Michigan Golf Journal May 2020

Michigan Golf Journal PGA Tour Rocket Mortgage Michigan Tour pro Brian Stuard (native of Jackson), who finished T5 with Brandt Snedeker and Patrick Reed among others in last year’s inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic, agreed that every Tour pro would have no problem grabbing and replacing their own clubs in the bag and let the caddie focus on just carrying and other duties. “But I’m sure that is something the Tour will give us guidelines or tips – even dealing with going into the locker room or entering the clubhouse or what to do at the driving range,” Stuard said. “There’s going to have to be some kind of set of rules, at least to start with”. This writer’s personal recommendation is that all tournaments assign a volunteer to each bunker (or set of nearby bunkers) and they are the only one to handle the rake. Same for greens; designate one volunteer to handle the flagstick at each green. Ryan Brehm – a former Mr. Golf in high school and MSU award-winning golfer who is now living in Traverse City – has to wait to see if his conditional PGA Tour status will gain him entry into Detroit. If it does, he guarantees he will play. He’s been waiting for the home- town opportunity since Q-School. Brehm said that because players and caddies are a team, an extension of each other to a degree, he’s not sure the pair can completely socially distance from each other, so ideally every player and caddie can be tested for the virus first to get an all clear. Continues on page 10 >>