Erik Compton using his caddie as target practice
Erik Compton, who earned a spot at the Northern Trust Open in the Monday qualifier, posted eight birdies and a bogey to shoot seven-under 64 in the final round at Riviera and surge up the leaderboard to a T25 finish. The 64 was also the lowest of the week. Not bad considering this was Compton’s first tournament of the year. Perhaps his fine play was propelled by his practice sesh a day earlier, where he used his caddie as target practice.
Late Saturday afternoon, Compton, who has received two heart transplants (one at age 12 and the second at age 28) was grinding at the driving range after shooting 75. I noticed his caddie was standing in the line of fire (see the black spot in the picture above) and catching the shots hit near him with a towel. I asked, Did he give you the wrong yardage today or something?
“No, I’m trying to figure out my yardages,” explained Compton. “I haven’t played in a while, so I don’t know my distances. I keep feeling like I’m going to fly the green.”
After about 20 balls, Compton switched clubs and hollered, “130!” His caddie walked back ten yards.
Compton also said he hasn’t been working with a swing coach in the last year, saying he’s just been “trying to get back to swing.”
“I’m trying to keep my arms closer to my body (through impact),” Compton said. “I think I’ve been pulling across (in my downswing) and the ball has been going left.”
He must have felt more comfortable on Sunday. Compton finished 100th at PGA Tour Q-School last December, giving him conditional status on the Nationwide Tour. So, what’s next? He has a sponsor’s exemption to next month’s Puerto Rico Open. Perhaps his top-25 finish at Riviera will secure him a few more of those in the upcoming weeks.
Get him a baseball glove!
Well done to Erik, great week for him. He picked up over $50,000 for his weeks work as well.
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The first golf tournament I went to was the Greater Greensboro Open in 1966 or so. I will never forget that on the range, the pros brought their own shag bags and their caddy, towel in hand, picked a spot on the range and caught each shot, then moved to the next yardage and caught those too. When the bag was empty, he came back and they started all over … by the way, there were no ropes or grandstands, so you could stand right behind the pros and chat with some of them as they practiced. I was impressed.
If he got the yardage wrong I think Erik would have told him 100 yards, then grabbed his driver. Catch that with your towel!
I remember hearing a story about Ben Hogan who was hitting to his caddy with a 3-iron. The caddy lost one in the air and ended up getting hit. Such was the focus of Hogan, though, that the poor caddy was hit a few more times before he could get up off the ground.