Nobody could have been more relieved to see Tom Lehman and Nick Price shoot under par Friday with 71s than Doug Perry, the Fort Collins club pro who raced down Interstate 25 to join the marquee pairing Thursday as a late alternate.
“I just told them (after Friday’s round) that, ‘I hope I didn’t mess you up.’ That’s about all I could say,” said Perry, who shot 85 on Friday to go with his opening-round 83.
Not to worry. Lehman (5-under-par 139) and Price (3-under 141) are on the leaderboard through 36 holes. Perry missed the cut but retains the memories. “I’ll always have this competitor’s badge,” he said. “It’s pretty neat.”
Perry’s struggles were understandable.
“I spent half my energy just with my nerves,” said Perry, who is not accustomed to the big stage, although he did play in the 2004 U.S. Senior Open. Before this week, Perry’s only “competitive” round this spring had been in a pro-am.
His caddie for the Senior PGA, fellow Fort Collins club pro Dale Smigelsky of Collindale Golf Course, said Lehman and Price were pleasant.
“We couldn’t have picked a better group,” Smigelsky said. “But I don’t know if it was good for them.”
No problem, Price said.
“We tried to support him, and I’m sure he felt a little uncomfortable out there,” Price said. “Most of us don’t really mind about the quality of player you’re playing with. We’re only concerned with the speed of play, and Doug made a huge effort to play as fast as he possibly could. Both Tom and I respected that.
“We would have loved to have seen him play well. That would have made a really great story, going from the golf shop to the golf course.”
