The Bob Hope

Another year of the Bob Hope Classic has come and gone, and I once again, caddied for my friend Peter Murphy. I first met Peter at the Quarry and have been caddying for him ever since. I think this was our 5th year together! Initially it was fun to be inside the ropes with the pros and so on, but at this point, I have more fun hanging with Peter. Peter is in his late 60's or early 70's but typically hits the ball very well. This year, however, he is about a week away from hip replacement and was in agony for most of the way. I felt bad for him because he is really competitive and wants desperately to help his teammates. This year, he had trouble doing so but for a few holes here and there and I know he felt badly about that.

The Hope tourney is a pro am where the pros are paired with a 'team' of three amateur players for 4 days, and the 5 and final day is pro's only. In my group, we had a Canadian guy 'Ben' from Toronto and 'George' from San Diego. It was Ben's first Hope and George's 2nd and Peter's 15th.

Ben was our 'A' player at a 3 handicap. Let me just say that if he is a 3 handicap, I should be in the Hall of Fame. Ben was by far the most annoying guy of the group. He really thought he was something special as did his wife. He tried to come off like he was 'happy go lucky nothing bothers me' but he was quite the opposite.

He started the tourney with a cold topped drive that didn't reach the opening fairway. He admitted he was very nervous which is understandable and I felt bad for him. In the end, it took him until the 3rd day until he hit a shot that wasn't accompanied by a glob of dirt that was dug up before the ball. It was late on day 3 until he made a putt, and it was deep into the back 9 yesterday before he hit a chip that might come from a 3 handicap's bag.

On the 2nd hole of the third day after yet another chunked shot that ricocheted off yet another tree I hear him mutter: 'I really can't wait until this is over'. Nice teammate, eh? Early day 3 and he is mailing it in. I didn't like that at all so I told him on the green that his team needed him to keep fighting and that when he was on a team that he didn't have the luxury to pack it in. He actually responded well to that and seemed to keep his head more in the game.

In the end his fist pumps for par and silly comments after both good and bad shots became quite annoying. Typically after 4 days with the same people I get pretty sick of at least one of them. Last year it was this old guy who wore 2 gloves and had no idea of any golf etiquette or awareness of anyone around him. I hated that guy by the end of the week.

We played with some nice pro's this year...2 of them were repeats from years past though. You would think that after Peter has played for 15 years, he would start getting put in a more favorable portion of the draw, or at least guys who he hasn't played with before. The sad thing is that Peter wants desperately to be in the same rotation as the celebrities and in all these years, he hasn't come close. Poor guy.

I started to feel a bit sick yesterday--stuffy and a bit sore in the throat, and didn't sleep great as a result. I had been sneezing quite a bit and feel like this little spell was coming on for awhile so hopefully I can fend it off in the next 24 hours. Peter has entered me in an annual golf tournament that takes place on the monday after the Hope so I hope to be feeling okay for that. I haven't hit balls since tuesday and am a bit nervous to go into a tourney unprepared, but at this point, I haven't much choice. I would like to get some golf in today, but don't have the energy for it at this point.