Cherry Hills Village – Although the person wielding the club is drawing most of the attention, there are two people taking part in the quest for the Grand Slam. The first, of course, is Annika Sorenstam, who won the first two majors of the LPGA season. The other is her caddie, Terry McNamara. Paired with Sorenstam for a little more than five full seasons, the 46-year-old has been on the bag for 45 of Sorenstam’s 62 career LPGA wins.
After the duo began preparation Tuesday at Cherry Hills Country Club for this week’s U.S. Women’s Open, McNamara sat down to talk about what lies ahead.
Anthony Cotton: What are your thoughts after the first time around Cherry Hills?
Terry McNamara: It was great; the course sets up for her good. At this altitude, even though the yardage is a lot, it’s not playing that long for us. We only hit driver twice.
There’s a little disadvantage because on this course, there’s only one par 5 we can really go for in two, which is usually one of our advantages. … I’m sure she’ll adapt to that, and we’ll just have to make a lot of birdies.
AC: Let me ask you something silly: The idea of history and Arnold Palmer driving the green on No. 1 here in 1960 – any temptation to go for it like he did?
TM: Only if we had to. The last day we may. But we can hit something easy; today, we hit 9-iron to the green and we hit 4-iron off the tee. I’d give Annika Sorenstam a 9-iron any day of the week. She’s going to hit it to within 15 feet of the hole or less most of the time, and she’s a great putter. There’s no use trying to hit to the front of the green and having to chip out of that rough. It’s just a risk you don’t need to take.
If you have to take it, you do, and there’s some holes out there that we talked about today where, if comes down to it on Sunday and we need more than a couple (strokes) to make a run, then we will be more aggressive. But that’s only going to be if we’re behind.
AC: What is your role in all of this – the history, the records, all of it?
TM: I’m just glad to be part of it, that’s my honest opinion. I got a chance to work for her, almost six years ago now, and I remember thinking, “I’m going to give this everything I’ve got.”
AC: How did the two of you get together?
TM: I’m not sure. Her husband, well, her ex-husband now (David Esch), walked up to me one day and asked how I liked my situation. I wasn’t really sure what he was talking about, and I said, “What situation?” I was with Hiromi (Kobayashi), and she had won four tournaments in two years and she was playing pretty good. So he said, “So you’re not interested in talking about working for Annika?”
It kind of caught me off- guard. I remember trying to keep cool, and saying, “Well, I’ll be glad to talk with you about it.” I spoke to David for about 10 minutes and then Annika and I talked for about 30 minutes on the phone, and we never even talked about golf.
AC: You just clicked right away?
TM: To be honest, the second round of the first tournament I ever worked for her, I believe she shot her highest score ever in a professional tournament, 79. I’ve got a two-week tryout and I’m worried. The first day we had a great round, we shot 71 when it was really windy and cold – I was pretty pleased about that. You go out there with someone the first time, you don’t know what to expect. I was nervous; I wanted the job.
AC: Why does it work for you two?
TM: Sometimes I think Annika and I are a lot alike in the way we approach things. We work at it and we push. You only get one chance to be part of something great. Some people don’t even get that, so you’ve got to respect it.
AC: Is it true there was a tournament she lost to Karrie Webb and she called you crying and saying, “I’m the better player”?
TM: She hadn’t lost it; it was just after the first round and she was very upset. We had been working very hard then, and we were making inroads into it. We were getting better, and we played this round in Atlanta at the Chick-fil-A. Annika played well, but there was a three-putt here, a missed shot there, and she shoots 71. And Karrie, every week she was just knocking it out. She shot a 66 that day, and Annika was really upset about it. She got a little impatient with the process.
I just told her, “We’re going to get there one day; I don’t know when that’s going to be. All I can tell you is to keep coming to work every day and trying to improve.” That’s what we did.
AC: When was the last time you disagreed?
TM: We have disagreements all the time, but they’re not knock-down, drag-out; they’re pro and con trying to get to the right answer.
AC: How geeked up are you about this week?
TM: Oh, I’m geeked; I’m glad I got a chance to come out today and work. I’ve been here since Sunday, and we’ve been off for nine days. I want to get after it, I want to practice, I want to make sure everything’s right. I want to give us the best chance, and that’s what she wants. That’s what was good about today; there was a lot of talking. …
This is as important as the days we play. It may be even more important. The preparation, for Annika, is always the most important thing.
Staff writer Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
