A Heavy Bag and a Tall Task: Inside the U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood As a Caddie

For the second consecutive year, Morning Read's Colin McDonald looped in the U.S. Amateur for his brother-in-law. He got a workout and plenty of memories.

After roughly a 360-day vacation, it was finally time to punch the clock again this week for my two-day stint as a caddie at the U.S. Amateur. On the bag once again for my brother-in-law, Robbie Ziegler, we set off for the Garden State. Here's what it was like behind the scenes at the 2022 U.S. Amateur.

Every great week starts with good preparation and rest. We missed that memo, arriving Sunday morning on a red-eye flight that consisted of the Jake Gyllenhaal thriller "Ambulance" and ended with a view of the sun rising over the Empire State Building. Feeling rejuvenated, we loaded into our courtesy car—this one happened to be a Hyundai Elantra “courtesy” of Avis—and we were off to Arcola Country Club, host to 18 of the 36 stroke-play holes.

Due to time constraints it was just the two of us, with three wedges and a putter, walking the course and chipping and putting at each green in advance of our 1:15 p.m. tee time at the host course, Ridgewood. Oh, how I would come to miss my time carrying just four clubs. 

Our abbreviated stay at Arcola meant cruising through several groups, among them some of the premier players at the amateur level. Perhaps most notably, we watched NCAA champion Gordon Sargent hit two shots; come Tuesday he would need only 63 more to complete his round, posting a ridiculous 65.

Along the way we heard one consistent sentiment from the players—buckle up for Ridgewood.

Over to Ridgewood we went, where my No. 1 nemesis awaited me. Propped up in front of Robbie’s locker was a shiny new staff bag (surprise!), put together for him by the TaylorMade team with absolutely no consideration for the poor soul who would transport it for the next three days. We were also greeted by the most quintessential New Jersey bag room attendant you could imagine, who asked plainly, “Is that your bag?”

“Yes,” we replied to which he responded, “Good because I’ve been looking at it for three f-----g days.”

Once fully loaded, this staff bag was no easy carry around Ridgewood Country Club / Colin McDonald

Next stop was the range, turning heads every step of the way, and while we can’t be entirely certain, it likely was not due to either of our devilishly handsome features. Of the 312 players in the field, Robbie only one with a Tour-level staff bag. Dozens of players, coaches and volunteers wondered aloud, “When are you turning pro?” right up until our tee time.

The clock struck 1:15 and so began the test at menacing Ridgewood alongside a fellow Pacific Northwesterner, Andrew von Lossow. In his mid-30s, the Spokane native is surely as long as anyone in the field. Slowly (very slowly) but surely we made our way around the property with the support of a TaylorMade staffer, Cory Johnson who made every effort to get a second strap onto the bag. How many golfers does it take to fully assemble a staff bag? Apparently more than were in our group.

The players we spoke to at Arcola were not lying. Ridgewood offered a punishing test that frankly has the ability to take the wind out of your sails before the tournament even begins. By night’s end we did some quick math which told us we had been awake for 37 ½ hours. Thank goodness (and the USGA) for an afternoon tee time on Monday.

Every little bit helps in carrying a staff bag, like a second shoulder strap / Colin McDonald

An uneventful morning passed and then came time to return to Ridgewood for a 1:59 p.m. tee time off No. 1. Returning to Ridgewood was similar to heading back to school the next day knowing full well you would run into the kid who took your lunch money 24 hours earlier.

At this point, a nice callus had formed on my left shoulder which created a bit more tolerance for the mammoth one on my right shoulder. Our round got off to a rocky start with a bogey on the short par-4 1st. Not to be deterred, we turned in 3 over par and were welcomed to the back nine by the 500-yard uphill par-4 10th. Both Rob and his fellow competitor roped their 240-yard approaches a yard or two left of the flag and were rewarded with a couple of bunker shots. No matter how heavy that bag was, at least I didn’t have to play that hole.

A couple of birdies later, that 3 over turned into 1 over before we got the full Ridgewood experience. At the par-4 16th, a tee shot bound for the right rough had not yet been located by the time we arrived on the scene. One 60-second search party later and the ball could be found almost entirely swallowed up by the gnarly second cut. This led to bogey and after two closing pars, all that remained was to sign the card for a 2-over 73 and it was back to the Marriott to kick our feet up. 

The restaurant/bar at the aforementioned Marriott had something of a spider’s web effect. One had to walk past it to get to the elevator and it was a walk that not many made successfully. If anyone at the Paramus Marriott happens upon this piece, Pablo behind the bar deserves a raise for singlehandedly running the restaurant while dozens of golfers put down Coors Lights and entrées at a 3:1 ratio.

Tuesday morning came quickly as it does for those in the late-early draw, something Patrick Reed no longer has to deal with; I’ll pause my comments there to avoid a lawsuit. A hard, fair fight resulted in a round of 4 over but it was the conclusion of playing partner Jacob Borow’s round that was the cherry on top. The redshirt rising sophomore at Houston rolled his birdie attempt just by the cup and each time it seemed to have stopped, it took one more turn, until it tumbled off of the false front to the collection area 40 yards away. The golf gods got this one right, however, as he would chip-in from there to save par and end his week on a high note.

Meanwhile for us, that meant an afternoon of leaderboard refreshing to see if there was enough wind to get 6 over into a playoff. Ultimately there was not, which meant no golf on Wednesday for us.

However, remember Andrew von Lossow, who we shared a practice round with? He survived a playoff early Wednesday to enter match play as the 63th seed, where he would square off with the 6th-ranked amateur in the world, Michael Thorbjornsen. The Stanford standout has plenty of great days ahead of him but this one belonged to Von Lasso ,who won over the crowd, easily the largest on the course, with his big drives, colorful polo and even bigger smile. Calls of “AVL” were frequent on the back nine as the ultimate underdog took down one of college golf’s premier players.

For me, it’s time to hang up the bag for another year as I return home for a club championship where perhaps I can channel my own inner “AVL.” As for the flight home, since many were just waiting for me to get back to this, "Ambulance" is indeed a thriller but gets a bit farfetched for me towards the end. 

So there you have it, another week inside the ropes at a U.S. Amateur that was short on sleep, full of memories and gave me a renewed appreciation for professional loopers.