Jul 5, 2016
Canadian caddies do more than just carry clubs
Canadian golfers Alena Sharp and Brooke Henderson share special relationships with their caddies, who do a lot more than just carry clubs. TSN's Bob Weeks writes
By Bob Weeks
SAN MARTIN, Calif. -- Not many players on the LPGA Tour can say they found their caddie on a hockey rink, but that’s where Alena Sharp first met Sarah Bowman, who now totes the bag for her.
Brooke Henderson, meanwhile, has known her caddie all her life. Her sister Brittany has put her own aspirations of a professional career on hold to loop for her little sis.
This week Bowman and Brittany Henderson are hoping to provide the advantage that might help their player get over the top and win the U.S. Open at CordeValle. During the week, they’ll serve as not only a club carrier, but also throw in a host of other duties including yardage determiner, ball washer, green reader, wind guesser and, of course, psychologist.
While their duties might be similar, the two couldn’t be farther apart in terms of background.
Bowman was born just outside of Pittsburgh, later moved to Arizona and took up hockey because she wanted to escape the heat. It was there during a game that she met Sharp and the two connected.
A year later, while at a Symetra Tour event, Sharp asked Bowman to caddie. There was only one problem: Bowman knew nothing about golf.
“I literally had no idea what I was doing,” she reflected with a wide smile. “On the first hole, she called me over to clean her ball and I walked over without a towel and she said well you just lick it and clean it.”
Bowman has taken to the job with gusto since that time, even adopting the nickname Sarah Sherpa (which is also her Twitter handle). And she’s learned a lot since that introduction, to the point where Sharp will trust her opinion on shot selection, yardages and more.
The closeness of their relationship probably comes out best when dealing with the mental side of the sport. Bowman even admits to sometimes purposely getting Sharp mad, not a usual tactic.
“There have been times when I purposely made her angry,” she stated. “I’ll say a few things to upset her because she plays very well when she has some fire. She knows now when I’m doing it. She’ll say ‘OK I know what you’re doing’ and she’ll still fall for it. That wouldn’t work for everybody, that’s just Alena.”
It’s no coincidence that since picking up the bag, Sharp has played the best golf of her career.
Meanwhile Brittany Henderson had lots of golf knowledge before she became her sister’s fulltime caddie. In fact, she was Brooke’s inspiration to play that game. A successful golfer through the amateur ranks, she earned a scholarship at Coastal Carolina and later turned professional. She decided to put that career on hold to pick up the bag this year.
“It’s awesome,” she stated. “I’m having so much fun. I thought I would miss playing more than I am. I think because I’m still involved and I basically feel like I’m hitting the shot even though I’m not actually taking a swing.”
The two sisters work together seamlessly, talking during the round, comparing notes before shots and often doing a joint green read. You get the sense that they are connected so well, that words aren’t all that necessary. Because they’ve played so much golf together, Brittany knows her sister’s game inside and out.
“I feel like we’re a team. So if she’s not playing well, it’s on me too,” said Brittany. “If she’s playing great, it’s part of something I’ve contributed to. I feel like we’re a team out there and everything we do is together.”
Still, there are times when she has to take on the role of older sister, but that is usually off the course. Brittany is in charge of making all their travel arrangements as they barnstorm the LPGA Tour.
“I book everything for us so she doesn’t have to worry about it,” said Brittany, six years older than Brooke. “She just focuses on her playing. Whenever we go anywhere, she never really has any idea of what hotel we’re staying at or what time our flight is. I just take care at that.”
The Sharp/Bowman team and the Hendersons often play practice rounds together, with the two caddies sharing lots of knowledge and working in tandem to calculate yardages from different spots on the course.
They’ll do that again next month in Rio when they represent Canada at the Olympics when golf returns to the fold after 112 years.
This week, however, it’s about another major and another opportunity. The caddies won’t hit any shots, but there’s little doubt they’ll be doing a lot more than just carrying clubs.