Once the group ahead leave the 1st tee we make our way down the tunnel and meet the starter and the team that follow us around – the rules official, the observer, the scorer, the bunker raker, and the score board carrier. I try to look round at the crowds and have an amazing feeling, I finally made it to the 1st tee of The Open. Let’s not split hairs, I am carrying a bag but I’m here! Billy Horschel hits a lovely tee shot down the middle. Jazz is up, more nervous than I have seen him, he hit his 2 iron a bit fat and it stays in the left rough. He has over 200 yards to the flag uphill into the wind, leaves it short in the bunker and makes a bogey.

The rest of the round carries on without too much drama or fireworks sadly. I am cheered on by member David Lamb and past member Mike Reid. They shout across “great clubbing Jonnie” when Jazz hits one close at the 14th hole. It actually has little to do with me sadly. We were debating whether it was playing like a 130 yard wedge or a 135 wedge. The actual yardage is 145 down wind. I went for 135 as I didn’t want him to be short and come back down the slope at the green front. He went for 130 and knocked it to 4 feet! I think he hit it 132.5 yards.

As we approach the last hole, Jazz is 4 over and needs a birdie to give himself a chance tomorrow. He hits a great 3 wood off the tee straight down the middle. He has 190 yards to the pin, into a strong breeze. He wants to hit a low 5 iron but I convince him that won’t make the green so he hits a 4. He picks a line between the Japan & Korea flags on the grandstand as the pin itself is blind. The ball is sent on its way perfectly between the two flags, lands on the front edge and rolls to about 20 feet. There is gentle applause as the trio reaches the green and I am taking in the view of the stands and the hundreds of people sitting there, despite the wet weather. Jazz lines up his putt and thankfully holes it. A score of 3 over for the round isn’t bad as it gives us a chance tomorrow. A score of 5 under is the best in on the day and I think Jazz will need 2 under tomorrow. We are out at 8:14am on Friday so it is off to bed for a very early night.

Friday – Day 5

Competition Day Two, I wake up at 5am and get to the course for some breakfast. I meet Jazz at 6am and we start the warm up on the range. The range is quiet, and we set up in the bay next to Brooks Koepka. He is hitting his 2 iron over the 250 yard sign and is complaining he is hitting it badly to his coach, Claude Harmon. Jazz is hitting it well and feels good about his game.

My friend texts me, ironically to tell me to get off my phone because I’m on TV, next to Koepka who they are filming. I am actually checking the wind direction for the day and noting it in my yardage book. Every hole has a compass on it and it makes things quicker if you put the general wind direction on the compass on each page before the round, then after each hole you reaffirm the wind direction for the next hole. Often as the player is setting up to their shot they will ask for the wind just to assure themselves they have it correctly so you need to know if it is at 1 o’clock or 4 o’clock as they are playing the hole.

We head to the tee and again the crowds are massive. Jazz starts well with and early birdie, making every hole seem easy but the putts just aren’t dropping. I can tell he is getting frustrated because he cannot adjust to the greens surface on links as quickly as he would like and the wind makes reading them more difficult. He drops the shot he got back at the 9th hole after a rare wayward drive. We make our way around without anything special happening. The 17th hole is a 408 yard downhill par 4. Today it is playing downwind too. Jazz rips one on a perfect line. We walk to the top of the hill and the ball is 1 foot off the front edge with the pin at the back. The first putt goes 10 foot past, thankfully he holes the return, back to +3. The weather is due to change in the afternoon so we think +2 might have a chance so a birdie is essential. Jazz cracks a 3 wood straight down the middle. He has 180 downwind to the flag and goes with a 7 iron. The ball is on top of a knoll but the lie is good. The wind is helping with the second shot but a little off the right. Jazz knows he needs at least a birdie so goes straight at the flag. His foot slips a little before he hits the ball so the ball starts a little too straight, then the wind pushes it 4 yards left and as it lands on the green close to the flag it then bounces left off the green.

I now know I won’t be caddying at the weekend. The chip in is very unlikely and +2 probably isn’t going to be enough. The first chip is not enough and ball rolls back down. The second chip is good but all interest and hope is gone. Jazz makes 6 for 5 over total.