There was quite a neat little side story going on at the 3M Open on the PGA Tour. And it all started at the Monday qualifier.
PGA Tour player Martin Trainer got a call from his caddie Aaron Crawford telling him he would have to find someone else to carry his bag when the tournament got underway at TPC Twin Cities.
The reason? Crawford had carded an 8-under 63 and qualified for the event himself.
The 25-year-old Canadian turned pro in 2012 and has spent most of his career on the mini-tours and Mackenzie Tour, the PGA Tour’s feeder circuit north of the border.
Crawford struck up a friendship with Trainer, whose sole title came at last year’s Puerto Rico Open, at qualifying school and has been on the bag for the 29-year-old since.
Not that he’s making much cash from it. Trainer’s record since winning in the Caribbean makes for unfortunate reading: five finishes ranging from 34th to 66th, one withdrawal, and a whopping 28 missed cuts, including a run of nine, two runs of five, and the current run which is now seven.
Even the 34th-place finish was in the 34-man Sentry Tournament of Champions, where he finished eight shots behind the man in 33rd.
Ouch.
That will explain why Crawford, making his first ever start on the PGA Tour, was, at 750/1, better odds than 1000/1 shot Trainer at the start of the week.
So who got the better of whom at Twin Cities? Crawford carded a 2-under 69 but followed it up with a second-round 74 to miss the cut at 1-over-par, while his boss made it seven straight missed weekends after consecutive 75s.
Have this ever happened before?
Indeed. It also happened at the Valero Texas Open in 2009 when Jesper Parnevik was joined in the field by caddie Lance Ten Broeck.
That week, the bagman finished three ahead of his boss on 1-over-par, though both missed the cut.
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Alex Perry
