Caddie Confidential: When does fan behavior go too far?

Back in November 2020, once I learned that Dick Ferris had been diagnosed with ALS, I invited him to come up from his home in Orlando and play golf at TPC Sawgrass. We had a terrific time, although at that stage, while Dick could still play golf, he couldn’t speak and was having trouble swallowing. Yet he played, he played all 18 holes, and he took my money. He got the biggest thrill out of winning that day, not that he didn’t normally beat me. But he got a big kick out of it. RELATED: Dick Ferris obituary This is a terrible disease that killed Dick, and I think it’s interesting given Dick’s background—his tremendous relationship with golf—that he could still go out that day and play the sport he loved. Even as he was in the late stages of the disease, this strong-minded man through his play was saying this is how you should do it. He appreciated golf since his early years, and he still made the sport a challenge as he moved toward the end of his life. For him to accept my invitation to play and then to watch him compete was inspiring. While I will always remember our last bit of time together, Dick had such an impact on my life as the PGA TOUR Commissioner and with our business since I first met him in 1987. We were at a Senior Tour—what we called the Tour then—board meeting in Palm Springs right after I joined the TOUR. A few things stand out over the long period of time I associated with him. His partnering with Peter Ueberroth to acquire Pebble Beach is a major piece because of the impact it had. Dick’s group took an iconic property and pretty much re-did it to the extent that it has the popularity that it has now. In doing so, their ownership also had a very positive effect on people in golf thinking how you could look at properties like that—iconic places—take them to another level and suddenly attract more people. For the PGA TOUR, though, his group’s ownership of Pebble Beach immediately partnered it with PGA TOUR Champions to promote and strengthen The First Tee. In what was about a six-minute conversation I had with Dick and Peter, they agreed to host the tournament we now call the PURE Insurance Championship, where First Tee participants are selected to partner with PGA TOUR Champions’ professionals for the week. Dick was on board with the idea of Pebble Beach hosting the event from the very beginning. You can have a lot of First Tee events. When you get to do one on a fairly regular basis at a place like Pebble Beach, it puts it on a whole different level with the television coverage and all the other residual benefits we have received. That was Dick. He knew what we were trying to do with The First Tee, and he did what needed to be done to facilitate things. I owe him a lot, the TOUR owes him a lot and First Tee kids trying to play the sport do, as well. Of course, one of Dick’s passions was the aircraft industry, and not just because of his years with United Airlines. At a fairly young age, Dick learned how to fly and eventually became a licensed pilot. The combination of his love of the game and the love of aircraft really did impact how he and Arnold Palmer became very close. They both loved golf, airplanes and flying, and it was that relationship that helped get Arnold involved with us on The First Tee. I should also add that Dick had no hesitation going into our hangar and being very critical when the TOUR’s plane wasn’t spit-polished clean. He let me know about it in a hurry. It may very well be Dick’s business acumen that I admired most, though. He had a good business head on him, and he could be very direct. Sometimes people misconstrued his directness with him being difficult. That wasn’t him. It was just the way he was, and he wanted our business to succeed. He delivered things to me straight. Perhaps Dick’s most-important contribution took place midway through my tenure as Commissioner. For several years, he pushed me on the importance of getting ahead of the curve on downstream talent in our organization, making sure that we were bringing in new employees and creating more options for particular positions. But this idea started primarily around the Commissioner’s job. He convinced me that our organization needed a strong group of candidates from which to choose once I decided to retire. As a consequence of Dick’s strong feelings on this, we put even more energy than we probably would have otherwise in terms of creating a talent base that allowed us a good, solid pool of talent after I stepped down. This urging from Dick resulted in us hiring Jay Monahan. It was Dick Ferris who pushed me in that direction of hiring strong, talented people, and as a result we did get Jay. I’m not sure we would have Jay today as the TOUR’s Commissioner had it not been for Dick Ferris giving us that challenge. That’s an example of Dick’s leadership style. As a member of the PGA TOUR Policy Board, he was a good solid director. To me, personally, in my job, he was incredibly helpful. He wasn’t one of these people who wanted to run the show. He didn’t try to micromanage. He stayed in the background but was always available to help. He was terrific. In 2021, he reciprocated my invite to TPC Sawgrass by inviting me to play with him at Bay Hill. It was sunny and warm in Central Florida, and I was playing golf with my friend Dick Ferris at Arnold Palmer’s golf club. It was a great, great day, even if Dick took my money again.

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SAN DIEGO – There is no doubt Torrey Pines has been a playground for Tiger Woods. With his eight career wins at the venue they say he owns the joint. But as we head to the weekend at the Farmers Insurance Open he is not the only familiar name on the leaderboard at the seaside gem in Southern California.  Woods sits six shots off the pace at four under through 36-holes as we head to the South Course for the weekend, a position he’s won from three times at the venue. He’s looking up at leader Ryan Palmer who shot an incredible 10-under 62 on the North Course Friday to be two clear at the top.  RELATED: Leaderboard | Tiger claws back after four putt | Win probabilities The veteran Woods is chasing an 83rd PGA TOUR win which would take him out of a tie with Sam Snead for the most wins of all-time. It would also break his own record of wins at one venue. “Shot by shot got me to 82. It’s one of those things where it’s just a process, it’s a marathon, it’s four days, it’s a long haul,â€� Woods said. “Just trying to be there at the end and you never know what happens at the end.â€� Palmer is no stranger to being amongst it at Torrey. Two years ago he held the lead at the same point and eventually battled with Jason Day and Alex Noren in a playoff only to fall short. A year ago he was T3 at the halfway mark before fading to 13th.  The Texan was actually 11 under with a hole to play on the North Friday with an outside chance of going sub-60 before a final hole bogey. He’s already ahead of the target he set for the week but is acutely aware that five of the last seven versions of the event have seen the winning score in relation to par come backwards from the 36-hole mark.  While the North Course is traditionally much easier (it played to a 70.574 average for opening two rounds compared to 73.297 on the South), the South Course can be an animal at times depending on softness of the greens, thickness in the air and other factors.  “We said if we shot two under every day, we would have a chance and be close, at least have a chance to win,â€� Palmer said. “So it’s nice to be ahead of that mark by two.â€� Palmer opened Thursday on the South with a round of 72. He needed to fight back from being three over through eight holes to do that.   “The South is not a golf course that you’re going to go out and shoot low… when it gets on the weekend things tighten up a little bit as far as pressure,â€� he added.  “I don’t see any low rounds out there. A low round on that golf course tomorrow and Sunday is probably 4 or 5 under par. We shoot a couple under, we’ll be in good shape.â€� Second place is currently held by Brandt Snedeker at 8 under. One clever scribe was heard to say if Woods owns Torrey, then Snedeker must rent it. He’s a two-time winner at Torrey Pines in 2012 and 2016 and has been runner up twice, third another time and inside the top-10 a further two times.  “This golf course, for whatever reason, sets up really well for me. I kind of know how you’re supposed to play it. You’ve got to think your way around it. Everybody thinks it’s this huge golf course and you’ve got to overpower it, and that’s not the case,â€� Snedeker said.  “The greens here… they test you in a different way than most greens test you. You’re going to hit some great putts that don’t go in, so you’ve got to have a good mindset and realize it’s part of being on poa annua. I always have, I love it, so hopefully continue to do it over the weekend.â€� Amongst four players sharing third at 7 under is J.B. Holmes. He lost a playoff in 2015 at Torrey Pines, was a shot out of another in 2018, and was sixth in 2016. Keegan Bradley is part of five players at 6 under and he’s notched up two top-5s here in the last three years.  Jon Rahm is part of a five-way tie for 12th at 5 under. The Spaniard won here on debut in 2017 and was fifth a year ago. Then we get to Woods at 4 under. He has seven Farmers Insurance wins (1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2013) and also won the 2008 U.S. Open at the venue. Between 1998 and 2008 his worse finish was T10. Off his 19 events prior to this week 15 of them finished with him inside the top 25. “If you make the cut on the number here, anything can happen on the South Course, especially the way it’s playing now,â€� Woods said. “It’s so much more difficult and I think so much more volatile because of the fact that if you shoot a good round out here on the South, you’ll move up the board.â€� Among the 20 players joining Woods at 4 under are more Torrey Pines specialists. Jason Day: a two-time winner (2015, 2018) with another further three top 10s. Bubba Watson: 2011 winner, two further top-10s. Scott Stallings: 2014 winner, 2015 runner-up. Marc Leishman: Four top-10s including two runners-up. And with further Torrey form, albeit to a lesser extent; Rory McIlroy: T5 in lone appearance last season. Tony Finau: Five top-25s from five starts, two top-10s. Billy Horschel: Two top-10s. Hideki Matsuyama: T12 and T3 the last two seasons. Lucas Glover: Three top-10s. Joel Dahmen: Top 10 last year. If you add the fact the 4 under group also contains former FedExCup champion Jordan Spieth and current PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year Sungjae Im then you can be sure it’s going to be a weekend worth watching. 

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The 12th edition of the FedExCup postseason begins, as points leader Dustin Johnson and No. 2 Justin Thomas top the marquee for Ridgewood Country Club’s fourth turn in hosting the FedExCup Playoffs opener. Brooks Koepka, now just the fifth man to sweep the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in the same year, tees up for the first time since his triumph at Bellerive. THE NORTHERN TRUST also marks the end of Tiger Woods’ postseason drought, back after a five-year absence. FIELD NOTES: Justin Rose and Bubba Watson, also multiple winners this season, are among nine players set to extend perfect records of teeing it up in every postseason. That doesn’t include Brandt Snedeker, who has qualified for all 12 but sat out last year’s FedExCup Playoffs with a sternum injury. … The Ridgewood lineup presently shows 122 players. Rickie Fowler will rest his partially torn oblique an extra week; Rory McIlroy is opting to sharpen his game with an eye on the Ryder Cup. Patrick Rodgers (undisclosed) is the other who will sit out. … No.121 Bud Cauley, out since May to recuperate from an auto accident, will give it a go if he stays in the top 125. … Spring winners Aaron Wise (AT&T Byron Nelson) and Satoshi Kodaira (RBC Heritage) head a list of eight rookies expected to grace the 2018 playoff lineup. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 2,000 points. STORYLINES: Johnson and Thomas, both triple winners this season, are separated by just 83 points atop the FedExCup points chart. A gap of 622 points follows down to Koepka in third. … Johnson owns four FedExCup playoff victories, sharing the all-time lead with McIlroy, and is the only player to win in each of the past two postseasons. … Koepka hopes his summer sizzle will get him out to a faster start in the FedExCup Playoffs. He has yet to crack the top 40 in three starts at THE NORTHERN TRUST. … Thomas begins his Cup defense on a run of three top-10s in his past four starts, including victory in the WGC Bridgestone Invitational. He had just one finish lower than sixth in last year’s FedExCup Playoffs. … Woods makes his first postseason start since the 2013 TOUR Championship, where he tied for 22nd among 30 players. … At the back of the points list, the goal is cracking the top 100 for another playoff round at the Dell Technologies Championship. Last year three men moved in from outside the top 100; the average is 5.8. COURSE: Ridgewood Country Club (Composite), 7,385 yards, par 71. One of the oldest clubs in the United States, Ridgewood dates back to 1890 and has occupied its current site since 1929. A.W. Tillinghast laid out the New Jersey club’s 27 holes, with three separate nine-hole loops running away from the clubhouse. THE NORTHERN TRUST’s course enlists the best of all three loops, including the 291-yard dogleg 12th that holds distinction as one of golf’s first drivable par-4s. Ridgewood welcomed the Ryder Cup’s fifth edition in 1935, a 9-3 United States victory in what was Walter Hagen’s final Cup as a player. The club also hosted the 1974 U.S. Amateur, 1990 U.S. Senior Open and 2001 Senior PGA Championship before joining THE NORTHERN TRUST rota in 2008. For those visiting the area, must-play courses include Pelham Bay GC (Bronx, N.Y.), The Golf Club at Mansion Ridge (Monroe, N.Y.) and Galloping Hill GC (Kenilworth, N.J.). Book your reservations via www.teeoff.com. 72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Bob Gilder (1982 at Westchester CC), Jason Day (2015 at Plainfield CC). Ridgewood CC record: Hunter Mahan (270). 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Brandt Snedeker (3rd round, 2011 at Plainfield CC). Ridgewood CC record: 62, Hunter Mahan (1st round, 2008). LAST YEAR: Johnson outlasted Jordan Spieth in a back-nine duel that went overtime, forcing extra holes by coaxing home an 18-foot par and delivering the clinching blow with a 341-yard drive to set up a playoff birdie. Johnson went his final 29 holes without a bogey, erasing a five-shot deficit to Spieth early in the final round before the duel began. They matched pars at Nos. 17 and 18, though Johnson had to lay up at the 18th after slicing his drive into the rough. Going back to No.18, Johnson’s booming drive left him just a lob wedge to 4 feet. The birdie sealed Johnson’s first win since being knocked out of the Masters by a slip-and-fall mishap in Augusta. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, noon-1:45 p.m. (GC), 2-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. (featured holes). Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (featured holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com)

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