Ship, that tournament sounds awesome!

Sick!

Just read this thread start to finish and it was very cool! Can't believe I missed it all summer.
Best of luck

Shot -4. Played absolutely perfect. Had a couple three putts on front nine but smoked the back.

One time!

Every time I read this thead, I picture Ship as Crash Davis. Nice shooting Will.

He won by five...next up, Tour event trip report.

freakin' awesome!!
gotta ask, how was Bill Haas?

wait, like..PGA tour event?

feel like I've been in on the ground floor of history since this summer, keep up the good work.

Ship great stuff, also found it interesting how a couple write ups I saw specifically called you out by name also. Very cool as an co-pilot of his success.

Sorry if answered, but what is your current day job? And are you keeping your calendar clear for when will turns pro?

He was great. I've always liked him, just seems like a good relaxed dude. That's for sure what he was today.
If Will can become even a Tour average putter consistently you are in on the ground floor of something special. He's the best ballstriker I've ever seen. It's simply absurd.
I own an electricity company but have been giving seminars on the course management concepts I taught Will last summer. I've given presentations to Oklahoma State, Wake, A&M, Baylor, SMU and a few high schools so far. Been great, but I don't want to travel much so not sure what I'll do with that idea long term.

That is AWESOME. Great job Ship.

Riviera is such a cool course. A shot shapers course with quite a lot of local knowledge I would imagine. You have your work cut out for you Ship. Inquire about the temp drops and moisture gathering once the sun comes off as its quite a bit below street level at the far end. I saw #16 cause havoc one afternoon as the players had to adjust to a 2 club swing due to the temp drop.

GLGL

Can't wait. Especially since this forum has been really lacking lately of anything remotely interesting.

What are the goals going into the tournament? Obviously the plan is to play as well as possible, but are you guys setting any specific goals (i.e., make the cut, hit x number of greens, fairways, etc.?)

Can the kid win it? Obviously that hasn't been done since Mickelson (I think) but if he's shooting 68 with two three putts on the card, is shipping this thing not at least a possibility?

Sadly he isn't available to play on draft kings for some reason. Maybe because he is an am but was looking forward to getting him at a steal for under 4k

Best of luck guys!

My guess is 'no.' I think Ship would be more focused on preparation type stuff like preshot routine, and good concentration before the shot, rather than after the fact results. Being committed to the shot is something he's talked about, and something he records.

Paired with Alex Prugh who has been playing great.

Just saw a quick snippet on golf channel featuring his post round interview. Kid certainly doesn't lack confidence saying he knew he could go a couple under and would be tough to beat him. Next time let's get a shout out for his looper!

Kid takes a mighty rip at the ball. At least that was the driver clip they showed. Does he move that aggressively with his irons as well?

Will be watching thu/Fri - hopefully they show him once or twice..

Ship what is strategy for the 10th? Risk the green with driver/3 wood or lay back to a full wedge?

Oh man. This just keeps getting better. Great job and good luck!

If he is driving the ball the way Ship was talking about this summer, it definitely has to be a go-for-the-green-at-all-times mentality. Also, being that Ship has quoted "Every Shot Counts", I have to believe they are going for the green each day. I could be wrong though too because I remember Ship saying how great his full-wedge game is.


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Every year I watch that hole and wonder why anybody goes for it. Lots of times you miss the green by a mere 10 yards and it's 50/50 on whether you can actually hit the green on your next shot.

That being said, I'll certainly trust ship's judgment with his man and will be curious to hear his thoughts on that hole.

Sidebar, in caddy speak you always refer to your player as your man. But if the player is 18 do you still say man? Just seems weird.

BO

Pretty awesome couple of days. My wife and I went for a 13 mile walk up the beach on Sunday and that had my right foot hurting pretty bad all day during the qualifier. I let Will’s coach from Wake take the practice round Tuesday so he could have a good time caddying for Will while playing with a few of his former players. I just rested, iced and elevated most of the morning after putting the wife on a flight to Dallas.

Then I took a cab to Riviera and just watched some action on the putting green. It is amazing how fit everyone out there looks now. Sure you have a few older guys that aren’t ripped and the occasional Colt Knost, but for the most part this is a group of athletes now. Most are still on the slightly shorter side (for athletes), call it 5’10” to 6’ range, but they all look like all they do is workout and diet.

Will really played perfect from tee to green on Monday. He didn’t hit a single really loose shot. I think he hit about 15 greens and probably missed three fairways. The rough isn’t too bad out here length wise, but the fairways are narrow and the type of grass they have is a tough one to chip out of. Riviera overall might be about the coolest place I’ve been. The entire course sits in what feels like an old rock quarry surrounded by 50’ cliffs on all sides. It’s really odd/amazing.

He played the first ten holes flawless but he was cold with the putter. Walking up 11 I told him that regardless of what happens from here in he has to take away that he has the ability to shoot under par on a strong Tour course, stay patient, keep getting looks and if it is your day some of them will fall.

He made a nice 6’ birdie on that hole and had great looks the rest of the way, making a few obviously. He hit a 6 iron to 10’ on a par three, a six iron to two feet on 15, and got it up and down on 17.

18 was cool, he stripped driver right up the middle leaving 150. Landed a PW about 5’ from the hole but it skipped back to about 25’. The pins that day were for the most part just cut in the dead center of the greens and they don’t move them until Thursday so the traffic patterns stay away from where the actual holes will be. Well, the pin on 18 was a tad sketchy as it was BARELY above a ridge that if he hit it 2’ by it would have rolled out to 20’. Hit overdid a lag putt leaving about 5’ and hit a perfect putt that perfectly fell in the cup. Obviously at the time we didn’t realize he was 5 clear of the field so it felt like a big gutty putt.

Similar hole location on 9 did have a funny result for Will. He was about 30’ above the hole and 3’ past the hole was a ridge. He gunned the first putt and had a mere 60’ coming back….it was pretty funny. He did an AMAZING job of regrouping and lagging that to 1’ and tapping in. With the putting issues the first 8 holes that second putt was gutty as can be to avoid the four putt.


I can see that happening for sure. We left around 3 yesterday, but I bet the late day shade does get a tad chilly.

I’m not a big goal setting guy for the most part. I don’t want to limit or put undue pressure on a situation. That said, and I know this is stupid, but he really could win this event. He hits is so good that replicating Monday’s round seems possible to me. He literally could not have shot higher. The first ten holes were flawless but he was just cold with the putter. Walking up 11 I told him that regardless of what happens from here in he has to take away that he has the ability to shoot under par on a strong Tour course, stay patient, keep getting looks and if it is your day some of them will fall.

Last night at dinner it was just Will and myself so I let him dream a tad to firmly plant in his head that he *could* win this thing. I told him he is a 1/400 at this point. Not likely, but certainly possible. He would have to hit it like he did Monday and that is simply a hard thing to replicate for four straight days. Pins will be slight tougher, but I don’t think that will change much because we will be patient and find our spots.

So true goals, obviously make the cut. I really feel like he is 75% to do that at this point. If he plays well, he will make the cut. If he keeps from freaking out, he will hit it well. From there it is simply up to a little run good as to how well he does. It’s certainly possible he can’t compose himself and shoots a few middle 70’s, but the most impressive thing I’ve seen out of him in the last eight months is that his full swing simply doesn’t break down under pressure. It’s been remarkable how every time he’s turned up the setting (Texas Am, U.S. Junior, U.S. Am, PGA Tour) he hasn’t missed a beat.

Yeah, that line definitely came out wrong. He meant it’s tough for college kids to beat him, but just kinda butchered it from first interview nerves. It was pretty surreal sitting there watching him sit in front of the Northern Trust banner fielding questions. It was eight months ago to the day that we first worked together and to see him go from a beat down kid shell shocked from bad putting, to pegging it in a Tour event at one of the most iconic courses they play is insane.

It’s hard to not let your mind wander to the “what if’s”, but if he can stay patient and play like he can he really could do well here. No expectations….or at least not trying to have any!

As for is that how he is with everything, yes. It’s pretty awesome to watch. Yesterday he was fine tuning a hybrid and had the Titleist guys ****ting. He was carrying it about 15 yards up the net about 265 total. He was hitting hybrid higher up the net than Weir was with Driver. I’m sure Mike’s driver would roll out better so he would be dropping mail on Will’s hybrid.

It’s one of the craziest greens I’ve ever seen. Everyone out here say to layup if the pin is anywhere other than front left. To be honest, I’m not sure it is the right play ever. He did hit driver Monday to the front pin based on my conversations last week with a few Tour guys, but I’m not sure I’ll have him do it again. He can’t quite get three wood there and short is dead, but there are only about 25 yards or so between the bunker and the short trees left. I truly think that you are just going to lose too much value when you hit it in either of those spots. Will was left-ish and in the little trees but had a clear shot. He hit a great pitch that barely released out and stopped 2” in the right fringe, about 20’ from the hole. I mean this as literally as I can, he hit the putt about 3 inches, to where it BARELY got on the green and it release out all the way to the hole. I truly am not sure he is good enough yet to EVER hit the green from anything less than a perfect lie from the front bunker. I watched Jason Gore in there yesterday leave a few in the sand and hit a couple out long…was like 0/5 on getting it putting.

I’m going to go out there today and walk a few holes and that is one I plan on just camping out on and watching a few pro-am groups roll through to see how the ball reacts.

I’ve been congratulated quite a few times when carrying the Wake bag on how great it must be to caddie for my son, so I guess I’ll call him son.

Dang it, it was only a couple years ago that I was writing Q School threads and trying to play out here….now it’s conceivable a player is my kid!

Awesome comments so far ship! Can't wait to follow along this week! glgl, Will!

Awesome, will be following. Good luck!

good luck!

Not a whole lot to report today. We went to the course around 9 and just planned to practice for a bit and rest. He hit it well on the range, chipped it well and putted well. He is ready.

From there we went and watched a movie and walked around a mall for a bit.

Only stories to report are pretty funny/cool.

I was waiting for Will outside the players dining when Faldo walked in and tried to just walk into the player dining area. Security guard asked him for ID and he was really cool but was like “I’m, um, well, I used to play out here”. Guard wasn’t biting so Faldo kind of ducked his head around a corner t o call any player to give him the nod to go in. While he was doing that I told the security guard he was arguably one of the all time greats and won a few Masters. He seemed a bit embarrassed but Faldo handled it well. I told him he should always just wear a Green Jacket as his ID.

The cool story is JB Holmes. Most every player has been very cool to Will and welcoming. But that is simply when he is talking to somebody that player also knows and introduces them. JB on the other hand went out of his way to walk across the putting green to tell Will congrats and welcome. He approached Will for no other reason than to be nice. Was really cool to see.

Early tomorrow and late Friday off #10. Pretty fun times as that will put us playing the crowded last 4 or so holes right in prime time on Friday. I expect a ton of support from the crowd and the timing is perfect for TV is he is playing well for our buddies in Dallas to be finishing from the noon tee times and have a drink and watch us make the turn.

GOOGOGOGO Will and JB!