Golf Digest Issue 4, 2022

THIS IS NOT A HUMBLEBRAG. We’ve all been paired with that irritating individual who recites his tournament résumé within the first two holes. That’s the last person I want to be. But the return of the U.S. Open to The Country Club is occasion to recount the comedy of errors that was the pinnacle of my otherwise mediocre career, when in 2013 I qualified for the U.S. Amateur there. I’d planned to carry my bag in the 36-hole qualifier. Still reasonably fit at age 31, of larger concern was yet another set of eyes with a caddie. This was during a dark and shameful period when I was struggling to pull the trigger, you see, my clubhead often freezing for like, 15 seconds before it trundled back. I’m sure I was…

IN OUR LIVING ROOM my wife and I have photos from our wedding. Among them is a picture of her with the bridesmaids. But there is nothing of me and the groomsmen. That’s because one of the groomsmen was my former player, and I can’t stand the sight of him all dressed up next to me on the biggest day of my life. It’s just too painful. That player was my first job on tour. It ended with him firing me. I’ve had two bags since then; the current one I’ve been with for some time. Not to brag, but it’s one of the best gigs out here; it has made me more money than I ever thought I would get in this line of work. Yet I’m still not over…

No one in my family played golf. My dad, Amrik, was a tennis player and says my tennis stroke looked more like a golf swing, so he got me plastic clubs. I played my first tournament when I was 4 years old. The age group was 12 and under. I had many family members watching. I won the net division and finished second gross. I played in tournaments every month after that. It didn’t take long for me to know I wanted to pursue golf. We were a working-class family. My mum, Dalvir, immigrated to England from Kenya with her family as a teenager. She has had many jobs, from mental-health nurse to aerobics instructor. My dad was a community worker who was born in England but whose family immigrated from…

MY BEST GOLF BUDDY’S name is Bill. He and I text often and call each other “dog.” When I need an emergency fourth to fill out a group, Bill’s my go-to. He has been my partner in a member-guest and will be one of the first invites to my upcoming wedding. Bill is more than twice my age. Nearly every golfer has a friend in a wholly different stage of life. The play-your-own-ball nature of the game and the ingenuity of the handicap system make any foursome of players and abilities doable. In turn, golf fosters cross-generational friendships that don’t occur in the wild. I spent the majority of my childhood weekend mornings tagging along with dad’s regular game and teasing gray hairs about their shakiness over four-footers. I learned when to…

USUALLY, I’M THE ONE DOING all the research before an interview, but in this case, Rowan McCarthy had done his homework on me, and he knew to keep quiet. Despite being an avid golfer for two decades, I’ve never made a hole-in-one, something I bitterly note in my Golf Digest writer bio. “I saw on your profile that you don’t have one,” McCarthy said as we were wrapping up our call. “But I decided to do the right thing and not say anything.” Appreciate that, Rowan. Then again, the 32-year-old holds bragging rights over just about everyone who has ever played golf. Not even Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus have done what McCarthy did earlier this year. I’m not talking about installing commercial air-conditioning units like the mechanical engineer does at his…

ON THURSDAY OF THE Masters this spring, I experienced a flashback to a time that connects powerfully to the upcoming U.S. Open at The Country Club, the storied course in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Mass. I had dropped into Butler Cabin for rehearsals of ESPN’s early-round coverage, and there, seated a few feet apart, were Curtis Strange and Nick Faldo, two great champions who today direct their laser focus on excellent commentary to the Masters and other important TV golf productions. Seeing them together, my mind flashed back to the 1988 U.S. Open at The Country Club and the classic 18-hole playoff duel in which Curtis prevailed but put on display the com-petitive intensity of the two World Golf Hall of Famers: a Yank and a Brit, yet so different…