Knowledge of caddies has turned golf into a team game
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland - They are the luggers of the clubs and the lifters of the spirit. They're focused on what's happening on the ground and in the skies, where winds constantly shift and foreboding clouds threaten rain at any moment.
They are the anonymous caddies, a one-person support system for the world's best golfers, and rarely are they more essential than they are this week at Carnoustie, site of the British Open, with its howling gusts and fairways as firm as airport tarmacs.
"Every decision I make is bounced off my caddie," said Brooks Koepka, a favorite in this championship and winner of the last two U.S. Open tournaments. "Everything we do on the golf course, it's a decision I might make, or sometimes he's got to pull the reins back and be like, 'Listen, you need to hit the center of the green. There's no reason to go at this flag,' and he'll kind of exaggerate it a little
