Blogger Wears Caddie Bib for LPGA Pro

This weekend, Shane Bacon will be out at the J Golf Phoenix LPGA International caddying for one of the pros on the LPGA Tour. You can follow him daily with his Caddie Tales.

If you had a big tournament coming up and were going to go out searching for a non-caddie to caddie for you, picking yours truly probably wouldn't be the worst idea. At least that's what I told LPGA golfer Erica Blasberg.

I have played a lot of tournaments with buddies, bosses and even my dad on the bag. Since I was a 14-year-old heading to Wichita Falls, Okla. for the Texas-Oklahoma Junior Golf Tournament, caddying was something I was immersed in.

And when I wasn't out golfing with a friend or relative as my caddie, I carried the bag for buddies. My friend Casey Broadus was trying out the mini tour circuit and I lugged the bag for him one round in Shreveport, La., where he shot a 4-under 68 before replacing me with his dad. When I finished college at the University of Arizona, my friend Will and I headed off with a planet ticket and our golf clubs, eventually landing a spot caddying on the most historic links in the world, St. Andrews Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Caddying gives you the unique ability to learn just how personal golf is for an individual. I had to learn quickly that while I might see a golf shot one way ("Just flip wedge over the left side of that bunker") the person I'm carrying the bag for might not be some excited ("Avoid bunker at all costs ... please no bunker ... Ahhhh, I hate sand!") For instance, I remember looping a round at St. Andrews with Peter Thompson in the group, a five-time British Open champion who is now 79. Listening to him chat about the Old Course was like hearing Shakespeare muse about stage direction or Edvard Munch spilling over about expressionistic art. Thompson's view was different from mine, mine different from the next guy's, and on down the line.

When Erica Blasberg, LPGA golfer and amateur golfing Goliath, mentioned last year that she might be interested in having me caddie for her in a tournament, I was on board. Why wouldn't I be? Rick Reilly gets Triple-A, I'm in the big leagues.

You might not know much about Blasberg except that she's an attractive female golfer that enjoys the occasional Puma golf shirt. Blasberg went to the University of Arizona and won six NCAA tournament events before turning pro her sophomore season. Taking her lumps on the Futures Tour -- the LPGA's version of the Nationwide -- Erica broke the scoring record on the tour with a 62 in her only win on the Futures in '04. Since then, she's been hanging around the LPGA, waiting for the right week to strike, and the first trophy to add to her Las Vegas home.

Starting on Thursday, I will be inside the ropes with Blasberg. I'll be carrying the bag and raking the bunkers and hoping not to give an off yardage (for some reason, I've always overstepped yardages when I played tournaments). I'll try not to bring 15 clubs to the first tee or give her a bad read or be negative for one instant. A player relies on his or her caddie as much as a baseball player relies on the base coach or a boxer relies on his corner during a bout. Tiger Woods is the best golfer in the world, but Steve Williams is the Tiger of caddying. You've heard of golfers choking? Caddies can do the same thing.

Who knows what will happen this week or what story I'll be able to dig up while I'm sitting on the range, walking the newly renovated Papago Golf Course, or just hanging out with other caddies lucky enough to grab a loop while the players are elsewhere (off chatting, perhaps?). Lorena Ochoa, Natalie Gulbis and Michelle Wie are scheduled to be in the field in Phoenix. All will be shooting for a win to add to their impressive resumes.

The only thing they'll be missing? A caddie with a blog.