Round 2 PGA Championship

If you followed along or were watching on TV today you probably wondered "what the heck happened to Ryan today". Today was a day of low lows, proud moments, and great memories. Ryan pretty much started today as yesterday with hitting the ball good, but not having the ball roll his way. He started on 10 and 3 putted. Looking back over the last two days I wonder where the putter went, because that is what he does very well. He was on a pretty much boggey train (I haven't checked and don't know his hole by hole score) until we got to #17 which was his eighth hole for the day. He hit a good shot and was the closet to the pin of the 3 players. Now comes the saddest, most gut wrenching, experience a caddy and father could witness in a major tournament of this proportion. He proceeded to 5 putt from twenty feet. His first putt went 5 ft. passed the hole, as did the second and the third. You have to realize this was in front of a packed green with a large grandstand. With each putt missed,the crowd moaned louder and you could hear people sucking in their breath. With the fourth missed putt, Darren Clarke said "I'll putt" which gave Ryan a chance to collect himself. Vicki said she was fighting tears and Brad had turned away and couldn't watch. There I stood by the green with my back to the people with the biggest knot in my stomach that I have ever had thinking "this is my son, I wish I could help, but I can't do anything." From the deepest low came the proudest moment I could ever have when he made the putt. The crowd cheered as if he had made a hole in one, and as he took the ball from the hole, he stood up, smiled, and raised his arms. The crowd then cheered even louder.

When we got to the next tee, which is a long walk, Darren Clarke said, "I know how you feel, we've all been there." I don't know whether it made Ryan feel better, but it sure helped me. As I looked back, Ryan could have done numerous things that would have made him look bad, instead he smiled and acted like a professional. This experience and lesson I will share for the rest of my life. I have heard that they talked about Ryan's 5 putt on the internet. The important thing for me was not the 5 putt, but how Ryan handled it and how he reacted to it.

After his 8th hole, he gathered himself and we played each hole as they came, until hole # 7, which was his 16th hole. Seven is a 572 yd par 5 dogleg right with water to the left of the green. With the wind behind us he hit it to the corner, which he hadn't done all week. He had 249 to the front of the green and he asked me whether he should go for it. We discussed the line and how to hit it and I said "you have nothing to lose." He hit a perfect shot with a little cut to the right, it landed short of the green and rolled to within 20 ft of the pin. The crowd roared. All the while Brad was on the left side wondering what the hell was Ryan doing. He told Stacy that if Ryan makes the eagle putt, we are all jumping in the water and getting on TV. He just missed the putt but had an easy tap in for birdie. It was a shot and hole he will always remember. He bogeyed 8 (17) to go back to +20. On 9 (18) had a 15 foot putt for par and finally got the ball to drop, so he finished strong. He played the last seven holes even par.

This has been an amazing week, with experiences of a lifetime getting to play with Phil and Freddie. Freddie said that play with Darren Clarke would be very enjoyable, and it was more than that. He is someone I will always follow and a great man. We saw Freddie in the clubhouse after the round and he came up to Brad and me and started talking to us as friends. He is a class act, no question in my book.

Now Ryan is looking forward to the PGA Cup in Scotland in September. He is one of 10 players representing the United States PGA and they will play 10 players from Europe's PGA in a Ryder Cup format.

Decided to post a picture of Ryan, Carsen, and myself at the end of the tournament. There were no cameras or cell phones on the course once the tournament officially began, so you can't see how I looked with my yellow bib and clubs on my back.