Derek Anderson didn’t even plan on caddying at the Zurich Classic last month — and then suddenly he found himself in a group with Rory McIlroy, who was making his first start since his Masters title.
“I was nervous, I’m not gonna lie,” said Anderson, the former NFL quarterback and guest on this week’s GOLF Subpar podcast. “It was a lot of fun. My hands were sweating and it got my juices flowing.”
Anderson’s current handicap is listed at 3.1, but a few years ago he was a plus handicap and had dreams of winning the U.S. Mid-Amateur. The former Pro Bowler has also dabbled in caddying since he retired, although his first big loop came at the Zurich, when his friend Kevin Chappell asked him if he wanted to be on the bag.
Chappell was the first alternate, so the duo flew to New Orleans Tuesday night. On Wednesday, Chappell knocked on Anderson’s hotel room door.
“He’s like, ‘We gotta go to the golf course. Billy Horschel is out and we are in,'” Anderson recalled him saying. “And the door is closing and he’s like, ‘Oh, and by the way, we are playing with McIlroy.”
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Chappell teamed up with Tom Hoge, and they played the first two rounds with McIlroy and Shane Lowry, the defending champs. Anderson was excited, but he also didn’t realize the circus that came with McIlroy — especially following a Masters win — which meant an enormous number of fans, media and TV cameras following along.
Everything went smoothly, although Subpar co-host Colt Knost gathered a little intel from Lowry.
“[Lowry] told me to ask you about the time you got in Rory McIlroy’s way,” Knost said.
“Oh yeah, that was great,” Anderson said. “I felt 5-foot-1-inches tall.
“I’ll set the scene a little bit,” he continued. “So Kevin hit that shot on 17 on Friday. Shane missed the hosel by an inch. He’s short right. And I kind of like walked back and I’m kind of not really sure where to go, because the flag was over there and Shane’s chipping. And I kind of just want to go put this bag down, get my guy’s putter, let’s get this over with. So I go behind the green and [ESPN’s] Michael Collins says something to me, and Rory’s chipping from the front-right of the green, right back at me. Collins says something and I like look down, and I don’t even know what he’s saying, and all of a sudden I hear from 40 yards away, ‘DA! Stop moving!'”
The voice was Chappell’s.
“And I was like, Oh, s—. I grabbed the bag and went right behind the camera guy and I just stood there and I froze,” Anderson said. “And I was like, I didn’t even know what to do, what am I doing, oh my God, there’s all these people here. Kinda freaking out. Meanwhile, Rory had stepped off the chip. Apparently, when I looked down I bothered him. And then he steps up and proceeds to lay sod over it, and I’m like, Oh no. And then they make bogey.”
Lowry added one final chirp for good measure.
“Walking across the green Shane yelled, ‘It took you two days and you finally screwed it up!'” Anderson said.
“We were walking off, and I tapped [McIlroy] with the putter like, ‘I’m so sorry, dude,'” Anderson said. “Going up 18, I’m just trying to stay as far away from him as I could the rest of the way. I apologized to him like five times.”
Chappell and Hoge finished 36th, while McIlroy and Lowry tied for 12th.
You can listen to the complete Subpar interview here, or watch the YouTube video below.
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