Back to Back Senior Majors – Damon Green

Zach Johnson was 9-years old when his future PGA Tour caddy, Damon Green turned pro.   Damon pokes fun at himself,  “I’ve played every tour except the LPGA…I gotta figure that one out”.   Green was one of the first pro golfers to appear in a Nike Golf commercial.  He’s made it to the finals of the PGA Tour qualifying tournament twice, once missing by a shot after a bogey on the last hole.  After 2-years playing full status on the Nationwide tour (back when it was called the Nike Tour) and having played a few PGA Tour events over the years, Damon went to the 1998 Q-school for the last time and missed. 

After a divorce that wiped him out financially, Green did some soul searching.  He needed a consistent paycheck to cover child support and rent.  A job in which he didn’t have to sweat out every putt just to pay bills.  With a new outlook on life, the humbled mini tour journeyman began a new and unexpected profession…PGA Tour caddy. 

First for fellow Nationwide Tour competitor and friend, Jimmy Green.  After Jimmy lost his PGA Tour card, Scott Hoch called on Damon to tote his bag.   In the caddy ranks, being the bagman for Scott Hoch was like winning the lottery.  Hoch was known as the, “Human ATM Machine”.  Although it was a good paying job, Hoch had something else that Green needed.  Damon struggled with his course management and Scott Hoch was the expert.  For 4 years, Damon quietly watched Scott get himself in but then out of predicaments on the golf course.  Scott relied on Damon for yardages, occasional club selection and reading greens (Scott had bad eyesight).  Hoch and Green were a good team.  Damon once said, “Scott Hoch is so accurate, I have to do his yardage books in half yards”. 

In 2003, Scott Hoch won his last PGA Tour title and Zach Johnson came on the scene and was named Nationwide Tour player of the year.  Zach and Damon bumped in to each other at a club repair shop near Orlando and Damon congratulated Zach on his fantastic season, offering to help with a few names if Zach needed a good PGA Tour caddy.  The “marriage” between Johnson and Green began there.   But, Damon had to divorce Scott Hoch which was no easy task.   Damon had no intention to leave Scott Hoch…that was, until Zach came along.  Green had always hoped Scott planned to use him the following year on the Champions Tour.  Wrenched with guilt, Damon didn’t want to miss a chance to caddy for Johnson.  He took the gamble and left Hoch, which now looking back was the hardest decision of his life (and one of his best).

Seven PGA Tour victories later (and one Champions Tour win  during a one week caddy gig for Hoch), Damon is still caddying for Zach and always dreamed of returning to competitive golf.  Damon kept his pro status by playing in tournaments on his weeks off from caddying.  His strengths include reading greens and golf course management (thanks to Hoch and Zach).   Green remarried and continued collecting mini tour victories (over 70).  Last year, Green turned 50 and his wife (former Golf Channel News Manager turned stay at home Mom and caddy wife) mailed in his Champions Tour entry form where he finished T17. 

Associate Member status on the Champions Tour, allows Damon to skip the pre-qualifier and go straight to the Monday qualifiers.  In 2011 Green spends his weeks off playing in various qualifiers.   Many Sundays, taking a red eye flight after caddying 3 weeks in a row for Zach, showing up without a practice round and missing the 80+ field 4 spot qualifiers by a shot or two.  But this July, things changed.  Damon qualified for both the Senior British Open Championship and the US Senior Open…both Senior majors and two weeks Zach had already planned to take off.   Damon is a story about perseverance and not giving up the dream.  Good luck to Damon, let’s hope it turns out to be a good story.  Either way, Zach will meet you Tuesday on the range at the WGC event at Firestone.

Nick Watney is now a four time – Tour Winner

Dr Mo began working with Nick Watney one year ago.  After his victory at the AT&T National, Watney joins Bubba Watson and Mark Wilson with 2 PGA Tour victories in 2011.  Nick Watney  is currently ranked 10th in the world golf rankings and number one on the PGA Tour Money List. 

(Courtesy:  PGATOUR.COM) 

Never mind that Nick Watney was the highest-ranked player at the AT&T National, or that he won the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship in March. Stepping to the first tee Sunday in a tie for the lead at the AT&T National, he had reason to feel overlooked.

After being announced, one fan called out, “Go, Rickie!” Several other fans in the large gallery wore bright orange shirts and flat-brimmed caps to show their support for Rickie Fowler, a 22-year-old who was tied for the lead and going after that first PGA TOUR win.

“He’s obviously a very popular player. I think his time is definitely coming,” Watney said. “I would say there were probably a few more Fowler fans out there. But it is what it is. Sometimes you play away games or whatever.”

Watney doesn’t have the panache of Fowler, but his game is starting to get plenty of attention.

Playing the weekend at Aronimink in a staggering 12 under, and going the final 27 holes without a bogey, Watney closed with a 4-under 66 for a two-shot victory over K.J. Choi (67) to win for the second time this year and to move to the top in the FedExCup standings.

Watney, whose other win this year was a World Golf Championships event against an elite field at Doral, also put himself atop the PGA TOUR money list for the first time and moved to No. 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

“It’s a very addictive feeling to be out there and under the gun,” said Watney, who had rounds of 62-66 on the weekend. “To be able to hit good shots and putts is why I play, really.”

And to think that with only 27 holes left in the tournament, Watney was trying to keep from getting left behind. Ten birdies, an eagle and no bogeys later, he was posing with the silver trophy of a Liberty Bell and wondering how much better he could get.

Watney finished on 13-under 267, tying the tournament record by Tiger Woods in 2009 when it was played at Congressional. The tournament is scheduled to return to Congressional next year.

Charles Howell III earned quite a consolation prize. He played bogey-free in the final round for a 6-under 66 to tie for third with Adam Scott (68) and Jeff Overton (67). That made him eligible for the British Open in two weeks as the top finisher from the top five who wasn’t already exempt.

Fowler had another learning experience.

He fell out of the hunt early with a double bogey on the second hole when he hit three straight shots without losing his turn. From a tough spot in the bunker, he came up well short of the green, barely got his putt up the slope, then ran his bogey attempt a nervy 3 feet beyond the hole. That became a three-shot swing when Watney made birdie, and Fowler never caught up. He finished with a 74 to tie for 13th.

“I just couldn’t get anything going today,” he said.

Watney didn’t give anyone much of a chance. He took the outright lead with a wedge into 10 feet for birdie on No. 2, and holed a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-5 fifth. Despite leaving himself in a tough spot in the bunker on the par-5 ninth, he blasted out to 2 feet for another birdie.

Even so, his biggest putts were for par.

Watney saved par from bunkers on No. 4 with a 20-foot putt, and from No. 7 with a putt from about 12 feet. His biggest par save might have been the par-3 eighth, which yielded only two birdies in the final round.

Overton had reached 9 under and was making a move, and Choi had birdied the previous to also reach 9 under. Watney’s shot went over the green, and he putted up the slope to 18 feet. He made the par putt to keep his cushion.

“That was big not to drop a shot after hitting a good shot, and keep momentum heading to the back nine,” Watney said.

The final challenge came from Choi, who trailed by four shots at one point. He slowly made up ground, then closed in on Watney after the turn with a bending, downhill birdie putt on the 11th and a pair of long birdie putts on the 12th and 14th holes, the last one tying for the lead.

Momentum was with Choi, only the South Korean knew better. The par-4 15th played at 503 yards into a slight breeze, following by the par-5 16th that was reachable in two.

“When I tied him on the 14th hole, I knew that there was still a lot of holes to go, and I knew the remaining holes were more favorable to Nick Watney,” Choi said. “I knew the 15th hole would be a turning point. That was a key hole, and I missed it. So I think that was the turning point of the match.”

Choi pulled his shot into the left rough, then tried to hit 5-wood toward the green. The thick grass shut his club and sent the shot into a bunker, some 60 yards from the pin, and so close to the side that his legs were pressed against the edge of the bunker. Choi hit a solid shot, but it took one more hop into the rough, he chipped out to 12 feet and missed the putt.

Watney was just short of the green and lagged his putt from 75 feet to 5 feet, converting yet another important par.

On the next hole, Watney used his power to smash a drive that left him only a 7-iron to the green, and he again hit a good lag for a two-putt birdie. His seventh and final par save came from just behind the 17th green, and his chip stopped 2 feet from the cup.

Watney earned $1.116 million and became the first player this year to top $4 million on TOUR.

“I’m overjoyed to be in here as the winner,” Watney said. “It was a very difficult, long day. K.J. played great golf and he kept coming and coming. And that makes it even more rewarding.”