Key club for Seminole match: Wolff’s putter

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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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Even though The RSM Classic is just the eighth tournament of the season, it signifies the conclusion of a long year of PGA TOUR action. So, it’s no doubt welcoming that neither course at Sea Island Resort is a grind. The Seaside Course is a par 70 at just 7,005 yards. In its seventh edition as host, it averaged a tournament-low 68.889 a year ago. The Plantation Course measures 7,058 yards, yet it’s a stock par 72. Its scoring average of 69.763 was more than one stroke lower than its debut in 2015. The 36-hole cut fell at 5-under last year. More on both tracks, the format and expectations beneath the ranking. Four consecutive top 20s upon arrival and six in his last seven starts. Perfect in five trips to Sea Island with a playoff loss in 2011 and a T7 in 2013. Season debut. It’s been two years now since he captured his first PGA TOUR title here. After a mild regression, he’s now a threat every time he competes. Like clockwork. He’s opened the new season T19-T15-T4. Ranked T2 in GIR at Mayakoba. He’s also 7-for-7 with three top 10s and a T13 (2016) at Sea Island. It took an illness to sidetrack him in Mexico, but that’s better than a swing-related malady. Seeking to avenge last year’s fade (T45) at the RSM; sat fifth through 54 holes. Since last year’s MC, he’s risen 100 spots in the OWGR to 27th. The lefty already has a pair of top 10s on the board this season. Also placed T10 here in 2013. One of the horses for the courses with a 4-for-4 record that includes a T13 last year. Two top 20s in his last four starts, including a T17 at the Safeway Open. Took three weeks off since launching 2017-18 in T17-T23-T19. Placed T6 in his rookie debut at Sea Island last year. Led field in proximity and birdie-or-better percentage. Making noise a little more often than usual. Top 10s in two of last three starts and five top 25s in his last eight. Three top 20s in four starts at The RSM Classic. Two of his 11 career top 10s have occurred in his only visits to Sea Island, so he’s adapted admirably. Placed T5 at THE CJ CUP four weeks ago. The FedExCup points leader is fresh off his breakthrough win, so a letdown is expected. Or maybe not. He placed T10 and T4 in his previous two starts. Co-led Mayakoba at the midpoint and played in the final threesome in the finale but finished T14. He’s 2-for-2 at The RSM Classic with a T10 last year. A consistent performer both early in the season (4-for-4 with three top 20s) and over the past five-and-a-half months (12-for-13 with seven top 20s). Among the plethora of locals. Although he has five top 25s in six tries, only one was better than a T20. Since the Presidents Cup, he recorded a pair of T31 in Asia. Off to a nice start with a T25 at the Sanderson Farms and a T10 at the Shriners. Making his fifth start at the RSM where he finished a personal-best T27 last year. Showcased his mettle with a T14 in Mexico after fading to a T10 in Vegas. In his debut at Sea Island last year, he was positioned inside the top 20 after 36 holes. Rank player comment POWER RANKINGS: THE RSM CLASSIC Defending champion Mac Hughes, Brandt Snedeker, Zach Johnson and Bubba Watson will be among the notables in Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider. For everyone who has worked as a course maintenance staffer in the Southeast, the last couple of years have tested that passion. Last year, Tropical Storm Hermine and Hurricane Matthew blew through the Golden Isles in the months leading up to The RSM Classic. This year, it was Hurricane Irma. But once again, after five dozen trees were removed and recovery from the storm surge was complete, both Seaside and Plantation are ready. As it pertains to the competition, preparation to challenge the field of 156 demands consistency since every golfer gets one round on the Plantation Course before the cut falls. Half the field will open on the co-host, while the other half will take its turn in the second round. Only Seaside hosts the final two rounds. Bermudagrass greens will be receptive, so splitting fairways won’t be as much of a prerequisite as a coincidence on the shorter courses. As with any shootout, hitting greens in regulation and converting on those opportunities is key. Mac Hughes ranked T50 in GIR en route to victory last year, but he still averaged 13 per round. Of the five in the playoff from which he emerged, the Canadian authored the strongest short game. (Only Seaside is lasered for ShotLink purposes.) A primary motivation to introduce Plantation two years ago was so that all of the Web.com Tour graduates could plan on making the trip. That’s pivotal because the first reshuffle of 2017-18 will occur after the conclusion of the tournament. Once the calendar turns over in January, playing time for the guys near the bottom of the category will be reduced until fields expand to 156 in the second half of April. Mother Nature will walk off official competition in 2017 with primarily cloudless skies and a drop-off in the daytime high temperature. After peaking in the mid-70s on Saturday, it’ll be some 10 degrees cooler for the finale. Wind is almost always a variable along the coast, but it’s proven not to be as much of a challenge as other destinations. ROB BOLTON’S WRITING SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Columnist Rob Bolton will be filing his usual staples leading up to this week’s event. Look for the following columns this week. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider WEDNESDAY: One & Done * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO, which also publishes on Tuesdays.

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