Buddies trip of a lifetime: Bend golfer caddies for a friend at the PGA Championship
'It's pretty nerve-wracking, actually,' Clare Langford says after stint on world's biggest golf stage
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Amid the chaos as the PGA Championship wrapped up on Sunday was a golfer from Bend.
Clare Langford told NewsChannel 21 on Tuesday, "We were actually in the bar with Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm. When Phil (Mickelson) got to the 18th tee, we all went outside."
But Langford, a home inspector, wasn't only there to have drinks with the world best golfers. He was competing against them. Sort of.
He traded in his ladder and flashlight for a bib.
"Well, I got to caddie for a good friend of mine at the PGA Championship," Langford said.
His friend is Brad Marek, a teaching pro from the Bay Area and one of 20 PGA club pros in the field last week. With Langford's help, Marek was one of just two club pros to make the midway cut.
"I had the national club pro down in Florida this April,” Marek said. “And I asked him if he wanted to make the trip down there to caddie for that. We had some success there that got us into the PGA Championship, and obviously he was the first choice to be on the bag for the real deal."
Langford said looping on the world’s biggest stage was challenging. He said he only got in another player’s way once.
"It's pretty nerve-wracking, actually,” Langford said. “Everybody is so precise, but obviously pretty exciting."
And Marek's stellar play wasn't the only thing that caught people's attention.
"The PGA media members ... had told me that I had gone viral, and I had no idea what they were talking about," Marek said.
Videos of his unique warm-up routine were making the rounds on Twitter, amassing more than 100,000 views and garnering a retweet from popular podcast No Laying Up.
"He's stretching his hips… and I think he's getting his lower back by doing that too," Langford said, demonstrating the routine.
Regardless, it was likely the buddies trip of a lifetime for the pair, who were also joined by Langford’s two young sons.
