By Shane Ryan
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — On a slightly grey, very windy day at Sea Island Golf Course, England’s Matt Wallace battled his way to a tie for first with an opening-round 64 at the RSM Classic. His partner in crime was Jeffrey Cammon, a club-fitter who was conscripted for caddie duty when Dave McNeilly, Wallace’s usual looper, tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. On paper, playing in a foreign country with a new caddie in rough weather is an obvious recipe for failure, so it goes without saying that Wallace turned in what is arguably the best round of his PGA Tour career.

How much credit Cammon deserves … well, future historians may differ. When the week began, Wallace contacted Justin Parsons, a Northern Irishman and instructor at Sea Island who he had met on the European Tour, looking for a new caddie. Parson directed Wallace to Cammon, and after the two were introduced, Cammon asked his temporary boss both how much and when he should talk during the week.

“I was like, ‘Listen, mate, I don’t need anything,’ “ Wallace said. “‘I’ll ask you a question and you answer it just with pure facts of what you think.’”

True to that dictum, Wallace’s descriptions of their interactions Thursday on Sea Island’s Seaside course were not particularly cinematic, including this verbatim exchange:

“Is the wind more out of the left than it is helping?”

“Yep.”

That said, Cammon’s calm presence settled Wallace, and the surrogate caddie managed to give a perfect read on the fifth hole, where Wallace holed a 21-footer for birdie. After that, Wallace told him to quit while he was ahead.

“I said, ‘Don’t read anymore putts because you’re 100 percent,’” Wallace joked. “But no, he’s been great. He’s really chill.”

The round comes at a good time for Wallace, who has been working on sharpening his putting game and has Ryder Cup dreams. A four-time winner in Europe, he’s yet to be victorious on the PGA Tour, and when asked about the infamous Azinger-Fleetwood tiff, in which Azinger seemed to downplay success on the European Tour if it wasn’t matched by American success, the 30-year-old Wallace acknowledged that to win here would be a special badge of honor.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “Not just this week, every week that we want to do that. What I would say is I feel the depth over here … I did that long stretch after COVID when we started at Colonial, was it? So I did six weeks and I just thought the cuts were just unbelievable, they were so low.”

Of course, he’s still European, so he made sure to note that Azinger’s comment was “nonsense” and that Fleetwood was “going to win, he’s going to win big and he’s going to win a lot.”

Wallace’s quest to do the same was aided by the roughly 140 feet of putts he rolled in on Thursday, courtesy of a new Atlanta putter from Callaway with the sightline removed. His English upbringing may have helped too, particularly on a windy stretch on the back nine where the course runs along the water and the palm trees sway precariously as the wind whips in from St. Simons Sound. (“It’s like links golf in good weather,” Justin Rose said, though you wouldn’t call it particularly “good” on Thursday.)

At one point, Wallace hit a 5-iron approach from just 150 yards, which is only typical if you’ve spent your formative years playing links golf. After bogeying the 14th, he stiffed his approach on 15, and dropped a 15-footer on 17 to reach six under. He seemed poised to drop into a large group at -5 on the final hole after an errant drive led to a penalty, but saved himself with a 30-foot bomb for a surprise par.

When Wallace found out his caddie tested positive on Monday, he thought for sure he was next, since they had spent plenty of time together at Augusta. But he dodged that bullet, and now he’s in the mix among a crowded leader board, at a tournament that could reward his combative instincts. And if he gets too wound up in the windy fights to come, he’ll have Cammon by his side; a chill presence, with more than just a little local wisdom.

The post RSM Classic co-leader Matt Wallace had some priceless exchanges with his emergency caddie appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
Nick Price shot the first 63 in Masters history in 1986, but the quote he gave after his birdie attempt on No. 18 lipped out is arguably more well-known. “I think Bobby Jones’ hand came up and popped it out the hole,” Price mused. “And said, ‘That’s enough.’”

Turns out, it may have been Price’s caddie who kept him from firing the first 62 in major championship history.

Dave McNeilly was on the bag for Price that year and he recently told quite the tale involving that legendary third round. Let’s just say the score is even more legendary considering the state of the longtime looper, who went out hard the night before to celebrate his boss making the cut.

“But I actually overdid it,” McNeilly says. “And I was way, way too drunk when I showed up on Saturday.”

Unfortunately for Price, this cost him right away when McNeilly gave him a bad number for his approach on No. 1. Price flew the green, wound up in a bush, took a penalty drop and saved bogey. On the following hole, McNeilly says the Hall of Famer told him he could “smell the drink” on him and relieved him of the yardage book.

After that, Price caught fire. And with the course record in his sights, he turned back to his trusted caddie for help on a layup yardage on the par-5 15th. As McNeilly tells it, he told Price he had 275 yards to the water and encouraged him to hit a hard 5-wood. Price obliged and was stunned when his ball wound up 12 feet from the hole instead of short of the water. Whoops!

Price two-putted for birdie, then stuck his tee shot to two feet on No. 16 for another birdie before two closing pars gave him the tournament record. But the capper on this incredible story is that McNeilly, after giving his player more bad advice before the approach on 18 that was fortunately ignored, blames himself for jinxing the final putt. “Worst day of my life.” Have a listen to the entire thing:

What a story from the legend that is Dave McNeilly!

Augusta, a hangover and a course record!#MoreThanCarryingABag pic.twitter.com/JWxB52JORE

— The Tour Caddies (@thetourcaddies) May 2, 2020

Your boss making Masters history and yet you remember it as the worst day of your life? That must have been one heckuva hangover.

Anyway, Price opened that week with 79, but after a Friday 69 snuck into the weekend (Hence, the cause for celebration from McNeilly). Then he fired the 63 to move within one shot of 54-hole leader Greg Norman, a man who shot the only other Masters 63 a decade later and with whom he was paired in Sunday’s final group.

Of course, no one remembers much of all that because of what happened in that final round in 1986 (HINT: JACK). But Price had a wild and memorable performance himself that week. One that we now know was even wilder than previously thought.

The post Nick Price set the Masters course record despite a hungover caddie giving him bad yardages all day appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
The most piercing shots of the 148th Open Championship so far were delivered not by golf balls, but rather through the pointed words of one of the game’s most successful coaches. Pete Cowen, well known in Dubai where he has academies at all three Dubai Golf properties, was asked about the recent on-course antics of British golfer Matt Wallace. And he did not mince words.

In an interview with The Times published on Wednesday, Cowen condemned the fiery Wallace specifically for a berating he gave his caddie, Dave McNeilly, during the BMW International last month.

RELATED: Live Open coverage to be streamed to Middle East fans

“He is a complete idiot and the European Tour has to do something about it,” Cowen, who works with Brooks Koepka and Gary Woodland among others, told The Times. “A b——–g is no good, a fine is no good. He needs a ban. It’s a form of cheating because you’re putting your opponent off. The best thing would have been if his caddie had dropped his bag — I’d have chucked it in the bloody lake — but that wouldn’t do Dave McNeilly any good.”

Wallace, the 23rd-ranked player in the world, shot a final-round 70 to finish tied for third at the BMW, two shots out of a playoff eventually won by Andrea Pavan. After, Bunkered reported the European Tour was reviewing the matter for potential caddie abuse, but no punishment was issued. Wallace, who was also widely criticised for a putter slam at the British Masters in May, apologised and vowed to improve his behaviour on the eve of the Open.

Wallace’s agent, Chubby Chandler, responded to Cowen’s comments to Telegraph Sport’s James Corrigan. Chandler contends, “Matt and Dave have a terrific relationship and are very close,” and says, “Matt admits that sometimes his eagerness to succeed has got the better of him and has faced up to it, both with his team and the media.”

Chandler also closed with a jab at Cowen: “He’s a good kid who hasn’t smashed up markers or abused officials unlike some other players and to say he should be banned is utterly ridiculous. It’s funny, I remember a young player who I was on Tour with in the 70s who was renowned for his tantrums and snapping clubs. His name was Pete Cowen.”

Wallace will certainly be in a prominent spot at Royal Portrush: He’s paired with Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed for the first two rounds.

The post The Open 2019: Golf coach Pete Cowen says Matt Wallace is “a complete idiot,” calls for ban; Wallace’s agent fires back appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.