Castle Rock – With television cameras rolling and an eager crowd pressing around the tee boxes and greens, an unusual set of circumstances thrust Jim Hunt next to the spotlight Sunday afternoon. He was carrying the bag of Tom Lehman in a sudden-death playoff for the 21st championship of the The International.
Hunt, who shares a home in Highlands Ranch with his wife, Kristin, and three daughters, caddies only once per year, unlike the vast majority of PGA caddies who help choose clubs and figure yardage on a regular basis.
A spinal-fusion operation in February also made his presence unexpected, especially since Hunt’s physician advised the 150-pounder not to lug the 30-pound bag of his dear friend Lehman.
Yet Hunt, a middle school math teacher at Cherry Hills Christian School, was determined to regain the mobility and strength he would need to navigate the hilly, 7,619-yard course at Castle Pines Golf Club.
The matter of Lehman’s contending role was equally surprising, given the focus the U.S. Ryder Cup captain has devoted to evaluating players rather than refining his swing and shoring up a putting stroke that he would deem Ryder-worthy.
“Tom came into the week with low expectations,” Hunt said. “I said, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get a victory!’ And he said, ‘Hey, that’s the farthest thing from my mind.”‘
At practice sessions early in the week, Lehman struggled.
“He had so much going on with the Ryder Cup, he could hardly get a ball in the range, so it’s incredible the way he’s hit it this week,” Hunt said.
Although Lehman, 47, was unable to match Dean Wilson’s birdie on the second hole of sudden death, it was a memorable experience alongside his former Minnesota high school rival.
The pair drew closer as teammates on the University of Minnesota golf team and lived next door to each other in the dorms. When Lehman played at The International for the first time in 1992, he telephoned Hunt, eager to make use of his pal’s familiarity with the effect altitude has on gauging distances and selecting clubs.
Hunt, a 4-handicap, makes no claim to calling the shots, however.
“I just keep up and shut up,” he said, chuckling. “I encourage him when I can. He does most of the decision making.”
