Peter Cowen Daily Diary: The importance of the caddies

Day one at The Masters is now complete, my thoughts on the day.

Seven under leads and it is great to see one of my boys Brooks Koepka tied at the top of the leaderboard.

Thomas Pieters is tied 54th on +2 and Danny Willett +3 is tied 63rd. They have both got work to do.

Matt Fitzpatrick under the watchful eye of my big buddy Mike Walker, showed some improved form with a two par 70.

The cut will be made after the second round with the low 50 players and ties qualifying for the final 36 holes.

As I am staying in local lodging with two of the top caddies in modern golf, Ricky Elliott for Brooks Koepka and Billy Foster for Matt Fitzpatrick. It is important to acknowledge the role of caddies – especially at places like Augusta.

It is remarkable to think that it is as recently as 1982 all players had to use local caddies. It was only in 1983 that players could bring their own caddies. So Seve Ballesteros in 1980, Tom Watson in 1981 and Craig Stadler in 1982, all employed local caddies to win their Green Jackets.

Time spent with the caddies gives me time to get more information about the players, outside of just seeing them hit balls on the range. I can ask Ricky and Billy how their bosses were playing, their thought processes, shot making and ball striking and so much more.

To get a second opinion and a different perspective is very important. Us guys just don’t talk about golf when we are together and how they have done that day. We have been great friends for too long to remember and we know literally everything about each other and our habits etc.

It can be a lonely life on Tour and there can be only one winner each week, so it is always nice to know mates like Ricky and Billy have my back and vice-versa.

I will spend so much more time with my players and the caddies than with my wife.

Anyway, I won’t take that discussion any further, and hope my wife Fran back home in Rotherham, does not read GULF NEWS every day!

Hugely impressed with Brooks

I am hugely impressed with Brooks and his current attitude to his game and life.

I was with him all last week in Orlando when he won the LIV Golf League with a 15 under par 54 hole total. He looks in the mood now he is injury free. His recent list of injuries include a left knee torn patella and labrum injury in his left hip, These are both as recently as in 2019 and 2020. If you have not been to Augusta you will not appreciate how hilly the golf course is. If you are struggling to walk, for whatever reason, you will not do well around Augusta: Tiger Woods seems to be suffering from what I saw of his walking.

However, the course could not have played easier in round one.

I like the look of both John Rahm and Victor Hovland, the latter winner of the Low Amateur at Augusta as recently as 2019.

It is a shame we are not seeing the likes of Rahm and Hovland playing more golf on the DP World Tour – but let’s leave that aside for now and wait to see how tournament golf around the world plays out in the next few months and years.

Speak to you all after round two. A 15% chance of rain and a lot cooler is Friday’s forecast. Do not look at Saturday and Sunday’s forecast! Let’s hope they are wrong!

— Peter Cowen is a world-renowned golf coach with academies in the UAE and England.