With his hands in his pocket and a watchful eye on the flight of the balls, he had a little bit more interest in the 13-year-old phenom’s game than most.
The day before, he had an up-close view of the seventh-grader’s game as he carried her bag around the Donald Ross-designed course during a practice round for the 2001 U.S. Women’s Open Championship.
It was just the latest loop around a Ross layout for the 68-year-old Pinehurst resident. For the past 58 years he’s been carrying bags around Pinehurst No. 2, Mid Pines and Pine Needles for various pros and resort guests. He still works at Pinehurst.
He’s done loops for players such as Gene Sarazen, Arnold Palmer, Jackie Burke, Art Wall, Tommy Bolt and Peter Jacobsen.
“I caddied for more than that, but that’s all the names I can recall right now,” he said Wednesday as he stood beside the practice green at Pine Needles.
Pressel, who has garnered a lot of attention since qualifying for the Women’s Open at the age of 12, knew she had gotten a caddie with experience.
“He’s from Pinehurst, so he knows the course very well,” she said.
In fact, he knew the man who designed the Pine Needles course — he used to caddie for Ross. He caddied when Richard S. Tufts, the owner and developer of Pinehurst, and Ross used to play.
“They played together a lot,” McRae said. “Tufts was the best player.”
The 68-year-old Ross is somewhat of an institution at Pinehurst, where he was among the first class of caddies recently inducted into the Caddie Hall of Fame. He has also seen a lot of women golfers in his time. He is impressed by Pressel.
“She looked good,” he said, referring to her Tuesday practice round. “I’ve never caddied for a woman that hit as good as she did. She really hit the ball true. She asked for advice, mainly about the greens.”
The greens are a good place to get advice when playing a Ross-designed course. A lot of knowledge about the humped backs and subtle swales of Ross’ greens goes a long way to getting a good score.
Ron Sutton, a Moore County resident, stopped by to say hello to McRae earlier in the day when the veteran caddie was waiting for Pressel to come out of the clubhouse. McRae had caddied for Sutton and his son.
“When he tells you to putt the ball four feet right of the hole, you better putt the ball there,” Sutton said. “It’s amazing how he knows the green. He’s very calm, not pushy at all. He has a good sense of humor, but he is also very focused.”
McRae also is a good teacher of the game. He taught his son how to play. At a place that reveres tradition and history as much as Pinehurst, there is now a second-generation McRae at the Resort. Paul McRae is a professional there, and an accomplished teacher in his own right.
“The neat thing is his son is teaching there now,” Sutton said. “He’s worked with me, and he’s one of the best shot analysts there is.”
It doesn’t hurt when you have a teacher who has seen some of the best swings in the game over the last 58 years. It certainly won’t hurt Pressel to have that experience on her side when she begins play Thursday.
in the brutal, nerve-wracking challenge that is the Women’s Open.
“If I made the cut, I’d be very, very happy,” Pressel said Tuesday.
McRae nodded when told that, and said, “I think she’ll make the cut.”
If she does, McRae and his intimate knowledge of the course will probably have a lot to do with it.
