Cantlay, Schauffele shatter Zurich Classic record

When he looked at the island on Google Earth, Tommie Taylor saw condos and resorts where he once worked building a fuel pier and remodeling the barracks on the U.S. Naval Air Station Bermuda Annex. “The whole island looks like that now,” Tommie says. “It looks very expensive.” Of course, that was 50 years ago. Tommie spent nine months stationed in Bermuda in 1972-73 as a member of the United States Naval Construction Battalion, more commonly known as the Seabees. And until this week, he had not been back. But Tommie’s wife Pamula persuaded him to return and volunteer at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. The two are working in caddie hospitality, just as Pamula did earlier this year at the Rapiscan Systems Classic in Biloxi, Mississippi, which is about 30 minutes from their home in Gulfport. She has volunteered at the PGA TOUR Champions event for the past seven or eight years. During the tournament, Pamula was talking with the volunteer coordinator Arden Vickers and discovered she was from Bermuda. So, she asked Vickers if there were any tournaments on the island. When Vickers said yes, there was one in October, Pamula didn’t hesitate. “Sign us up,” she says. Pamula, who has also volunteered at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and last year’s Solheim Cup in Toledo, started recruiting friends to go with them. But it turned out that she and Tommie – who are both fully retired – were the only ones who could make the dates work. So, they booked an Airbnb and rented a Twizy, a two-seat electric microcar, for the trip down memory lane. The couple arrived Monday and are volunteering Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning in caddie hospitality. The rest of the time they’ll get to be tourists where Tommie once worked. An equipment operator, Tommie was attached to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Four out of Port Hueneme, California. After a brief deployment in Puerto Rico, he was sent to Bermuda – by way of Rhode Island where they built a barge with a crane that they could use to drive the pilings on the fuel pier. Once the barge was complete, it was loaded onto a ship called an LPD, or landing pad dock. The trip to Bermuda took three – LONG — days. “They’re flat-bottom ships,” Tommie recalls wryly. “So, it was three days and nights of rocking back and forth and trying to stay away from the side rail. Trying to keep your crackers down.” In addition to the fuel pier, Tommie also worked on the sea plane hangar and stripped down, resealed and repainted the water catchment on Tudor Hill. Only, the paint the Seabees were given for that project turned out to be mercury-based. ‘Whoever gave us the paint didn’t read the labels,” he says. “So, we ended up poisoning the hill. I remember the U.S. Navy had to send in big water-tanker ships to supply water to that area.” As hard as Tommie and the other Seabees worked, though, there was also time for some R&R around the archipelago, which is known for its pink sand beaches. Bermuda, which is a British territory, consists of seven main islands and is 25 miles long with an average width of one mile. “All I can remember is the beautiful water,” he says. “I got my diving quals there. We did a lot of diving around the island. I remember building some of those resorts there on the southern side of the island, I believe, and New Year’s Eve at one. “And of course, back then, the college week, Easter week, down there when college kids came and swamped the island and acted all wild and crazy. That was a lot of fun.” Tommie, who’s looking forward to visiting the Bermuda Maritime Museum among other things, is still in contact with some of the Seabees in his battalion. He’s told them about the trip and “they want me to make sure I take plenty of pictures of where we were and what we did.” The Naval Annex closed in 1995, several years after the Cold War ended. Tommie ended up spending 26 years with the Seabees before retiring. He then worked as an OSHA safety instructor and later as a civilian contractor running the motor pool at the naval base on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. While he was in Cuba, Tommie met Pamula, a fellow SeaBee who was stationed there, and they later married. Of the two, she’s the golfer, shooting in the 90s on a good day and always playing for fun. Tommie likes to drive the cart. Pamula tried to get Tommie more interested in golf when the couple was stationed at the Naval base in Rota, Spain. He played for a while but “it’s just not his cup of tea anymore,” she says. When Pamula volunteered at last year’s Solheim Cup, though, she learned that the 2023 matches would be played at Finca Cortesin in Casares, Spain. That’s less than 2 hours from Rota and — you guessed it – she’s already submitted her application. “I’m there,” Pamula says. And so is Tommie, another adventure through volunteering.

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Here are the best photos from Round 1 of the CIMB Classic.

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The guy with a swoosh on his shirt and a Tiger head cover on his driver looked pretty good. So did Tiger Woods. RELATED: Full leaderboard Charlie Woods, the 11-year-old son of the 15-time major champion, is playing in the PNC Championship for the first time. And according to his dad, he played just like he does at home. Never mind that he had some 250 people following along, more than his dad had watching him at the Masters. Charlie confidently twirled his club before shots, quickly picked up the tee on his drives and even pumped his fist on the par-5 third hole with a 3-wood into 3 feet for eagle. They finished the scramble format at 10-under 62, four shots behind Matt Kuchar and son Cameron. "I don’t really care about my game," Woods said. "I’m just making sure that Charlie has the time of his life. And he’s doing that." Charlie Woods is the youngest to play in this 36-hole event that began in 1995 and their sons, and now includes all family members. He loves the game enough to start playing in a few junior events, and he had no qualms playing before a crowd or the cameras. A television camera was positioned some 15 feet away to the right of Charlie on the opening tee at The Ritz-Carlton Club at Grande Lakes, and he was a little quick with his swing, pulling it to the left. They used his father’s tee shot and wedge into 2 feet — Charlie made the birdie putt. That was the last time Team Woods used Tiger’s tee shot on a long hole until No. 15. It helped that the 11-year-old was able to use a forward tee, 100 yards ahead of the PGA TOUR players on some holes. Woods was not surprised from what he’s seen at home. This was different — a tournament with pros, a scorecard that had to be signed, a television audience. But it sure looked the same. "I’ve seen this all along. Probably not a lot of people have," Woods said. "A lot of the shots he hit, I’ve seen them back home at The Medalist this entire year. The junior events he played in, he hit a lot of these. It was a matter of stringing these out for 3 1/2 hours. It’s a totally different deal." The swing was smooth. The mannerisms were familiar. Charlie belted one on the par-5 fifth hole, bending over to grab his tee while the ball was still in flight. Justin Thomas, playing in the group with his father Mike, smiled and said, "God, you are so much like your dad." Waiting for Thomas to putt, father and son stood side-by-side, right leg crossed over left ankle. The Woods’ were 8 under through nine holes, capped off by Charlie making an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 9 and walking it in when the ball was a few feet away. Just like Dad. The kid had game in other ways, too. During the pro-am, Charlie hit one through the fairway into the trees. Mike Thomas, a longtime club professional whose specialty is working with juniors, was in the group ahead and playfully left a note next to Charlie’s ball that said, "Draw Hole!" On Saturday, Mike Thomas hit his drive into a bunker on the short par-4 13th. "In typical Woods’ fashion, he kept the paper," Justin Thomas said. "My dad hit in the bunker, and he took that exact paper and put it behind the ball. So a little karma there." Justin Thomas spends a lot of time with them at home, so he knew how the kid could play. Even so, Thomas said he has a different kind of nerves — for his dad and for Charlie. "I knew he was going to wow a lot of people," Thomas said. "It was cool to see him shape the ball both ways and hit great shots. We feel probably what our parents felt growing up watching us play. You want them to do well, but you can’t do anything about it. "It was competitive, it was joyful, it was memorable and we had some banter." And they get one more day. They finished with a birdie on the par-5 18th — across the water left of the fairway, a small group of people posted a banner on the bridge that said, “Charlie Woods Fan Club — and were tied for sixth. "The kid’s a gamer. He’s a grinder. He’s competitive. But he’s so young," Justin Thomas said. “I’m pulling for him. I want him to keep it fun, keep it light. It can get nasty out there with what people say. Expectations are going to be high, but I hope it remains manageable for himself. I hope he stays within himself. "There’s 11-, 12-, 13-year-olds sitting on their couch at home that can’t hit those shots on the range. And he’s doing it in front of a crowd and on national TV."

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