Sunshine Tour player & Rhode Island ambassador Mickey Hough has vast experience in both playing and caddying professionally, this week he’s with Andrea Pavan and giving insight to a week in the shoes of a US Open caddy.
Mickey Hough has caddied for some of the best players in the world including Miguel Angel Jimenez & Jose Maria Olazabal and now is a regular with long-hitting Andrea Pavan of Italy. Pavan qualified for the US Open the day after the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and couldn’t have a better caddy on his bag than Mickey Hough.
US Open Diary – Mickey Hough
Friday 13 June 2014
08:00 – Andrea is only off today at 12:41 so gives us both time to sleep in a bit and prepare properly for the 2nd round and it’s looking like we’ll need a score of Par or better to make the cut. There is no need to put pressure on him , he knows the situation and we’ll both be 100% focused.
The course wasn’t playing as difficult as I thought in the first round, the tees were apparently an accumulative 200 yards shorter than on the card…still a great score by Martin Kaymer to be leading by three shots. Don’t get me wrong though it was by no means a walkover…a bad shot (especially into the greens) will result in bogey or worse, this course is getting firmer and will get more difficult as the US Open goes on.
09:20 – Heading through to the course a bit earlier than usual, Andrea will only be here at about 10:40 to get ready for Round 2…let’s hope it’s a great round, I’ll be in touch later!
Take a look at some of the shirts I’m wearing this week at Pinehurst #2…click here to view
Thursday 12 June 2014
04:30 – Waking up this early is never fun, but one positive I suppose is that the conditions are ideal!…course is slightly softer, greens are pure as there is hardly any traffic. It’s a perfect chance to have a good start to the 114th US Open! Before I head off have a look at this RV and courtesy car parked in the resort…any idea whose it is?
05:30 – Arrive at Pinehurst #2 and Andrea is teeing off at 06:56 so enough time to have a quick breakfast before heading to the short game area followed by the range and finally hit a few putts before teeing off with Marcel Siem & Brian Stuard…looking forward to this!
10:00 – **Andrea Pavan is currently Even Par through his first 10 holes and going along steadily, the US Open definitely isn’t a sprint so Par is a great score around Pinehurst #2
12:30 – **Unfortunately it wasn’t the best finish for Andrea, finishing with two double bogeys and carding an opening round of 77…he is teeing off Round 2 at 12:41 (18:41 SA Time)
** Mickey is currently on the course so Rhode Island will be updating their progress.Wednesday 11 June 2014
08:00 – A chance to sleep in a bit after the very few hours I’ve been able to sleep since Friday evening! Arriving at the course and seeing this statue of Payne Stewart is fantastic, one of the most liked players of our era and great champion in 1999.
10:00 – Andrea is only playing a 9 hole practice round this morning, it’s a long strenuous week so no need to burn yourself out before the weekend. We’re playing with Francesco Molinari, Gonzalo Fernandez Castano and Jamie Donaldson and all three of them are great guys and great players…not to mention Andrea Pavan!
13:00 – Getting fairly warm out and taking the opportunity to relax in the Caddy Lounge for a bit before we have another brief practice session. Pinehurst #2 is getting firmer by the day!! It looks like they are going to be putting very little water on this track through the week, which makes for tough, but interesting scoring.
16:00 – Walking around the Merchandise Tents it is great to see a wide display of Cutter & Buck and Ahead product, two quality brands…the only fantastic apparel brand they are missing here is Rhode Island!
19:00 – Had a nice “South African braai” this evening with Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen & Sergio Garcia’s caddies…can’t beat it!
When mentioning the difficulty of course and type of winner Mickey says “Winning score likely to be around even par if conditions stay the same…players will need great iron play and impeccable chipping/feel around the greens!”
Monday 09 June 2014
03:00 – Arrives in Pinehurst, North Carolina after very little sleep and feeling completely bushed!
08:00 – Pavan played a practice round with Francesco Molinari & Oliver Goss from Australia. “The course is very demanding with there only being two Par 5’s at #2…one is reachable and the other only a handful of players can reach including the likes of Dustin Johnson etc” says Hough. “The Par 3’s are all long and the Par 4’s many players will be hitting long irons into so length is an advantage.”
Pinehurst plays like a links course, but the greens are hard and fairways soft! The rough is also very patchy and players will definitely get a couple bad breaks through the week…it’s a bit of a lottery. Hough continues “The greens are like upside-down bowls with the ball running off at every corner so pinpoint accuracy required”.
13:00 – Pavan finishes practice round and gives Mickey a chance to eat and relax for a short while before hitting the range for another hour or two. “I’ll definitely be sleeping as early as possible this evening to try catch up some!”
Saturday 07 June 2014
21:00 – Departs from Johannesburg, South Africa and flies via London to New York…subsequently delayed en route to Pinehurst, North Carolina.