Even given the kaleidoscopic backgrounds of those fellows in white coveralls, it will be safe to proclaim Atlanta’s Richard Grice a little different than any of the other Masters caddies next week.
For one thing, who else could both club his player on the course and then, back at the clubhouse, lead a symposium with the members before their next leveraged buyout?
You’ve maybe heard of such loopers as “Fluff” Cowan and “Bones” Mackay.
Here comes Richard Grice, just call him “Esquire.”
Thanks to what began as an outlandish, offhanded comment last August at the U.S. Amateur at the Atlanta Athletic Club, corporate attorney Grice will be on the bag of U.S. Amateur Champion Gunn Yang at the Masters.
A regular Masters patron, a well-connected man who as a guest once shot an 82 from the kinder Augusta National tees, Grice often has dreamed of what life must be like on the other side of the green ropes on tournament week. “Sure, but not as a caddie, as a golfer,” he said.
It was, all parties will admit, pretty much a joke when Grice, a volunteer caddie for Yang during the Amateur, said by way of refusing any payment: “Tell you what, if you win it all, I get to caddie for you at Augusta.” The Amateur winner and runner-up qualify for the following year’s Masters.
Yang came to Atlanta as the 776th-ranked amateur in the world, a rising junior at San Diego State whose game was so shaky that the Aztecs had pulled his scholarship. He was going to tote his own bag until he learned that there was a pool of club members who had offered themselves as caddies to anyone in need.
Grice could not have seriously thought he would be needed more than a couple of days, perhaps not past the initial stroke-play stage.
But then something amazing happened. Yang, 20 at the time, played the most dynamic golf of his life. Come the match-play portion of the championship, he just kept winning. And Grice just kept schlepping the bag through every grueling stage, as much as 36 holes a day. Five times over the week, Yang eliminated a top 100-ranked opponent, including Canada’s Corey Connors in the final.
The joke had grown flesh, and was now real. But it did not require any of Grice’s legal skills to remind Yang of a certain non-binding verbal contract.
“To Gunn’s credit, I don’t think it crossed his mind (to go with another caddie),” Grice said. “Not that I’m such a great caddie, but it was like, ‘OK, that was our deal.’ I must be doing something right, too. It’s not like I had to convince him of anything.”
He, after all, is unbeaten with a certain 53-year-old lawyer on the bag. That winning streak continued Tuesday, when Yang beat British Amateur champion Bradley Neil 3-and-2 in the Georgia Cup exhibition at the Golf Club of Georgia.
Yang spent much of the time after winning the U.S. Amateur travelling the world, enjoying the privileges of his championship. Foregoing college golf, he played in a number of events overseas. He has appeared in two PGA Tour events this season — the Farmers Insurance Open and the Palmer Invitational — and missed the cut in both.
He has maintained his amateur status in order to remain eligible to play in this Masters, meaning his caddie is not about to come into any kind of windfall next week. In fact, Grice is renting a home in Augusta during the tournament and is scrambling for tournament badges for his family. Who knew it could cost so much to compete in the Masters?
But, then, one could consider the experience priceless. “Augusta, of course, is a magical place, and it’s a real honor and treat to do this,” Grice said.
The partnership has been in motion for several days now. Last weekend, the two drove to Augusta for a couple of practice rounds — Yang accompanied by a club caddie with Grice in tow, taking voluminous notes. They paired for Georgia Cup on Tuesday. Then they were to return to Augusta for more practice before the tournament week officially begins Monday.
Grice already has the cheerleading part of the caddie job mastered.
“I think we’ll be just fine,” he said. “(Yang) is a man of great focus, and during the Amateur he always talked about playing his own game, and that’s what he did. You really need to kind of play with blinders on, and I think that’s what we’ll do.”
How, you may wonder, does a high-powered corporate attorney get so much time off to act as a pack mule for an unpaid golfing intern? Grice is wandering far afield from the billable hour.
It likely helps that next door to his Atlanta office is the Bobby Jones Conference Room. His is the only law office with an original sketch of Augusta National by course architect Alister MacKenzie.
When your law firm is Alston & Bird, for which Augusta National founder Jones once was a partner, and which still represents the Jones name and his trademark, you can get a little leave to compete in a Masters. Why, that’s almost like a company outing.
A near-radical amateur, winner of the 1930 Grand Slam, Jones once more will surround Grice on tournament week. His likeness and his legacy are inescapable on the Augusta National grounds. And he forever will be seen as in the corner of the humble amateur.
“Absolutely, he’s pulling for us. I know he is,” Grice said. “Maybe the ghost of Bobby Jones will help us out a little bit.”
How much Grice will be able to help Yang at Augusta National — where local knowledge and divining the subtleties of the heaving greens is paramount — is uncertain. There is much to absorb and precious time to do it.
How Grice will fit in with the community of caddies is another unknown. OK, on second thought don’t call him “Esquire.” That’s a show-dog name, and these are proud working mutts. Just go with the name they call Grice at the Atlanta Athletic Club. Yes, “Cheesy” will play much better around the Augusta National caddie shack.
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