Tiger and Stevie Break-Up!!!

[HD MM]

As I recall, Woods pairing with Fuzzy Zeller was uneventful.

Williams lives in a different world than we do, I see that he started caddying when he was 7 years old and was typically caddying 36 holes a day by the time he was ten. I didn't know local golf clubs had caddies anymore. I thought that golf carts ended that avocation.

His father must have been wealthy and important. I mean, if I'm a golfer looking for a caddy, why do I pick a kid who's smaller than my golf bag to lug it around for me unless there is some kind of social accommodation taking place. I had one friend - well, acquaintance - whose family was "into" horse breeding, and it is really important for those people to involve their offspring into the activity, so my friend had to pretend that he was breeding horses, even though he wasn't. His father bought the land adjacent to his house and put in stalls for over a dozen horses that were boarded for there, just to maintain the pretense that his son was part of their society. But anyway...

It turns out that Steve was himself a prodigy, with a two handicap by the age of 13 ot 14. He also played some pro golf before becoming a professional golfing caddy at a very young age. What I can't understand is, how in hell can a guy who is no more than a rung below being a pro golfer himself give up on playing pro gold so early in life? I mean, if I were a two handicap and came from a wealthy family, I'd keep going to qualifiers until I was at least 40 years old.

The nice courses, typically private country clubs still do.

 

[salsadancer7]

What I can't understand is, how in hell can a guy who is no more than a rung below being a pro golfer himself give up on playing pro gold so early in life? I mean, if I were a two handicap and came from a wealthy family, I'd keep going to qualifiers until I was at least 40 years old.

He wanted a ride on the Tiger Merry Go-Round....that would be my take. You can't say he is lazy because caddying at such a young age ain't easy work. Maybe it was lack of ambition.

 

[AntAltMike]

The nice courses, typically private country clubs still do.

I always played at the kind of "clubs" where, if you missed a fairway, you had just made the hole a little longer for yourself, and then you simply approached the green from a different angle. A golfer would be hard pressed to ever reach the woods on a lot of those holes.

 

[AntAltMike]

His father must have been wealthy and important. I mean, if I'm a golfer looking for a caddy, why do I pick a kid who's smaller than my golf bag to lug it around for me unless there is some kind of social accommodation taking place. I had one friend - well, acquaintance - whose family was "into" horse breeding, and it is really important for those people to involve their offspring into the activity, so my friend had to pretend that he was breeding horses, even though he wasn't. His father bought the land adjacent to his house and put in stalls for over a dozen horses that were boarded for there, just to maintain the pretense that his son was part of their society. But anyway...

From Wikipedia:

He received his first break as a caddy in 1976, when his father arranged for him to carry the bags of Australian great Peter Thomson in the New Zealand Open.

So, when he was 12, his father "arranged" for him to carry a top tier player's bags.

Further, from the Wikipedia article:

Thomson, who finished third, was impressed with the young Williams, who became his regular caddy when he played in New Zealand. The teenaged Williams also traveled to Australia on school breaks to caddy in tournaments there. In 1979, before he turned 16, he left school and moved to Europe to become a caddy on the European Tour.

You gotta be kiddin' me! He quit school in his sophomore year (assuming he hadn't stayed back, which is a reasonable assumption if his father had promised to donate a gymnasium or something), at an age at which it isn't even legal to quit school in most states in the United States, even with a parent's permission, to get an early start on a career as a caddy?

I can see quitting school before turning 18 or finishing high school if someone is pursuing an athletic or performing career in which one peaks at a young age and gets signing bonus offers at a younger age, but quitting school at age 15 to get an early start on a career as a caddy? You gotta be kidding me! Could Mr. Silver Spoon pass a G.E.D. test?