It’s a dream job for those who play the LPGA Tour, but it’s not exactly the lifestyle experienced on the PGA Tour.
It begins, of course, with the money. Let’s look at the respective men’s and women’s Canadian Opens. The purse for the 2019 RBC Canadian Open was $7.5 million US. That’s more than three times that of the CP Women’s Open ($2.25 million). RBC winner Rory McIlroy earned $1.368 million US. That’s in excess of $1 million more than the $337,500 today’s winner of the CP Women’s Open will cash.
And keep in mind that the CP event is among the elite LPGA Tour events. Only six stops on this year’s schedule offer a bigger payday: the five majors and the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.
Speaking of which, the winner of today’s PGA Tour FedEx Cup will claim $15 million US—exactly 10 times that of the winner of the LPGA Tour’s CME in November.
The course experience can also be on a different plane. “You’d be surprised at a few places we play. At the Atlantic City event four years ago, the driving range was basically a field,” one caddie (requesting anonymity) told me yesterday morning. “And they had Callaway range balls. I had to find some Titleist Pro V1s for my player to hit by the second day to make sure she didn’t cave in the face of her driver. Fortunately, it’s gotten a lot better there since.”
But you won’t hear any complaints about this week’s set-up. Social media is jam-packed with Tour player compliments about everything from the course conditioning to volunteers to the food.
The caddies are happy too. And Levelwear Golf has a lot to do with that. As the apparel company did first at the RBC Canadian Open in Hamilton, and then the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, there is a sweet Levelwear Caddie Lounge at this week’s CP Women’s Open. Situated right beside the range, there’s a large tent right beside an open-air lounge with plush seating, various games from darts to ping pong, as well as opportunities for free haircuts and massages. There’s even a happy after after play concludes and complementary apparel. “There might be a tent, with a voucher for lunch at the concession for caddies,” noted longtime LPGA looper Colin Cann. “I haven’t seen anything like this, though. We’ve really been spoiled.”
Along those lines, I polled 15 caddies this week about the best and worst they’d seen on Tour this year. No names had to be provided to ensure that they could remain objective.
Best course conditioning? There were essentially just two answers: Magna and the KPMG PGA Championship. “KPMG obviously moves around, but it’s always excellent,” one looper noted. “But this year? Probably here at Magna.”
“Without a doubt, this one. This is pure,” another chimed in.
Best caddie food? Again, a split between KPMG and the CP Canadian Open, with Portland a close third.
Airport they hate having to fly into the most? Chicago wins that dubious distinction with seven votes, with Atlanta second—although London, England got two nods. “They always lose a bag in London,” said one veteran bag-toter.
Best nightlife of any Tour stop? The Meijer LPGA Classic in Grand Rapids, Michigan, actually got two votes, but the majority were split between the Honda in Chonburi, Thailand and the HSBC World Championship in Singapore. “Thailand for sure,” said one. “You can get anything you want there.”
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