US Open champion So Yeon Ryu will get advice from none other than Tom Watson when she lines up her putts during this week’s Ladies Masters at Royal Pines.
Watson — not the gap-toothed five-time British Open champion from Kansas — but the Tom Watson from country Victoria, will be on the Korean’s bag giving her yardages and helping her to read putts.
When the 21 year-old revealed her caddie’s identity to journalists on Tuesday it was met with some mirth, not unlike when he introduces himself to players on the golf course as Tom Watson.
“I actually played nine holes of golf with Tom Watson when I was 15,” recalled Watson, who was caddying for Australian Terry Gale at the time.
“He (Watson) wanted to get away from Huntingdale and we played several holes with Terry at Metropolitan Golf Club.
“I was nervous as hell but it was a wonderful experience, he was just such a gentleman.
“I met him many years later and he remembered me which was nice.”
Having the same name as one of golf’s legends isn’t always an advantage.
“I’ve had some unbelievable things happen,” he laughed.
“I’ve rung up to find out my tee time in tournaments and they’ve hung up me and I’ve had some incredible experiences in Japan.
Ryu met her new caddy with the famous golfing name for the first time on Monday and said: “He is a good caddy, maybe he can help me with a lot of things.”
The next four weeks will determine if they become a full time team.
This year’s Gold Coast tournament will be missing long-time major draw card Karrie Webb and the world’s best player and defending champion, Yani Tseng but the field boasts an array of class and exciting young talent.
Ryu, a seven-time winner on the Korean LPGA Tour, can expect stiff opposition from fellow 2011 major winner Stacy Lewis and another American, 16 year-old sensation Lexi Thompson, the youngest player to win on the US LPGA Tour and the youngest player to qualify for the US open in 2007 aged 12.
Thompson has two brothers who play golf, Nicholas, who competes on the US Nationwide Tour and Curtis, a promising amateur attending Louisiana State University.
She had an outstanding finish to 2011, winning the Omega Ladies Masters in Dubai after taking out the Navistar PGA Classic.
She also had another big victory off the golf course: convincing the LPGA to waive a rule preventing her from joining the tour full-time until she turns 18.
Organisers meanwhile have put last weekend’s history-making 14 year-old Lydia Ko in the same Gen-Y threesome as Thompson for Thursday’s opening round.
