitting a lob wedge to four feet, with a regulation par coming on the 9th. Both Mooney and Mortimer laid up on the par five 10th. David hit a good drive down the centre of the fairway which allowed him to attack the green in two. After doing so, David's ball ended up in the greenside bunker - he hit out to about 12 feet. He was first to putt for birdie and got it. In my opinion, that putt was key as both playing partners missed their birdie attempts afterwards. Mooney was now level par, Mortimer +1, and David was -2. David would go on to make birdies at the following two holes after that boost on 10. Walking from the 12th green, David said to me: “We need to keep attacking” and I was in complete agreement as I tried to drive him to make more birdies. 

David lipped out for yet another birdie from about 8 feet on the 13th. I told him on the long par three 14th to: “Forget the pin here now, play for the centre of the green”. Of course he went at the pin, pulled it a fraction and the ball rolled into a bunker. It left a tricky shot because he missed the green on the short side but David played a class bunker shot resulting in a marvellous birdie when the ball trickled into the hole. He rolled in another birdie on the 15th after hitting a wedge to about twelve feet. We decided to take the danger out of the long par four 16th by reducing it to a 3 wood and a 5 iron and a par resulted. Walking to the 17th tee David was -6, Mooney -2 and Mortimer +6. 

David kept the drive well right on 17 and laid up with his second. Walking up the fairway, I remember David saying: “Do you think we have done enough (to win the one day event)?” I told him: “I'd say you might need one more...” He duly obliged by hitting a little 9 iron to ten feet past the flag and rolling in the putt. Mount Juliet is a difficult course at the best of times and a par at the last added up to a brilliant round of 65 - scoring 8 birdies in the last 12 holes. It was good to get the job done in style and become the Race to Mount Juliet Champion. 

The PGA Play-Offs 

David earned invites to both the Irish Open and PGA Championship. Three more tour starts were up for grabs at the PGA Play-Offs in Little Ashton Golf Club near Birmingham, England. I like that course as it is real old-style and it examines all facets of a players game. We needed a top two finish and after finishing only two shots off the mark in 2009 I was looking forward to going back again. David shot rounds of 71 (-1) and 72 (Lvl). On day two, bogie at the par three 9th and a double at the par four 10th ended our chances as -6 would go on to win with -4 coming second. David’s ball striking was excellent but surprisingly enough his pitching was not up to scratch over those two rounds – normally David is a good pitcher of the golf ball. My caddying duties came to an end on the 18th green at Little Ashton – there was even a tear in David’s eye as he rolled in a birdie putt for old time sake. I'm only joking – he only made par on that final hole!! The ironic thing was that he would shoot 67 (-5) in the Pro-am which followed the day after the Pro-only event. The Pro-am was not seen as my last official caddying round because I took a trolley! 

Reflection 

Yes, there were lows of missing the cut at the Irish Open and not progressing from first stage of tour school but there were many highlights to look back on as well. Winning at Slieve Russell under my coaching was memorable and of course winning the Race to Mount Juliet was fantastic. Ireland is full of enthusiastic amateur golfers, many of whom are not aware of the PGA Pro-am circuit and the service it has to offer. There lies the opportunity in my view and I hope the Irish PGA continues in their efforts to reach the circuit’s full potential. I had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful people throughout the year and got to see some of Ireland's best golf courses - a year to remember. For David's own sake I hope he continues to work on his game with his uncle Ted. I believe they were onto something good; the only shame was that it happened at the end of the season and not the beginning. The game of golf is far too difficult to be trying to master it on your own and having a good team surrounding you makes all the difference. In 2011, I have no doubt David will be in contention for his fifth PGA Order of Merit title in as many attempts and that he will do well around Killeen in the Irish Open. I only hope that whoever is caddying for him will be able to write a good story... 

Season Set for a Tight Finish - Part IV

David Higgins

In Trouble Again

Concra Wood Golf Course played host to the final Sprint event of the year. I must say this course was one of my favourites that we played over the season as it offers stunning views and well shaped golf holes – a hidden gem! David played very well, pencilling in four birdies in the first seven holes, but in the end could only manage a level par round of 72 for 9^th place. 

I got myself into a little bit of trouble at the Naas Pro-am. Standing on the par five 18th tee we were five under par. A good score, but considering we had reached seven under after an eagle on the par five thirteenth, not good enough. David wanted to hit the driver up the 12^th hole as he said it would leave an easier second shot to the green. I convinced him to play up the 18^th fairway. Of course, he would hit it too close to the trees on the right which took the green out of range in two. To my relief, he holed a nasty little five footer for par. Not making a birdie there cost us outright second. The Forrest Little Pro-am followed the next day. Due to the structure of the Order of Merit system, one day Pro-am's now carried little significance to David’s overall points total. However, David wanted to play Forrest Little because he had won it the previous year. It was our seventh round of golf in as many days and we finished 12^th with a level par round of 71.

Dundonald

Taking time out from the Irish scene, we travelled to Dundonald Golf Links, Scotland, for the first stage of the European Tour qualifying school beginning on September 14^th. I was wary of a links venue because one is always relying on the element of luck in relation to the weather. David's argument was that being from a links course was an advantage to him. After three rounds in Dundonald, only 3 players from our side of the draw were inside the top thirty places. In my opinion, a wrong decision had been made to cancel play in round one (we had completed 14 holes) when the weather had actually improved. I remember David ripping a 3 iron from 130 yards on the 12^th hole as low to the ground as I have ever seen a 3 iron go (and he can hit it low) - it was just crazy. That said, on the final day we played fourteen holes in level par to finish off round three and in the final round, we were four under with two holes to play. Four under was impressive, but a three putt bogie on the 8^th hole (our 17^th) and another bogie on the 9^th because of a poor drive meant we would miss progressing by a mere two shots. That finish was a cruel blow. There was no time to reflect on the situation as we had to head straight to the airport. There were some happy faces and lots of sad faces in the departure lounge that night.

Arriving into Dublin on a late flight, we drove across Ireland in time to tee it up at the Connemara Pro-am the following afternoon. The season was coming to a close and the chance of winning 4,000 Order of Merit points could not be passed up. The horrible Scottish weather seemed to follow us as it rained for the majority of both rounds. We shot 75 (+3) and 73 (+1) for tied 5^th position.

The Irish PGA Championship

Three days later, on we went to the Irish Championship at Seapoint Golf Club. We both knew the course, so no excuses could be made and I was pretty confident of a strong performance that week. David was hungry to emulate his father, Liam, in winning the title and with 10,000 Order of Merit Points on offer to the winner it represented a great chance to wrap-up the Race to Mount Juliet for the season. The first two rounds were underachieving 71's (-1). When I say underachieving I mean that both rounds could have easily been two to three shots better but the fact remained that they were not. Saturday is known as moving day and on a score of two under we were doing fine – we were only three shots behind. What was to follow in the third round was far from fine.

We started poorly, but hung in there to be one over with five to play. I was thinking if we could pull two birdies in the remaining holes, the day would not be all that bad. I was five shots out in my forecast as we slumped to a four over round (76). That certainly was a low point in the season. I think it was even lower than the missed cut at the Irish Open because there were little, if any, signs of greatness in that third round. We went straight to the bar at our hotel for a few beers and promised not to talk about golf for the evening. At least we achieved our goal of not discussing golf; however we failed miserably at stopping after just a few beers...

The following morning David shot 70 (-2) with a silly bogie on 17 and a missed four footer for birdie on 18. I say “David” because I certainly was no help to him during that round. I still do not know to this day how he managed that score. On reflection maybe we should have had a few drinks on the Friday night. The disappointment of Dundonald and Seapoint were hard to swallow. The final round of 70 in Seapoint meant we grabbed a share of 11^th place. The PGA Region needed full attention as David Mortimer was now leading the Order of Merit with his great win at the Irish Championship. Three events were left – Fota Island, Westmanstown and the grand finale at Mount Juliet.

Fota Fantastic

Fota Island Golf Club is a superb setting and has top class facilities to match. In a way, it was good that the Fota Pro-am was only three days after Seapoint, again leaving little time for reflection. That is the one good thing about golf – there is always next week to focus on! A major asset to us in the forthcoming battle came at Fota. David encountered his uncle Ted – a seasoned golf professional himself – before the first round of the Pro-am. Ted had been lying in wait to tell David a few home truths and really got stuck into him which seemed to resonate with David. He also helped with his swing on the range which worked well – Ted was a trusted teacher that David had confidence in.

I had to remind David to be patient many times in the first round as there were a few occasions when things could have gone south but he would sign for a 71 (-1). Sure enough that patience paid off as things started to happen in the final round. The only dropped shot in the round was due to a lack of concentration on the par 3 third hole (our 12^th) where David duffed a 9 iron into the water. I saw the look of despair on team captain P. J. Butler's face as he thought all was lost at that point. But a super pitch across the pond would follow to salvage a four. David hit two top quality shots in that same round that stuck in my mind - two 5 woods actually. One was fired straight at the par five 18^th flag from 240 yards ending up 20 feet away. The other was hit to twelve feet on the par four 8^th hole from about 215 yards from a bad lie in the rough. Both shots required accuracy as water surrounds both greens – they were good shots under pressure. We shot four under (67) and the five under total would result in a tied win with Damien Mooney who birdied the last four holes of his second round. David was back at the top of the Order of Merit again – but only just.

Westmanstown is a tricky parkland course and a level par round (71) resulted in a tied 3^rd place finish. Mooney continued his fine form with another win there.  Our finish had no affect on our Order of Merit point’s total – as you only count a certain number of events. It was extremely close at the top, as the Race to Mount Juliet crown was to be decided on just one round.

Bit of Inconsistency Mid Season - Part III

David Higgins Mount Juliet

On The Road Again
I thought long and hard over a few beers in Waterville during the August bank holiday weekend and I made my mind up to continue on the bag. I couldn't give up now - the Race to Mount Juliet was hotting up and the first stage of tour school was only a month away. Off we headed to the Ulster Championship on Tuesday August 3rd. We shot a two round total of +3 to claim a share of 13th place. I suppose you could put that result down to a hangover from the disappointment of the Irish Open.

The Balbriggan Pro-am was on route home from the Ulster Championship the following day. On reflection, we should have kept on the road as a round of 73 (+1) put us well down the field in 12th place. Not playing a practise round was a major disadvantage to both player and caddy. With my full support, David had thought about stripping down to his underwear and playing a shot from the pond on the 9th hole in Balbriggan but that never materialised (unfortunately). Three days later the Cork Pro-am was a real up and down round with birdies, bogies, an eagle and a double bogie thrown in for good measure, eventually resulting in a round of 73 (+1). Cork Golf Club is one of my favourite courses and having had two previous wins there caddying for David, a share of 10th was not the desired outcome. Mervyn Owens won that Pro-am with a great round of 67. Mervyn actually gave me a spin to Cork for the Pro-am and I reckon I must have said something to inspire him that morning.

I refused the invitation to travel to the Kilkea Castle Pro-am on August 13th as I decided it better to caddy in the annual Father and Son tournament in Waterville. David pulled his own bag that day and he shot 75 (+5) to finish 30th - his worst finish on the Irish Region for the whole 2010 season. In all fairness, he always has somebody with him carrying the bag, but that day I think he really learned the importance of having a caddy. I was present again for The Greenore Challenge four days later. The two day pro-only event offered 6,500 points to the winner so it was important with respect to the Order of Merit.

Greenore
In that first round at Greenore, I remember a funny incident on the twelfth green. We were one under for the round as David hit a lovely 8 iron for his second shot. The green was soft because it had been raining. The ball pitched about two feet right of the flag, took a massive kick right against the lie of the land and rolled into an impossible position in the greenside bunker. David did well to splash out to about fifteen feet - I could see he was fuming. I handed him back his ball after cleaning it and said: “Yes that was unlucky, but come on now and roll this in and we'll be grand”. He totally lost the plot with me. In all the years I have been caddying for him, I never witnessed him losing it in this way. I left well alone and of course he missed the putt to go back to even par. Walking to the next tee I couldn't stop laughing. We had a chat which ended up in us both having a good chuckle at the situation. Relaxed once more, three birdies in the last six would follow and we were happy with a round of 68 (-3).

Looking at the scoreboard that evening, we learned that David’s cousin, Ted had shot 66 which meant that we would be playing with him in the final round which was going to be exciting. The excitement soon dissipated as David was five over after six holes. The only par in the first six came on the 5th where he holed a forty foot putt across the green - not the desired start! David would go on to shoot 77 (+6) for a 7th place finish. Likewise, Ted did not get off to the best of starts but he played great golf in the back 9 where he made three birdies and would finish in 3rd position. The run of mediocre results for us had not yet come to an end.

The Southern Championship
A welcome break of 10 days followed Greenore and David put in some hard practise on the range in Waterville. The Southern Championship was played over two courses at Powerscourt Golf Club in Co. Wicklow beginning on August 30th. This was again an important event as it was heavily weighted with Order of Merit points. We both got to see the East Course as the Pro-am event was played there prior to the two day Pro-only event. Driving around in a cart, not playing any few holes on the West course definitely cost us a few shots as we could only manage an even par round (72) in round one. Eamonn Darcy held local knowledge and shot six under to lead the tournament. 

On day two, David shot two under for the front nine, added birdies at 10, 12, 14 & 15 and was unlucky with birdie tries on each the last three holes. The birdie at the fifteenth was especially nice for me because I put the correct club in David’s hand and he stuck it to two feet – that is always satisfying for a caddy. Six under (66) was a good return but Darcy had been given too much of a head start. Having been well ahead in the quest for the Race to Mount Juliet title from early in the season, a little inconsistency on David's part had given others a chance to attack. A well earned second place at Powerscourt, with the added bonus of collecting 6,500 Order of Merit points, was a relief to the system.

Maybe I Should Pack it all in - Part II

Winning Streak

I had earned my keep in Slieve Russell so I decided to take the next weekend off to concentrate on my own golf game. David would finish in 7^th position with a two round total of +6 at the fine Carne Golf Links. The following week, I was back on the bag to caddy in my native Cork. When we went to hit balls before the Monkstown Pro-am, I was amazed to learn that David had altered his simple swing thought from Slieve Russell. It was at this moment that I knew my role as coach was over and David needed the guidance of a trusted teacher. Nevertheless, a round of 67 (-3) would result in a tied win with John McHenry in Monkstown. David hit the ball nicely that day and hung in there to birdie two of his last three holes. The following day – the Wexford Pro-am involved us getting off to a horrible start, scoring six birdies in seven holes and finishing with two bogies in the last four. It all added up to a round of 68 (-3) and to another tied win, this time with John Dwyer.

St Andrews and Adare

Both David and I concluded that it was not feasible for me to travel up to the Nairn & Portnoo Pro-am (where David finished 7^th) and then over to the Open Championship qualifier in Scotland. I should have gone because David shot 66 in the first round and led The Open qualifying. In round two, things were not going his way early on and he began to lose patience – attacking pins when he shouldn't. I am a great believer of being patient on the golf course and in the sport of golf. David would miss qualifying for the 150^th Open at St. Andrews by just two shots – a shame.

The J.P. McManus Pro-am in Adare on July 5^th and 6^th was a great event with huge crowds. It was difficult to believe how fast the years had gone by since we competed in the last McManus Pro-am in 2005. Playing 9 holes practise with Christy O’ Connor Jnr. and Des Smyth along with playing in the tournament itself with actor Aidan Quinn was good fun. Adare was playing tough that first day as I think one under was the best score. David made 15 pars, 2 bogies and a double. I must admit, I was totally at fault for the double bogie because I gave him the wrong yardage on the par three 16^th – he hit it straight over the flag, over the green and into an impossible spot… Yes, it happens but it was not good enough and it was a bad error on my behalf. The next day David played nice stuff making a few birdies and, all in all, an enjoyable three days was had in Adare.

The Derry Pro-am

My error on the 16th in Adare - I like to think, it was as a result of all the beer and wine that passed through my lips while up there - may have been the reason why I was not on the bag for The Island Pro-am (3^rd) and the Dundrum House Pro-am (2^nd) – but I can’t remember. July 16^th at the three day City of Derry Pro-am was my next event out. Those were a good ball-striking three days. The putts dropped on days one and two resulting in rounds of 68 (-3) and 64 (-7) – we led by two shots from Damien McGrane. In the final round, I remember David hitting a beautiful, towering 7 iron up the hill on the 10^th hole. We both thought it was very close to the flag but when we went up we found the ball buried in an impossible lie just off the green – that shot summed up the day. Even though David hit the ball great it just was not meant to be. McGrane fired a 64 in the final round to David’s 70 (-1) to win by four. I guess McGrane was getting his own back on David for the win at Slieve Russell. Even though the win had eluded us, David was still happy going to the presentation that evening because he knew he had struck a lot of quality shots.  Player and caddy had worked well for the week and another 4,000 Order of Merit points had been picked up.

Mr. Consistency

We teed off early at the Carlow Sprint event and definitely got the wrong end of the draw as it was a really murky morning in Carlow. David missed a short birdie putt on the par three 17^th and then hit a terrible drive down the 18^th hole. We were very lucky to find the ball as it was buried in the heavy rough. I came up with a master plan of hitting the next shot down the driving range (which was not out of bounds). A hard earned par five would result, giving us a level par round to finish 5^th.  From his first seventeen events on the 2010 Irish Region, David had compiled twelve top five and fifteen top eight finishes – he had been Mr. Consistency and was well in control of the Race to Mount Juliet (Order of Merit).

We made the long trip from the south to Donegal for the Ballyliffin Pro-am. A great links venue, but nothing much happened in either round of 73 (+1) as we ended up in 9^th place. If I am honest, the best part of those few days was going to dinner each night with David's Pro-am team of Bill Connolly, Vincent Meade and Billy “The King” Fanning. The result did not matter there so much as we were off to the Irish Open in Killarney the following week.

The Irish Open

We did plenty of practise on Killeen over the previous months. You could say that we both knew every blade of grass there which gave rise to me believing that we could put in a decent performance in Killarney. There was a European Tour Pro-am played at the Lackabane course on the Monday before the Irish Open. We were five under par through twelve holes that day, but ended up slipping back to one under. David got greedy on the par five 7^th (our 14^th hole) and it cost us dearly. Not to worry though, it was a lesson learned as we were moving onto bigger and better things. Unfortunately, bigger and better things did not materialise that week.

One of David’s playing partners was Frenchman Victor Dubission, who was a former world number one amateur golfer. He was an impressive young player, one to watch out for in the future, but he would miss the cut in Killarney. David hit some nice shots in Killeen – two long irons in to the par 3 sixth to close proximity were impressive. This was a hole that I thought may cause us some bother but we should have been under par on it. In both round one and round two, we walked from the 10^th green on a score of 2 under – lovely golf. But both days we would walk off the 18^th green on a score of +1 (72). A two over total would see us miss the cut by two shots.  Yes, there were a few putts missed that shouldn't have been, especially in the second round, but when I look back - holes 11, 12 & 13 were played in five over for the two rounds. Tee shots need to be ripped down those holes and unfortunately David did not do that either day. I must say I was very disappointed travelling back to the hotel that Friday afternoon. I was angry we had let things slip, which led me to consider tendering my resignation.