Truckin' at the U.S. Open with Tiger's caddie
By RON SIRAK AP Golf Writer
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) - Nick Faldo walked through the relatively
sparse Monday crowd at the U.S. Open, drawing a few stares and
the occasional autograph request.
Steve Elkington worked on the practice green at Congressional
Country Club virtually unnoticed and Steve Stricker mixed with
the gallery in the parking lot as if he were one of them.
Suddenly, a sure sign of celebrity popped up. A knot of fans
four deep encircled a shaggy-haired, stocky man with a walrus
mustache, thrusting forth hats to be autographed and shyly asking
questions.
This is how big Tiger Woods has become. His caddie, Mike "Fluff"
Cowan, might be the second-biggest star on the PGA Tour right
now.
Woods' biggest challengers in the 97th U.S. Open this week
will be Faldo, Greg Norman, Tom Lehman and a longshot or two like
Jim Furyk, but his biggest competitor in the autograph race might
be the guy carrying his bag.
"I don't mind," Cowan, a 20-year tour caddie, said
about the attention. "If I wasn't caddying, they wouldn't
want it."
Then, lapsing into his Greatful Dead-inspired philosophy of
life, Cowan put his new-found fame into perspective.
"I sign a few autographs and get on with it," he
said in a voice still accented with the broad vowels of his Maine
roots. "The ride is wonderful."
Wonderful, indeed. Since Cowan, a self-described child of the
'60s, left the bag of journeyman Peter Jacobsen for Woods last
August the young phenom has won more than $2 million, and Cowan
has gotten about 10 percent of that, plus a guaranteed weekly
fee.
"The money don't mean nothing to me," Cowan said
when asked what impact the sudden wealth has had. "You want
to know my philosophy on money? You got it, you spend it. You
don't got it, you don't spend it."
Cowan spent the morning walking the front nine at Congressional
to again familiar himself with a course he's caddied on before
but Woods has never played.
Woods registered at the clubhouse at 2:51 p.m. and then headed
out with Cowan on the front nine.
"It's tough, very tough," Cowan said about the Open
rough that measured 5 inches deep. "It's not only long but
very thick. It's gnarly rough, man. It's not very forgiving."
Ask Cowan specifics about Woods' strategy for the week and
he becomes as lyrically obscure as one of those Jerry Garcia guitar
solos that pops up in the middle of one of Cowan's favorite Greatful
Dead songs and lasts about 20 minutes.
Will Woods leave the driver in the bag and use the 2-iron off
the tee more often for accuracy?
"We'll see when my man gets here," Cowan said.
Does this course, the longest ever in an Open, fit Woods' game
perfectly?
"It's got holes on the greens and a place to tee it up,
that's all he needs," Cowan said.
Cowan does speak less cryptically when asked the most difficult
part about caddying for Woods.
"Fans with cameras," Cowan said. "They aren't
supposed to have cameras on the course once the tournament starts
but they do. I'm always looking trying to find someone who might
snap right as Tiger is hitting," he said. "A caddie
is always trying to protect his player anyway he can."
Cowan paused to light yet another cigarette, took a drag and
hastily exhaled when asked if he had a website on the Internet.
"I don't have one and if I ever find out that I have one
I'm going to do whatever I have to do to get rid of it,"
he said. "I don't believe in computers. I believe in the
'60s, not the '90s."
The fame and the relative fortune are just part of what is
happening right now, Cowan said, but they have nothing to do with
his happiness.
"I got along before this," he said, "I'll get
along after this."
Then he again wandered off into tie-dye philosophy.
"Money isn't comfort," Cowan said. " 'Comfort
is love, a good bed, caring friends and a happy dog."
There must be times when Tiger Woods looks at the chain-smoking,
shaggy-haired aging hippie carrying his bag and thinks: "What
a long, strange trip it's been."
For both of them, man, for both of them.
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